Nama

Unpasteurised sake

Sake never contains sulphur dioxide as a preservative so to keep it fresh it generally undergoes pasteurisation at least once and mostly twice. Totally unpasteurised sake is a fresh and lively style of sake and is known as “nama” which translates as raw. Namazake requires refrigeration to maintain freshness.

Two subsets of Namazake are Namachozo and Namazume which have actually been pasteurised once and are a little more shelf stable than totally unpasteurised sake.