Rice wine, also referred to as sake in Japan, is an alcoholic beverage constituted of fermented rice. It’s sometimes brewed utilizing a course of that entails a number of phases of fermentation and might vary in power from about 14% to twenty% alcohol by quantity. Rice wine has a protracted historical past in East Asia, with proof of its manufacturing courting again to the Neolithic interval. It’s believed to have originated in China and was later launched to Japan and Korea, the place it turned a staple beverage.
Rice wine is made utilizing a fancy course of that entails a number of phases of fermentation. The primary stage entails soaking the rice in water after which steaming it. The steamed rice is then cooled and inoculated with a yeast starter tradition. The yeast converts the sugars within the rice into alcohol, carbon dioxide, and different byproducts. The fermentation course of sometimes takes about two weeks.