Shochu Diet: Week-8

Jidai Kurahachi, with its lovely rice paper label, is an uncompromising rice shochu, foregoing the smooth light taste that many kome shochu strive for while attempting to deliver a robust, rich taste using black koji and clay pot aging. It was worth the effort.

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.

The first thing you notice about Window’s Migaki and its sister shochu Window’s Mugiichi is the “window” of the bottle with artwork by artist Ichiro Tsuruta. Our photo doesn’t really do this artwork justice (her face isn’t crooked). Don’t let the pretty packaging fool you (with many wines the artistry of the label is directly inversely related to the quality of the product inside). Window’s Migaki is a barrel aged barley shochu (Mugiichi is this same shochu unaged) of the highest quality.

Ginza no Suzume Kohaku may be the first shochu I tried that showed just how diverse and complex this style of spirit can be. Ginza is a barley shochu, much like iichiko, which I consider a super easy drinking, mild, tasty starter-shochu, yet the two couldn’t be more different.

Ginza is aged in repurposed American white oak bourbon barrels. This gives the shochu its yellowish tint and oaky, smokey nose and taste. On the pallette it starts with the strangely oaken, earthy flavor that transforms into a sweet caramel.

What’s in a name? It helps to understand the origins of Kappa No Sasoi Mizu, which is literally translated to “Kappa pump priming”, but more subtly refers to the allure of the mythical Kappa, which will drown you if you come to close to the water (mizu). More subtly the Kappa is known to sometimes seduce women, which would explain this shochu most fully.