Sake Sake , also spelled "saké" ( ), also referred to as a Japanese rice wine, is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Unlike wine, in which alcohol is produced by fermenting sugar that is naturally present in fruit, typically grapes, sake is produced by a brewing process more akin to that of beer, where starch is converted into sugars which ferment into alcohol. The brewing process for "sake" differs from the process for beer in that, for beer, the conversion from starch to sugar and from sugar to alcohol occurs in
Alcohol in New Zealand Alcohol in New Zealand Alcohol has been consumed in New Zealand since the arrival of European settlers. The most popular alcoholic beverages are beer and wine. New Zealand has no minimum consumption age for alcohol, however the minimum purchase age is 18. There is no oral tradition or archaeological evidence of Māori brewing beer before the arrival of Europeans. Major ingredients of beer were not introduced to New Zealand until Europeans arrived in the late-18th century. Captain James Cook brewed a beer flavoured with local spruce tree needles while visiting New Zealand in 1773 in order to combat scurvy aboard