If you’re interested in improving your knowledge and appreciation of sake, WSET will soon be launching an intermediate level qualification. This immersive and interactive course will help you understand how key ingredients and production processes influence the taste, style and quality of sake.
Upon completion you’ll gain a globally recognised qualification and the skills to select, taste, describe and recommend sake with confidence.
What you'll learn
The WSET Level 2 Award in Sake focuses on how key ingredients and production processes influence the style and quality of sake. It will also teach you how to taste, describe and evaluate the quality of sake.
If you’re a drinks or hospitality professional, you’ll be able to offer valuable guidance on sake selection and service to your colleagues and customers. If you’re a sake enthusiast, you’ll know exactly what to look for when choosing sake for any occasion.
What's covered?
- The key production processes that are used to make sake and how they can affect style and quality
- Sake ingredients, growing rice, making steamed white rice, making kōji, alcoholic fermentation, post-fermentation options
- The categories, grades and speciality styles of sake and the key production choices that are required to create them
- Categories of sake, grades of premium sake, speciality styles of sake, key production choices, Japanese labelling terms
- How to store and serve sake, and the key considerations when pairing sake and food
Tasting
WSET's approach focuses on learning through tasting. This allows you to experience the influence of ingredients, processes and other key factors in the glass.
While you won’t be assessed on your tasting skills, tasting forms an important part of every WSET course. Through the course, you will learn how to use the WSET Level 2 Systematic Approach to Tasting Sake® as a framework for making tasting notes and exploring different styles, tastes and flavours.
The samples you try on the course will vary by course provider, but we recommend that X sakes are tasted across a range of styles.
Course delivery
This qualification has a minimum requirement of X hours of study.
- X hours of guided learning with a course provider
- X hours of private study
- A one-hour exam
WSET course providers will be able to offer the course in a variety of formats, for example over consecutive days, weeks or evenings.
This qualification is currently available in English only.
Assessment
Your learning will be assessed by a closed-book exam of 50 multiple-choice questions, to be completed in 60 minutes. Exams will be available both online and in-person.
This qualification is graded:
- Pass: 55% - 69%
- Pass with Merit: 70% - 84%
- Pass with Distinction: 85% or more
WSET is committed to making our exams fair and accessible, and ensuring that no candidate is placed at a disadvantage. If you have any special requirements or need to request reasonable adjustments, please discuss this with your chosen course provider.
Entry requirements
This qualification is suitable for beginners as well as those with some foundational sake knowledge. If you are completely new to the subject we recommend starting with the Level 1 Award in Sake, though this is not a requirement.
You must be of legal drinking age in the country where you are attending the course to participate in any alcohol tasting. However, this is not a barrier to successfully completing the qualification.
Requirements may vary by course provider.
Course Information
For full details on course content and assessment criteria, please download the official qualification specification below.
When can you enrol?
We expect to have the first courses available to book in spring 2024.
Courses will be offered through WSET's network of course providers. The course will initially be available in-person in a limited number of markets. We’ll be expanding the number of markets where this course is available throughout 2024 and beyond.