Using only three ingredients (rice, koji powder, and water) master sake brewers can make a variety of flavors and intensities.

Despite being made from rice many sakes have distincly fruity tastes, often of melons or apples. They can be sweet enough to have for dessert, or have deep intense flavours which would pair well with red meat.

While many sakes are best drunk fresh, a growing trend is to age them to enhance the flavors and discover new ways to enjoy this ancient drink.

The most common ways to serve sake are chilled in the refrigerator, room temperature, and warmed up to 40-50℃. Some sake will even be suited to temperatures outside of that range, although if chilling with ice be careful not to let it get too watered down. When heating it up either using a pan of hot water or microwave are fine, make sure to check it regularly so that it doesn't overheat.

Many bottles will indicate the optimal serving temperature, and then let the season and your mood dictate how you want to have it.

Depending on the sweetness of the sake it might be better off by itself or as a dessert wine. But many less sweet sakes pair very well with food, either Japanese or western.

Kyotango has a long history of rice cultivating and sake brewing. In fact it even has a claim to being the starting point of Japan's rice growing culture, dating back over 2000 years.

This history and the superb rice growing conditions has led to a high number of sake breweries being established in an area with a low population. In recent years this has led to friendly competetion where each brewery has distict philosophies and brewing styles.

They each produce a range of products so you're sure to find the right brewery for you.