“Sake” means alcohol in Japanese and is pronounced as ‘Sa-ki’ or ‘Sa-kei’. In Urdu, Saki is someone who is your host for alcohol, a cup bearer. How on earth these two are linked only God can tell but in this post I would briefly trudge upon ‘Sake’.
‘Sake’ in day-to-day parlance is mostly used for the ‘Rice Wine’ but in reality ‘Sake’ could be used for any alcoholic beverage. Sake is produced by multiple fermentation of rice, which is more similar to how beer is produced.
The history of sake is not well documented and there are multiple theories on how it was developed. One theory suggests that the brewing of rice started in China, along the Yangtze River and was subsequently exported to Japan. Another theory traces sake brewing back to 3rd century Japan with the advent of wet rice cultivation.[citation needed] The combination of water and rice lying around together would have resulted in molds and fermentation.
In terms of popular brands, Gekkeikan, Koshinokanbai and Hakutsure are the popular ones. Its not very common to find Sake out here in India but some of the five-stars stock it. Its also served chilled or at room temperature though but to have the real fun, have it like the Japanese have, which is to have it hot.Its little surprising though but thats the way to serve it.