They may know that this fermented rice liquor from Japan is served hot or cold, but little more. Harper, who is originally from Britain, knows sake like no other Westerner. Not simply because he has lived in Japan for 11 years, but also because he works in a sake brewery, a rarity for a non-Japanese. He has come firsthand to understand the brewing traditions, the subtleties of production and the varieties of rice used. The book begins with a brief history, touching on milestones like the creation of a brewery in the Imperial Palace in the year 689 and the first sale of bottled sake in the 1870s.
Brewing is a craft and, like other crafts, has many different styles.
The information is clear and thorough, but what saves the book from being too encyclopedic is Harper's anecdotes. For example, he tells how, at the height of a brewing season, when he and his fellow brewers were working round the clock, he became so exhausted that he fell asleep riding his bicycle home and rode right into a cold river. Though Harper is amusing, he also gets across how grueling the sake-making tradition is. Rather than offering sketchy reviews of the nearly 2,000 types of sake, he gives thorough tasting notes on more than 100, many of them available in the United States. These notes make sake come to life.