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.

Kuro Godai, with the rich, dirty flavor so prevalent in black koji sweet potato shochus, adds a dimension to this richness by opting for an unfiltered approach. Nigori (unfiltered) sakes are cloudy, white, and sweet. Nigori shochus are still clear, but have a overtly rich, buttery mouthfeel not found in filtered shochus. The only telltale sign that this is a nigori are the droplets of spirit that cling to the walls of the bottle.

Zuisen is perhaps the largest distiller of Awamori in Okinawa. This Hakuryu represents their entry level Awamori, though they have domestic varieties that are aged at more than 20 years. Like all Awamori, this represents a full flavored shochu with a great deal of complexity. These spirits are difficult to place flavor-wise and the only that I was able to distinguish clearly from Zuisen was a molasses palate. Unlike other Awamori I’ve had this one is quite balanced. I wouldn’t necessarily call it smooth, but it is mellow for the style.

Like most "kuro koji" versions of white (shiro) koji shochus, the black koji really opens up the flavor profile. While Ginza No Suzume, which we haven't yet profiled, has a nice light neutral mugi flavor, this Ginza Kuro is much bigger. A dirty, earthy, fatty nose opens up the promise of a large taste and unexpectedly for a non-barrel aged mugi shochu it delivers.

Until I tasted Kou-Itten (Kohitten on the box) I thought I understood the range of shochu flavors and impressions. Nothing like trying a different style for the first time to turn your entire impressions of the spirit on its head. Koiden is an imo shochu aged in oak barrels a minimum of 500 days.