How to buy, serve, savor

Hints for buying and appreciating sake:

There are many styles of sake, including dry sakes, sweet sakes, aged sakes, fortified sakes, sparkling sakes and organic sakes.

Since sake should be refrigerated, it’s best to buy it from a store that refrigerates its bottles (and keeps them away from strong light).

Generally, drink sake within a year after it was produced. Since there is no vintage date, look for the bottling date on the label or the shipping date, when the sake left the brewery.

Sake is usually gluten-free and sulfite-free and has no preservatives.

You’re better off buying sake by style rather than region or producer. The style — ginjo, daiginjo, junmai — is the most important factor.

When matching sake with food, the same basic rules can apply as for wine. Serve a lighter style, such as daiginjo, cold with seafood. Warm sake goes well with grilled meats. Nigori, which is always served cold, goes well with spicy food.

Serve cold sake in white wine glasses. Serve warm sake in the traditional small ceramic cups called choko after warming the carafe of sake in a bain-marie (or a saucepan partly filled with simmering water).

Don’t pour for yourself. Respect the traditions by pouring for your guests and let your guests pour for you as you savor the sake and engage in conversation.

The same sake can be served at multiple temperatures — cold, room temperature or warm — for three entirely different taste experiences.

For celebrations, try a sparkling sake.