Customer Reviews

The Sake Handbook

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Ah, sake. This rice wine has been around for thousands of years, and is part of many traditions in Japan. As Japanese food styles have become popular across the globe, so has this fine drink, which can be served both warm and cold. To learn more about the history of sake, and to learn how to choose a good brand, this book is invaluable.

To start with, The Sake Handbook goes over each step involved in making sake. Reading through the intricate processes involved helps you understand why there are so many varieties of sake, and why each one has a different flavor. One key step, for example, is the polishing step. The inner part of the rice generally is of higher quality than the outer portion, so the more 'extra' that is polished away, the finer the sake.

Next, Gauntner goes over the various types of sake, and how each is unique. Some of these terms are:

* Junmai-shu is pure rice sake. Only rice, water, and the koji mold are used to produce this top level sake. It ends up tasting heavier and fuller than other types of sake. It uses less than 70% polished rice - this means they have `ground away' the other 30% of impurities.

* Honjozo-shu has a small amount of distilled ethyl alcohol added during the final stages. They then add water later so the alcohol content stays the same. This sake is lighter and dryer than other types. It can be served warm.

* Ginjo-shu uses 60% polished rice. It is also fermented for longer periods of time, giving a complex and delicate flavor.

* Daiginjo-shu is just like Ginjo-shu, but polished to 50% of the original size. It takes even longer to brew and complete. Futsuu-shu - any sake which does not fall into one of the above four categories.

Gauntner describes how sake is tasted, and how an individual can learn to distinguish between various sakes, and figure out the 'type' best suited for his or her palate. To help with this, the entire second half of the book is dedicated to a brand-by-brand evaluation of the best sakes on the market. This is invaluable! No matter if you're in Tokyo or Chicago, you can bring this book in with you to a store or restaurant and compare with ease the various sakes available.

There even is a section towards the back listing the best sake restaurants in Japan. If you're going on a trip to Japan, bring this book along, and know what to order and any special rules about each location.

John really knows his stuff. I live in Tokyo and I run a Liquor shop here. I have studied for years about sake and I go once a year to make sake at a friends family brewery. I got so much insight and new information from John's wonderful book that I only wish he'd written it five years ago! If you already have several books on sake, this is a must to add to your collection, if this is the first book on sake that your going to buy, consider your self lucky that such an informitive and well written book is around to buy. Thanks to John Gauntner for sharing this informaion with all of us.

This book is excellent. It's main sections on How Sake is Made, Drinking and Where to Buy are very detailed. Most of the terminology will be new to those unfamiliar with sake, the author takes the time to explain them in detail. There is the history, the people and some of the ritual of sake as well.

With each of the sake detailed, the author provides tasting notes and information about other sakes from the same brewer.

As a side note of the detail of the book, one of my Japanese friend's found her favourite sake in the book. I went to my local bottle shop with the book, pointed to the picture of the label and found we found it, leading to a night of entertaining drinking.

When I recently decided to bite the bullet and get to the bottom of sake tasting and nomenclature I purchased a copy of The Sake Handbook by John Gauntner. Even in the Internet Age, I reasoned, a sole-authored guidebook would be more useful than endless googling through Wikipedia pages, right? Sadly, after a month with this book, I'm not so sure...

The goal and format The Sake Handbook is a good idea -- this is no coffee table book of beautiful pictures of sake bottles. Instead it introduces the reader to sake through the brewing process, explaining a welter of names and methods slowly and logically as it takes you through the production process. Subsequent chapters take you through Japanese tasting terms, different kinds of sake, drinking vessels, and so forth. These chapters successfully keep the reader from entering Overwhelm Mode by repeatedly defining Japanese terms when used (a glossary is also included, which is good). The prose is clear, although it also seems repetitive and padded -- I'm not sure if the author was trying to lengthen this already-short book, or simply an attempt to make the volume welcoming to readers. Often, however, it just makes it hard to find information. The chapter on Ginjoshu, for instance, doesn't actually explain what Ginjoshu is until you are a page and seven paragraphs in to it. Sometimes authors write forgetting how little their readers know compared to them -- it seems like this might be the case here, where long digressions and reflections get in the way of serious information. If anything, much of the text could be reduced to helpful tables and charts which would orient the reader to topics like brewing method, taste terms, and so forth.

It get worse. Some of the chapters of this book are downright unhelpful. The section on 'collecting sake labels' is not actually about collecting sake labels but a discussion of the most common kanji characters that appear on sake labels. Readers searching for tips on getting labels off bottles, descriptions of how collectors organize their collections, etc. will have to look elsewhere. The chapter on sake bars in Japan and wholesalers in the US -- 37 pages -- will not be of use to most readers. Perhaps the intended audience is anglophone expats in Japan? At any rate for those of us in the rest of the world this section is of little use -- the list of wholesalers in my state is already out of date. Honestly: who needs a phonebook when you have Google?

The most egregious problem with the book is the main section: the 100 pages of recommended sake to try. This section consists of pictures of sake labels and one paragraph reviews of the sake in question. This is the expert, value-added core of the book -- it could be used as a guide for first-timers looking to try different sakes, or to read about sakes they have tried at a restaurant or bar. Unfortunately, the sakes are organized by the geographical region of their brewery, from north to south. It's ridiculous. This essentially means it is impossible to browse the list on the basis of any of the criteria a reader would actually use: alphabetical listings of brands, types of sake, flavors, suggested lists of sakes for tastings, and so forth. The index does list brands, so the book is not a total waste, but it is certainly a disappointment.

Let's face it: compared to the relatively well-written Wikipedia page on sake and the many brewery website out there, Gauntner's book falls short. If you are not good at using the Internet and want to learn more about sake, it will do the job. But at base the book's value proposition falls short: despite assertions to the contrary, you can beat free -- but in order to do so you need to curate information better than this. A useful book, but I have to admit I'm a little disappointed that I bought it.

The first 1/3 of this book is rather interesting and does a decent job describing the history of and labor/love required to make Sake, but 2/3'rds of this book is a rather dry description of specific types of Sake and recommended Sushi bars in Japan.

I was really wanting more of the first 1/3 of the book since I'm have no plans of traveling to Japan on a Sushi-tasting junket anytime soon.

John Gauntner's "Sake Handbook" is the perfect guide to those who want to explore the art and science of sake. I feel more confident when I am choosing sake for a gift or for my own entertaining. A 'must' for those that want to expand their knowledge of sake.

An interesting and informative read. I purchased for the information regarding 'brewing' Sake, so it remains to be seen if I can interpret the information given successfully.

Very good, recommended.

Im merely starting in Sake but at least as a starting point the book gave me excellent tips on discerning, tasting and understanding the complex world of sake.

As president of a premium sake brewery in Oregon, I can attest that John's book is the best up to date book on sake available. If you are interested in knowing more about sake, then this is the current "bible"!

Having lived in Japan for 7 years and spent many a Saturday night at local pubs, John's book is the best guide you will find bar none on how to find, decide and thoroughly enjoy Japanese sake'.