Japanese sake is largely classified into two styles: pure rice style and alcohol-added style.
Pure rice style sake is made from only rice, water, yeast and Koji. Brewers do not use distilled alcohol for this style sake.
In pure rice styles, there are three kinds of sake: Junmai-Daiginjo, Junmai-Ginjo and Junmai.
these name differences come from the percentage of rice grain remaining after milling.
Junmai-Daiginjo is made from brewing rice which is 50% more polished.
Junmai-Ginjo is made from brewing rice which is 40% more polished. Juneau does not have a minimum rice polishing requirement.
Ingredients for alcohol-added style sake are the same as pure rice style but distilled alcohol. In this style, there are Daiginjo, Ginjo, Honjozo and Futsu-shu.
The point for distinguishing these kinds of sake are just the same as pure rice style. It depends on the percentage of remaining rice grain after milling.
Daiginjo is made with brewing rice polished 50% more, Ginjo is made of brewing rice polished 40% more, Honjozo is made of brewing rice polished 30% more,
and Futsu-shu does not have a minimum rice polishing requirement.
Pure rice style has a unique characteristic flavor and you can enjoy the rich taste of rice.
On the other hand, alcohol-added style has more clear taste and light flavor.
The more rice is polished, the clearer the taste of sake. It is because polishing the surface of rice grain removes protein and lipid that cause unfavorable taste.
