Is Sake a Beer?

Every Japanese food fan loves a good sake. This is why I Love Sushi’s Seattle restaurant is stocked with a fine selection of this classic rice wine favorite. But what is sake, exactly? Indeed, though we are used to referring to this liquor as a “wine”, it remains somewhat ambiguous as to what umbrella it falls under.

The fact is that rice wines like sake actually have a lot in common with beers. After all, while a wine is defined as a beverage made from fermented fruit, sake is made from fermented grains. Sake, like beer, also derives no benefit from being aged in the way that most wines do. It is generally recommended that a bottle of sake should be consumed within a year, well below the normal life of the average wine bottle.

On the other hand, wine is a non-carbonated beverage with an alcoholic content of approximately 17%. It therefore feels a lot like a wine, and is often enjoyed in the same way that a wine might be. It’s all down to how you want to look at it, ultimately, and we encourage you to enjoy it in any way you see fit at I Love Sushi.