Sake

Sake is neither wine nor beer. Where wine ferments natural sugars and beer relies on malted grain enzymes, sake uses living mold to digest rice starch simultaneously with yeast converting the resulting sugars to alcohol — a third, independent invention of grain fermentation. The process can reach 20% alcohol (far stronger than Western beers or wines), yet sake’s character is surprisingly fruity and flowery despite never touching fruit or flowers. It is the purest expression of fermentation flavor itself.