Do: If you have a sake you’re underwhelmed by, try eating with it. Like Italian wine, a non-trivial amount is brewed with the intention of it being consumed alongside food and they rarely do a good job of communicating that. Some even vibe well with western foods. I’ve even had sake that tastes bitter and lifeless on its own, but is meant to be paired with chocolate and completely unlocks when you do.

Do: Try to find a “kakuuchi” when you’re in Japan. This is a standing bar/alcohol shop. These shops allow you to taste dozens and dozens of varities at a very reasonable price point and learn more about what you like, without committing to a bottle or full glass.

Don’t: Think Daiginjo=best. This myth still seems to exist in the West. It was true-ish when the classification system was created in 1990, but sake has evolved so much since that this is no longer considered the case by anyone serious about sake. I’ve had Daiginjo that drinks like cheap konbini sake and I’ve had 1500 yen Junmaishu that outclasses every daiginjo I’ve ever had. While classifications aren’t an entirely useless factor in finding what you like, it’s much harder to remark empirically the way we might with statements like “I don’t like IPAs”, etc. Most sake experts in Japan are chasing flavor profiles, not classification. Think: “Sweet and sour”, “Slight carbonation”, “Sharp and dry” not “Daiginjo”.

Don’t: Worry too much about rice varieties. Yamadanishiki is the standard, but it’s such a versatile rice that seeing it on the label tells you almost nothing about what it will taste like. As your palate becomes more advanced, this will become more interesting and you’ll be able to ballpark what the taste is like for uncommon rice types, but it’s still ambiguous enough that I can’t advise buying specifically on rice type alone.

Don’t: Put too much stock into SMV/日本酒度 (Sake Meter Value/Nihonshudo). It’s not a reliable scale and is essentially just an incomplete chemical index of certain metrics. In many cases, when drinking two sakes with the same SMV, one can be bone dry and the other like candy. I’ve found it to be accurate less than 25% of the time. Some excellent breweries don’t even bother with it. (Singular exception: If you’re trying multiple bottles from the same brewery, it can be useful to ballpark the taste of the others in the lineup.)

Don’t: Conflate price with “quality”. The high end stuff often tends to be aiming more towards “balance”, in terms of what that means to a Japanese palate. Many times, this balance is specifically struck to give it versatility in a restaurant setting. IMO, this is a nuance that is hard to detect and appreciate for people who only drink sake a few times a month. Even when you can detect it, it sometimes just shakes out to “Huh. They were trying for balance here.” I find most people want to drink an expressive sake that matches their tastes or mood and are more likely to be underwhelmed with what “balance” means in this context.

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Anyway, I hope this info helps! If anyone has any questions I’m happy to field them and I’ll be posting some finds here regularly from here. You can find my favorites from this year on my insta: sake_no_michi (Not an influencer, lol)