title_body: Is sake a wine, beer or spirit drink?
upvoted_answer: Short Answer
  Sake is categorized as sake, and should not be grouped together with other types of liquor. In Japan, you need a license specifically for making sake, even if you have licenses for making beer, wine and spirits!
  
  Long Answer
  To help clarify, let's compare the different liquor types.
  
  
    Is sake a spirit?
    No. Sake is brewed. By this definition alone, it disqualifies itself to be classified as a spirit, which are distilled. Shochu (焼酎) would be a closer Japanese counterpart there.
    
    Is sake a wine?
    No. Sake uses a complex fermentation process known as a parallel multiple fermentation, where the rice is converted from start to glucose, then glucose to alcohol simultaneously in the same container. Wine uses the glucose from the grapes, making it a simpler process single fermentation process.
    
    Is sake a beer?
    No. While beer is like sake in the fact that it must first convert starch into glucose, this is done in two separate steps, making it a serial multiple fermentation process. 
  
  
  By comparing the processes of making the different liquors, we can see that sake does not fall under spirits, wine, or beer. It is somewhere in between wine and beer in terms of process.
  
  Why is it often referred to as a wine?
  I do not have the definitive answer, as there is no source that tells me the story behind that. But I can point the similarities between the two liquor types.
  
  
    1) Alcohol content is similar.
    A rough average for red and white wines combined is about 13-14%. It's about 15-16% for sake. Spirits like whisky are at 40%, so sake is nowhere near there.
    
    2) They are both highly dependent on ingredients (location).
    For wine, it's the terroir, and for sake, it's the water. This makes the location of both liquors' makers an important factor to the flavors.
    
    3) Taste-wise they are close to each other.
    Especially white wine. Sake can also have sweet, fruity tastes.
    
    4) The way of drinking is similar.
    When you drink a good wine, you let it roll on your tongue a little, try to find the different flavors. The same goes with sake (God forbid you'd just chug it down like a shot of bad tequila!).
    
    5) They way they are sold are similar.
    You don't buy 6-packs of sake, but a large sake bottle, similar to (but usually wider than) wine bottles. There are of course small one-cup sizes, and carton sake (similar to box wine), but the main method of purchase has always been the large bottle.
    
    6) In the US, it's branded as a wine.
    It certainly isn't beer, but if it gets grouped into spirits, sake would be harder to sell in the States, as it would require a separate liquor license to sell it. By counting it as a "wine", stores only need a beer/wine license to sell.
  
  
  In the end, I feel like wine is "similar enough" to most people to use as a comparison. I said that sake is sake, but really phrasing it like that doesn't help explain things to people. Having something familiar to compare to makes it easy, though I do wish people didn't stop at "sake equals wine", since that isn't an accurate explanation either.
  
  Here are few sites I referenced when looking into the details:
  Documents from the Japanese National Tax Agency regarding liquor types (JP).
  Homare sake maker website, describing the process of sake-making (JP)
  A small article on the similarities of sake and wine (EN)
  Oenon, another sake maker. Has pics of the sake-making process (JP)