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
Women in brewing associated with fertility. From the middle of the 18th century, many women were barred from participating in alcohol production and were relegated to roles as barmaids, pub operators, bottlers or secretaries for breweries. In less industrialized areas, they continued to produce homebrews and traditional alcoholic beverages. From the mid-20th century, women began working as chemists for brewing establishments. Beginning in the 1960s and 1970s, they began re-entering the field as craft brewers. In many Western societies, brewing has been seen as a "man's domain"; however, ethnographic studies and archaeological records indicate that brewing alcohol was primarily an activity engaged in