Kimoto Sake & Sushi is Counting Down to Sake Day!

by Guest Writer, Brandon Dodge
Co-owner of Kimoto Sake & Sushi

“Sake, sake, sake! Bomb, bomb, bomb! Sake! Bomb! Sake! Bomb!”
An often heard chant in sushi bars across America, accompanying shots of warm sake dropped into glasses of cold beer. Sake bombs are actually an American invention said to be created by US military men replicating the boiler maker they made in the States while over seas. This is what most people think about when they hear the drink mentioned, but sake is the oldest known alcoholic beverage in the world, first produced in China in 4800 BC. and further developed in Japan around 689 AD.

Often miss-referred to as rice wine, including a recent skit by Blake Shelton and Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, which was hilarious with Shelton ordering “rice wine” with his thick accent after every bite of sushi, sake is actually in a class all by itself. By definition, wine is alcohol that is fermented from the sugars in a fruit, no fruit, no wine. Sake on the other hand is made from rice using a two step fermentation process. Rice starch is converted to sugar, then that sugar is converted to alcohol by yeast. So actually this makes the sake production process closer related to beer than wine. Sake usually clocks in around 15 or 16 percent alcohol.

Sake is put into 4 main categories:

Daiginjo: The top grade of premium sake. Sake rice that is milled to at least 50 percent or less remaining.
Ginjo: The middle grade of premium sake. Sake rice that is milled to at least 60 percent or less remaining.

Junmai: sake that is milled down to at least 70% or less remaining.

Futsushu: “Table sake” or “regular sake”. This is the least milled, only 71 percent or more remaining. This is least expensive and usually warmed.

During the month of September, Modesto’s local izakaya Kimoto, is counting down the days to World Sake Day, which is October 1^st.Check out their Facebook and instagram for more sake facts, and a chance to win a TyKu Sake bicycle, as well as join in the festivities all day October 1^st, where they will have sake pairing menus available, sake bomb challenges and Modesto largest consecutive sake bomb.

Kanpai! (Cheers!)

Editor’s note: I had to try this flight of sake to get ready for Sake Day, and the Nigori was my favorite of the three. It is sweet and has an amazing mouth feel; smooth and rich. Please try it! You’ll love it!