Its true Akane Niikura is able to match food and wines without ever taking a drop of sake. The fourth grader does this by smelling the wines and she can tell exactly by smell what food will work best with which rice wine. The customers at the sake bar that her mother owns love Akane’s choices for them. When this ten year old grows up she also wants to own a sake bar. The Sake Institute of Japan acknowledges her as an expert after she passed their tests without ever tasting a drop.

Learn Something Fun: Sake production starts with polishing the rice. Polished rice yields better sake. (Some brewers polish the rice down to 50 percent of its original size using only the “ heart “ of the kernel). After polishing, the rice is washed, soaked, and then steamed.