Sweet Potato, or imo, shochus are perhaps the most common in Japan, though they don’t receive quite as much love in the United States. Rice & barley shochus tend to be smoother and easier to drink and since there is no equivalent Americn spirit distilled with sweet potato, imo shochus tend to have stronger flavors than we’re accustomed to from a clear spirit. Read More...
I’m sure many of you are familiar with the iconic line from Bill Murray in Lost in Translation, “It’s Suntory Time” as the disenchanted movie star tries to sell Japanese whisky. For many Westerners this was our first exposure to Suntory as a brand. They sell everything from bottled water to iced tea to whiskey to vitamins to shochu. I’ve tried several of their whiskys and enjoyed all of them so I was excited when I saw their shochu available in the U.S. Read More...
This iichiko silhouette is probably the most common Japanese shochu currently available in the United States. In NYC I’ve seen it in random mom & pop liquor stores as the only shochu among a shelf of sake options. It’s most commonly available in 750ml bottles, though I’ve seen other sizes in other countries. This is a great starter shochu, which is why I’ve chosen it for my first tasting note. It was my introduction to shochu back in 2008. I’d had Korean soju before, but Japanese shochu is a strikingly different (and better) experience. Read More...
Satsuma Hozan is the white koji sweet potato shochu from Nishi Shuzo, which also makes such premium products as Tomi No Hozan, Kiccho Hozan, and the ultra-premium Tenshi No Yuwaku. Besides these year round products, Nishi Shuzo also produces a line of seasonal limited edition sweet potato shochus including Ayamurasaki, Beniazuma, and Shiroyukata.
Part of what's fascinating about exploring shochu is that each distiller has their own approach to reaching flavor. The general rule is that if you want a smooth, mellow shochu you look for a shochu made with low pressure distillation and white koji. That combination is going to give you a very mellow shochu no matter what base grain is used. Conversely, a black koji and atmospheric distillation shochu is going to maximize flavors, create all sorts of complexity that many drinkers either love or hate. Where things start to get very interesting are in the middle.
Toyonaga, the "Land of Plenty" shochu, is made by toji Jiro Toyonaga with premium milled Yamada Nishiki rice in the Kuma Valley (aka, Shochu Valley) of Kumamoto Prefecture, which gives it the special designation of being a kumajochu, which is to kome shochu what Champagne is to sparkling wine.
Satsuma Mura, a traditionally distilled honkaku imojochu from Kagoshima (home of the most famous imo shochus), is a mouthful of contradictions and complications. A fragrant, earthy nose as if you'd just dug a sweet potato out of the dirt and sliced it open promises a rich flavor that this shochu delivers without reservation.
Toki No Kokuin is an award winning shochu, reciving a Gold Medal at the 2009 World Wine Championships. This reflects, no doubt, the extremely neutral and easy-drinking nature of the spirit. This pure rice shochu is very easy drinking despite aging for 3 years in oak barrels. While there is very little English language information avialable, my guess is that these are virgin oak barrels as there is no hint of any other oak-aged spirit in the flavor.
Oak barrel aging has become a popular process as shochu producers experiment with different aging techniques to give their shochus unique flavor profiles. Kannoko and Ginza no Suzume Kohaku have full flavored profiles thanks to this aging process and are popular mugi shochus, particularly among whiskey drinkers. Kakushigura uses this process as well, but with a slightly different approach.
