Sake, the national drink of Japan, gives you a warm, pleasant feeling as you drink it. By contrast, the country’s other most popular drink, shochu, punches you directly in the face.

Shochu is 20%-35% alcohol by volume — less than whiskey or vodka but more than sake or wine. But anything it lacks in ABV, it makes up for with an intense, earthy taste.

Sake is made entirely from rice. Shochu, meanwhile, can be made with barley, buckwheat, chestnuts, sweet potatoes, carrots, sesame seeds, rye, and more — whatever is lying around.

Much like vodka, shochu is distilled rather than brewed, meaning it gets heated into vapor and then cooled back into liquid form. Sake, meanwhile, is fermented similarly to beer.

Historians generally pinpoint sake’s invention as during the 8th century A.D. During the entirety of the samurai era and beyond, the only two beverages of note were tea and sake.

Shochu, meanwhile, was first referenced in the 16th century. Though it's newer, it's more popular than sake in Japan, outselling the older beverage every year since 2003.

On the southern island of Kyushu, the term "sake" generally just means shochu. While shochu is less known internationally than sake, it will likely see a popularity boom soon.