\o7 Kampai!\f7 And a sip is taken. The clear liquid rolls lightly, smoothly over the tongue, slightly sweet. But after the drink slides down the throat, the chest suddenly warms, like a furnace that's reached its optimum temperature.

A satisfying drink, this sake, perhaps brewed in Kobe, Japan, where much of the Japanese rice wine is produced. Or maybe it is an American-made sake, produced by one of the Japanese-owned breweries in Northern California.

Wrong on both accounts. This sake was brewed right here in Los Angeles County, in Vernon.

For six years, the American Pacific Rim brewery has quietly produced 300,000 gallons of sake annually. Tucked away in the industrial city of Vernon, the brewery is one of only six sake breweries in the nation and the only one in Southern California.

Although a small plant, American Pacific Rim is second in sales and production among the six breweries, four of which are in Northern California. Another just opened in Golden, Colo.

"Small sake plant, but very mighty sake plant," said American Pacific Rim president Take Numano.

Often called "rice wine" but actually made from fermented grains, like beer, sake originated in China 2,000 years ago. But the Japanese made it their national drink, and it is the traditional alcoholic beverage at all important occasions, including weddings, New Year's Day and other celebrations.

Still, sake sales in Japan are decreasing as new generations become more interested in other liquors and beverages. Conversely, American interest in the Japanese drink has grown. Analysts say the rise is linked to the popularity of sushi bars and Japanese restaurants.

U.S. consumption of sake has about doubled since 1985, with 2 million gallons consumed in 1990, most of it in Los Angeles and San Francisco, according to figures in the book, "Sake (USA)," by Fred Eckhardt. Japanese companies have built sake breweries in the United States to meet the demand.

Domestic brewers produced about 55% of the sake consumed in the United States, with the rest imported from Japan, according to "Sake (USA)."

Numano is largely credited with starting the American sake production trend. The 58-year-old Long Beach resident, who came to the United States in 1963 as an employee of a Japanese liquor importer, was the first to produce sake on the American mainland when he opened a brewery in 1976 in a former dairy in Berkeley.