Product Description:

Once found only in sushi bars and Japanese restaurants outside its native land, sake now lines the shelves of our gourmet food shops, liquor stores, supermarkets, and restaurants of all types. And as sake increasingly becomes a part of the way we dine and entertain, people everywhere are looking for guidance in sorting out the confusing and intimidating array of choices available. In The Book of Sake, brew master Philip Harper provides all the information anyone needs to discover the many pleasures of Japan's national tipple. Harper, the only non-Japanese to rise to the official rank of Master Brewer, describes * how to find each sake's sweet spot * how to distinguish all types of sake * how to enjoy their distinctive flavor and bouquet * what makes a good sake * how to match sake with food * where sake is made, and its regional flavor * how sake is made * how professional tasters judge sake * how to have a home sake-tasting party and much more. Harper also introduces tidbits of sake lore (as only an insider can), a groundbreaking new tasting chart, and a selection of sakes for all palates and pocketbooks by the esteemed sake journalist Haruo Matsuzaki. To round out the volume, Harper offers a fascinating tour of Japan's sake regions, then presents the most intriguing view of the sake brew master's art ever to be published in English.