Earlier this month, one of the additions on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity was the Japanese rice drink, sake. On the UNESCO website, the inscription mentioned that ‘the traditional knowledge and skills of sake-making with koji mold in Japan’ was included in this prestigious list.

Before this global acknowledgement of its cultural significance, the beverage had made its presence in India, particularly in the past three to four years. Tonu Bage, representative and sake expert at Rad Elan, one of the leading distributors of sake in the country, calls the Japanese spirit the middle child of the alcohol family. “It is stronger than wine and beer but too polite to party like the spirits,” she tells us.