SPOTLIGHT ON SAKE

Sake first arrived on (future) American shores in 1885, according to "Sake: A Modern Guide," by Beau Timken and Sara Deseran, when it landed in Hawaii with Japanese emigrants coming to work on the sugar plantations.

So some things are a little slow to catch on. But here we are 122 years later, and the rice wine is increasing in popularity across the country, and no less in Las Vegas.

Why now?

"To me, it's kind of on par with the globalization of the world in general," said Steven Geddes, a master sommelier and executive chef of Asia at the Miracle Mile Shops. "The Internet has shrunk the size of the world, and information is traveling a lot faster."

All things Asian have been hot in the United States in recent years -- consider, for example, the number of sushi shops in your neighborhood -- and sake is part of that wave.

"Americans have become a hungry nation of food lovers," Geddes said. "They're interested in international food and ethnic foods of all types and from all places.

As their palates become more sophisticated, they're reaching for more sophisticated beverages."

Food-and-beverage consultant Eric Swanson said that when Shibuya opened at MGM Grand just three years ago, he and fellow sake expert John Gauntner could find only about 10 percent of the sakes they needed. DeLuca Liquor and Wine, for whom he currently consults, were instrumental in helping to find the rest, but "I had to search and source and scramble to make the program complete in time for opening," Swanson said in an e-mail from Vietnam, where he was traveling. He added that he thinks the success of Shibuya's program drew local attention to sake.

Geddes said sake's suddenly high profile also reflects past beverage trends from places that were a little closer in distance and spirit.

"The same thing happened with Scotch 20 years ago," he said. "Ales, lagers and microbrews 10 years ago. Flavored vodkas five years ago."

While sake originated in China in about 4800 BC, according to Timken and Deseran, and has long been popular in Korea as well, it's mostly associated with Japan, which, they note, "considers sake its national beverage."

Until a few years ago, the only way most Americans drank sake was hot. And while sake is hot, hot sake is not. In Japan, sake generally is served hot only when it's an inferior product -- sort of the equivalent of a house wine. Geddes said that's because heating sake doesn't show it to advantage.

"If you mess with temperatures in beverages, you can really impact how it shows on the palate," he said. "As soon as you start raising alcohol up to the 80- to 100-degree range, the alcohol volatilizes so much it just crawls off the glass. Most of the great sake tasters that taste sake in Japan and here in the U.S. will tell you that the best sakes are the chilled ones.

"We don't even have a hot sake at this point in time. We don't even get many requests for it."

Geddes said Asia carries about 18 sakes; he estimates he tasted 200 to narrow the list to those.

At Okada at Wynn Las Vegas, sake sommelier Blair Bushey said some 47 sakes are available cold and four hot. He said he carries the hot ones because he does get some demand for him.

"We're all about giving the customer what they want," Bushey said. On the other hand, he said, staffers "try to educate them on finding out how sake's made to be drunk, and how it's drunk in Japan." Although he estimates that 40 percent of customers initially request hot sake, he said that after he talks to them about cold sake, only about a third of that number insist that they like it hot.

"It just takes education," Bushey said. "People have never tried it before."

Geddes said sake's extremely easy to drink with food.

"One, it's very pure and very clean," he said. "It's food-friendly because of its bright, fresh flavor, non-use of oak, crisp acidity, floral, fresh, aromatic tones. It's more of an all-around pairing beverage than most wines."

Which is not to say that sake is one-dimensional; "it seems simple," he said, "but is without question one of the most difficult areas in the world for a professional taster to taste."

Sakes goes well, Geddes said, with any type of seafood, and not just raw seafood as in sushi and sashimi. Some will even go well with foie gras and other rich dishes, and meat dishes, he said.

Both locale and production method have a huge impact on the style and flavor of sake, Swanson said.

Bushey said part of his educational process involves asking customers what kind of white wine they like; their answers guide him to the sake he suggests.

"I try to get a feel for what they're looking for out of the drink," he said.

Both Asia and Okada serve a few sakes by the glass, but sell more by the bottle, half-bottle or carafe.

Okada serves sake flights, which are several smaller tastes that can be sampled side by side. Bushey said for large parties, he'll sort of expand on that theme by suggesting several carafes of different sakes. Okada offers no infused (flavored) sakes, he said, although it does carry nigori, or unfiltered sake, and some sparkling sakes.

Geddes said he does serve some infused sakes at Asia.

"As sommeliers and beverage directors, it's our job to watch out for new trends and not let pretension and snobbery cloud our judgment," he said. While he conceded that some infused sakes are "interesting," most are, he said, "in the same category as white Zinfandel. It's kind of the soda-pop sake, for entry-level drinkers. They're probably going to move on to bigger and better things, but it at least gets them thinking about it."

Bushey and Geddes both said customers are generally becoming more familiar with sake, and they see more of that ahead. Swanson noted that casinos now view modern Japanese cuisine as a necessary amenity, much like a steakhouse.

"Buyers are just starting to get their legs under them," Geddes said. "I think most people are just scratching the surface of what the potential is."

PINEAPPLE- AND GINGER-INFUSED SAKE

720 milliliter bottle of sake

3 cups fresh pineapple chunks

2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and bruised

In a clean glass jar or pitcher, combine all of the ingredients. Refrigerate and allow to infuse for a minimum of 12 hours. Serve straight up and cold with a couple chunks of the infused pineapple or use it as a base for a cocktail.

-- Recipe from "Sake: A Modern Guide" by Beau Timken and Sara Deseran

ORANGE BLOSSOM

2 ounces nigori sake

1 ounce orange juice

1 ounce lemon juice

Splash of orange flower water

In a shaker over ice, add the sake, orange juice, lemon juice and orange flower water. Shake well and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Serves 1.

-- Recipe from "Sake: A Modern Guide" by Beau Timken and Sara Deseran

SAKE A LA ROCKY

2 ounces premium sake

2 ounces apple juice