PHOTO by ROSHEILA ROBLES

When it comes to accompaniment for Japanese or Chinese food, I have always been a champion of light beer, but   recently something changed. Winter arrived, and on a cold day last month I ordered hot sake with my meal at Chen’s on Broadway. Strange, delightful things ensued. Warmth spread slowly down my throat into my stomach the same way it would with whiskey. Ideas swirled psychedelically in my mind the way they might on absinthe or hash. I spent the next hour blissed out in Bixby Park, collar up to the wind, fallen leaves blowing this way and that. Once home, I dug out a traditional Japanese sake set an old lady once gave me. To go with it, I picked up a $6 bottle of Gekkeikan sake at a CVS pharmacy. Japanese-influenced but California-made, Gekkeikan is 15.6% alcohol. Judge a bottle by its price? Mask any traceable hints of cheapness by warming it up: Submerge a container of it in a bowl of 100-degree water. Traditionally served to commemorate seasonal holidays, hot sake proved to be an excellent way of commemorating the annual Tuning-Out-My-Extended-Family during Christmas, and Acting-Childish-and-Stoned at New Year’s. Since my landmark, blustery day of discovery in December, I feel as though a whole new world of imbibement has been unearthed. Join me in the burgeoning fogginess.

AVAILABLE LOCALLY AT CVS PHARMACIES

Tags: cvs, Drink of the Week, Long Beach, sake, the burgeoning fogginess