How to read a sake label

Five things on a sake label tell you how it was made and how fresh it is: the grade (junmai ginjo and so on), the polishing ratio, the ingredients, the alcohol content and the bottling date. If the brewery also prints the sake meter value and acidity, you get a hint of sweet or dry as well.

Front and back: what goes where?

The front label usually shows the brand, the grade and style words such as 生 (nama) or 原酒 (genshu). The details are on the back.

Every bottle must also state the category (清酒, sake), the volume, the maker's name and address, and the warning that under-20s may not drink.

Grade: junmai? ginjo?

Grades such as junmai daiginjo or honjozo are eight official special designations, set by Japan's labelling rules for sake. They depend on whether brewer's alcohol is added and on the polishing ratio. Sake that fits none of them is futsushu and carries no grade. The eight are explained in Types of sake.

Ingredients: any brewer's alcohol?

"Rice, rice koji" (米、米こうじ) means a junmai-style sake. "Rice, rice koji, brewer's alcohol" (醸造アルコール) means honjozo, ginjo, daiginjo and the like. Futsushu may also contain sugars or acidulants, and they are listed here too.

Polishing ratio: how much was milled away?

The share of the grain left after polishing. 精米歩合60% means the outer 40 % was removed. Every graded sake must show it; daiginjo needs 50 % or less, ginjo 60 % or less. A lower number tends to mean a lighter, more fragrant sake, but not automatically a better one.

Rice: when it says Yamada Nishiki

A rice variety may be named when it makes up more than half of the rice used, together with its share. Some breweries go further, e.g. "100 % Yamada Nishiki from Hyogo".

SMV and acidity: sweet or dry?

The sake meter value (日本酒度) leans dry when positive and sweet when negative. Higher acidity (酸度) makes a sake taste fuller and drier. A higher amino acid level (アミノ酸度) means more umami and body. Breweries don't have to print these, and many don't. More in Sweet or dry? Reading SMV and acidity.

Nama, genshu, muroka: words about how it was made

• Namazake (生酒): never pasteurised; the label also tells you to keep it cold.
• Nama-chozo (生貯蔵酒) and nama-zume (生詰): pasteurised once.
• Genshu (原酒): no water added after pressing, so stronger, about 17–20 %.
• Muroka (無濾過): not charcoal-filtered.
• Kiippon (生一本): junmai sake made entirely at one brewery.
• Taruzake (樽酒): sake scented in cedar casks.

The bottling date is not the brewing date

製造年月 is the month the sake went into the bottle, not when it was brewed. Sake has no best-before date, so this is what tells you how fresh it is. Some aged sake rests for years before bottling; to know the brewing year, look for "BY" (brewing year), e.g. R6BY.

Alcohol

By law, sake must be under 22 % alcohol. Most is 15–16 %, undiluted genshu about 17–20 %, and lighter sake around 13 % is becoming more common.