Introduction to Japanese Shochu

On our nomi-kai #56 at The Art of Sake Office, we introduced Japanese's best kept secret, Japanese Shochu. "Kokushu" refers to traditional Japanese alcoholic beverages like sake, honkaku shochu, and awamori, which, along with the koji mold brewing techniques used to produce them, were recognized as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2024.

Adrian has been interested in Shochu for some time, visiting Kyushu 4 times in the last 2 years to learn more about Shochu. We have just started adding Shochu into our portfolio, starting with Craftsman Tada from Fukuoka, Nasakeshima from Tokyo Islands and Nishihira from Amami Islands. We will have more products to add in the coming months!

At the end of the session, we conducted a short survey ranking the Shochu according to their most preferred labels. The most preferred Shochu is;

1. Nasakeshima Bakkan

2. Nishihira Kana Black

3. Craftsman Tada Chianti Brown

See more of our Shochu collections!

During our session, we introduce some of the basics of Shochu.

Shochu is a native Japanese spirit, which usually contains around 25% abv, but can be up to 45% abv. It is split into Honkaku Shochu, which is one time pot distilled, and Korui Shochu, which is column distilled. Fermentation is done with Koji, and there can be no additives after distillation. It has no sugar and has low calories.

Shochu is considered relatively young compared to other japanese alcohol, and the methods of distillation can be seen to be from 3 different sources.

Most Shochu distilleries produce Shochu in a similar way. It starts with making Koji, which is usually  made from rice, barley or sweet potato. Yeast is first cultivated in the the primary broth, and in the main fermentation, the principal ingredient is added and fermented. Afterwards, the moromi is distilled to make Shochu.

3 different Kojis are used; Yellow, Black and White. Yellow Koji is usually used for sake production, and avoided because of complexity in usage, especially temperature management. Shochu made using yellow koji is usually soft and delicate. Black Koji is the tradition koji for shochu, and is the only koji used for Awamori. It is usually full bodied with distinct rich flavours. White koji is the standard koji for making shochu. It is a mutation of black koji, and is easy to use because of no staining.

For Honkaku shochu, there are 2 main distillation styles that create different styles of shochu.

There is more regionality in Shochu/Awamori than Japan Sake because of the varied raw materials that goes into Shochu. there are 5 areas that have Geographic Indication (GI) Statius, 

Lastly, Shochu is drunk quite differently from other liquors. Another method of drinking it is pre-dilution, called maewari. you can mix it with water and let it rest for a few hours/days before drinking. 

This is just the beginning of The Art of Sake journey into Shochu. Stay tuned for more as we continue to source and introduce more Shochu to you!

See more of our Shochu collections!