Visiting your local wine store will allow you to buy your favorite products to enjoy with dinner or while entertaining friends in the evening, but it can also be fun to browse the products and choose things that are new to you. Most wine stores will have a selection of rice wines, including sake. If you've often enjoyed eating at Japanese restaurants, there's a chance that you've had sake at some point in the past. However, if you're completely new to this type of wine, it's a good one to take home because of the number of different ways that you can use it. Here are three popular ways to enjoy sake. 

Straight

The most common way to consume sake is straight. A small serving of this wine with your meal can be enjoyable. Given the Japanese roots of this beverage, you'll want to pair it with Japanese food. For example, if you order sushi from a local restaurant and have it delivered, treat yourself to a small serving of sake. This is a wine that people typically consume at room temperature, so you'll want to leave your bottle on the counter instead of in the fridge. Another option is to drink it warm, which can be a nice option on a particularly cold day in the winter.

Cocktails

While most people think of sake as being something that you drink on its own, there are numerous cocktails that you can make with this type of wine. If you're hosting some friends for an evening of Japanese food, look online to find a few cocktails that you can recommend to your friends. You can buy the ingredients and even try making some of these drinks before your friends arrive. Popular sake cocktails pair this wine with products such as brandy, bitters, and fruit juice, depending on which cocktail you choose.

Cooking

If you enjoy creating new recipes in the kitchen, you may want to incorporate your bottle of sake into your cooking. Its unique flavor makes it a good addition to many different soup stocks, especially when you're adding other Asian ingredients. You can also deglaze a pan with a small amount of sake to impart its gentle flavor to whatever you're cooking. If you want to augment the flavor of a particular sauce you're making, consider adding some sake.

To shop for the right bottle of sake, visit a store that has the wine for sale.