<p>Japanese sake breweries, most of which generally operate as small- and medium-sized companies, use the central carbon metabolism (comprising glycolysis, the tricarboxylic acid cycle, and ethanol fermentation) for producing sake. However, it is difficult for such companies to use expensive advanced instrumentation. Metabolite analysis using LC–MS or GC–MS could be more useful for such breweries. Our research group has developed various mix-mode chromatography (MMC) methods for analyzing the major metabolites produced during the multiple parallel fermentation (MPF) of sake. This mini review reports on three different MMCs and makes an attempt to understand the behaviors of major metabolites of central carbon metabolism, along with saccharification, during the MPF of sake.</p> Graphical abstract <p></p>