The fragrance　and the taste in Japanese alcoholic drink “Japanese Sake” were outlined here. Various types of sake, which had been brewed by different processes using different degree of polished rice, yeast, fermentation method, ripeness term, etc, were chosen. Major components of the Sake were listed and explained with the contribution to the peculiar fragrance and the taste. It was introduced that qualitative analysis values of the ingredients acid degree, alcohols, carbonyl groups, esters, amino acids, and furfural, etc. gave characteristics of each of the sakes with the peculiar fragranceand taste. The relation between ingredient alcohol and healthiness was also touched in. The Sake tasting was performed by young tasters, and the characteristic rich-flavor of each of the Sake was confirmed.

Regional features of sake presented to Annual Japan Sake Awards were investigated. Because most of sake applied to the contest were made from rice cultivar Yamadanishiki, distinct regionality was not observed for rice material. However, about 15% of sake were made from rice cultivars other than Yamadanishiki, including cultivars of their own region, and some of them got gold prize. As for yeast, while Kyokai 1801 was used nationwide, many breweries used yeast strains developed in their region. Regional differences were observed for the concentrations of ginjo-ka components (isoamyl acetate and ethyl caproate), which may be reflected mainly by the yeast strains used. In addition, incidence of some off-flavors was varied among regions.

Sake contains many components of tastes and aroma. Especially aroma is the characteristic, important factor for the first impression of sake. “Ethyl caproate”, an apple-like flavor, and “ isoamyl acetate”, a banana-like flavor, are the representative components for the fruity aroma “Ginjo-ka”. The sake yeasts produce each aroma during fermentation, the production mechanisms have been elucidated recently. Ethyl caproate is biosynthesized via fatty acid production pathway, and isoamyl acetate is biosynthesized via amino acid production pathway.The breeding methods for a yeast producing a large amount of aroma have been developed, and the industrial brewing yeasts have been actually used for brewing of sake.

It is widely known that breath after alcohol-ingestion has unpleasant smell. However, it remains unknown which compounds characterize the breath odor induced by ingestion of various alcoholic beverages. We identified some compounds contributing to the odor by GC-olfactometry/MS analysis of the breaths of examinees before and after alcohol-ingestion. Furthermore, we indicated the difference in generation levels of the odorous compounds among alcoholic beverages, such as sake (a Japanese brewed alcoholic beverage), shochu (a Japanese distilled alcoholic beverage), and beer.