Developing a proper appreciation of this very subtle beverage challenges many non-Japanese imbibers, who find they must learn a new set of rules. As connoisseurs, we must educate ourselves to a new vocabulary of processes and ingredients. As buyers or collectors, we must adjust our strategies to suit a spirit that gains no added value from being cellared.

Today, sake is enjoying unprecedented interest outside of Japan. But this was not always so. Because of its alcohol content, higher than wine or beer and typically between 15 percent and 20 percent, sake has always had a somewhat nefarious appeal to thirsty students on a budget. Compound this with the fact that it was often served warm and robbed of its flavors, and sake acquired a well-deserved reputation as swill. Heat is just a way to disguise the taste of low-grade sake, which was all that most Japanese restaurants in the United States were able to acquire at one time. Imagine how a warm bottle of good Burgundy would taste. Today, however, growing interest in the spirit has made first-rate sake widely available, and it is now perfectly acceptable to drink it cold, so that its complex flavors can fully emerge.