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Japan's ancient rice brew — not a spirit but a fermented drink of polished rice, water, koji and yeast, as deep and varied as wine. Ingredients: sake rice polished to remove outer layers (the finest daiginjo grades polish away half the grain or more), pure water, koji mold that converts rice starch to sugar, and yeast. Method: 1) Steam the polished rice, cultivate koji on part of it, and ferment everything together in a rare parallel fermentation. 2) Press, filter and pasteurize. 3) Serve chilled in a small ochoko cup poured from a tokkuri flask — or gently warmed for richer styles. The experience: from bone-dry and crisp to fragrant, fruity and umami-deep. History: sake has been brewed for over a thousand years and remains woven into Shinto ceremony — weddings, New Year and the breaking of a sake barrel lid, kagami biraki, to bless new beginnings.

Scotland's discipline, Japan's soul: Japanese whisky is famed for precision, purity and balance — and for winning the world's top whisky honors. Ingredients: malted barley and grains, pristine water, yeast, and time in oak — including rare mizunara, Japan's own fragrant oak. Method: 1) Distill in the Scottish pot-still tradition that founder Masataka Taketsuru learned in Scotland. 2) Age in bourbon, sherry or mizunara casks. 3) Serve neat, mizuwari (with chilled water), or as a sparkling highball over crystal-clear ice. The experience: elegant and meticulous — honey, citrus, incense-like sandalwood from mizunara, and a finish of extraordinary length. History: Suntory built Japan's first malt distillery, Yamazaki, in 1923 with Taketsuru's help; he later founded Nikka in 1934. A century on, their rivalry defines an industry.

Japan's quiet giant: a distilled spirit of sweet potato, barley, rice or buckwheat, lighter than whisky and made to accompany food. Ingredients: a base ingredient — imo (sweet potato), mugi (barley), kome (rice) or soba (buckwheat) — plus koji and water. Method: 1) Ferment the koji-sweetened base, then distill once (honkaku shochu) to keep the ingredient's character. 2) Rest and dilute to about 25% alcohol. 3) Serve oyu-wari (cut with hot water), on the rocks, or with cold water — the order of pouring changes the aroma. The experience: earthy and expressive — roasted sweet potato, clean barley, delicate rice — soft in alcohol but big in flavor. History: shochu has been distilled in Kyushu for some 500 years and is the everyday spirit of southern Japan; in recent decades it has rivaled even sake in domestic popularity.