The saketini is a
cocktail
A cocktail is a mixed drink, usually alcoholic beverage, alcoholic. Most commonly, a cocktail is a combination of one or more liquor, spirits mixed with other ingredients, such as juices, flavored syrups, tonic water, Shrub (drink), shrubs, and ...
that uses
sake
Sake, , or saki, also referred to as Japanese rice wine, is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indeed any East Asi ...
as its base, along with other ingredients such as
simple syrups, distilled spirits, liqueurs, juices and garnishes. The name saketini is a
portmanteau
In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together. of "sake" and "
martini", a cocktail traditionally made from
gin
Gin () is a distilled alcoholic drink flavoured with juniper berries and other botanical ingredients.
Gin originated as a medicinal liquor made by monks and alchemists across Europe. The modern gin was modified in Flanders and the Netherlands ...
and
vermouth
Vermouth (, ) is an Italian aromatized wine, aromatized, fortified wine, flavored with various Botany, botanicals (roots, Bark (botany), barks, flowers, seeds, Herb, herbs, and Spice, spices) and sometimes Food coloring, colored. The modern ve ...
.
It is not a true
martini, but is one of many
drinks that incorporate the term ''martini'' into their names.
History
The 2015 work "The Cocktail Detective" attributes the drink's invention to the chef Matsuda, in Queens during the
1964 World's Fair, and only later reviving it in the 1990s.
Preceding the resurgence in popularity of the martini in the early 2000s, people began using sake as a mixer in cocktails, simultaneous with a larger broadening of the term "martini" to include a wide variety of cocktails. Some cocktail purists feel the saketini is an insult to the integrity of the classic gin-vermouth cocktail. Others, such as mixologist Lucy Brennan,
Lovely Saketinis
Imbibe Magazine approve of the saketini and have adapted and concocted many sake-based cocktail recipes. Hiroaki Aoki
, better known as Rocky Aoki, was a Japanese-born American restaurateur, professional offshore powerboat racer and amateur wrestler. He was the founder of the Japanese cuisine restaurant chain Benihana, and ''Genesis'' magazine.
He was als ...
, the founder of Benihana restaurants, says in the 2003 book ''Sake: Water From Heaven'': "if a cocktail made with sake is pleasing to the palate, why should tradition stand in the way of progress?"
See also
* Sake bomb
The sake bomb or sake bomber is a beer cocktail made by dropping a shot glass of sake into a glass of beer.
Preparation
Two chopsticks are placed parallel on top of the glass of beer, and the shot glass is placed on top of them. The drinker ...
* Tamagozake
is a Japanese alcoholic drink consisting of heated sake, sugar, and a raw egg
An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until t ...
References
{{reflist
Further reading
* Griffith Frost and John Gauntner ''Sake Pure and Simple'' p. 110 reference to sake cocktails
* Rocky Aoki with Pierre A. Lehu ''Sake Water From Heaven'' p. 108 sake cocktail recipes and statement
External links
Seattle Weekly- Saketini? Sock it to Me
Seattle Weekly
Saketini Restaurant L.A.
LA.com
Washington Post
Cocktails with sake