Rice wine is an alcoholic beverage fermented and distilled from rice, traditionally consumed in East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia.
Rice wine is made by the fermentation of rice starch that has been converted to sugars. Despite the name "rice wine," the process is more similar to beer, which also depends on a starch-to-sugar conversion. In the case of beer, the enzymes for starch conversion are generated in the grain through malting, while in rice wine, a culture of microbes, called koji, is introduced to the rice to produce the sugar.
Rice wine typically has an alcohol content of 18–25% ABV. Rice wines are used in East Asian, Southeast Asian and South Asian gastronomy at formal dinners and banquets and in cooking.