Nankai Shochu is from Amami Oshima, an important part of shochu history. This is especially interesting since shochu has outsold sake by a factor of two for the last couple of decades. In all, there are over 600 shochu distilleries in Japan, which is half the number of sake breweries. From there, it went to Kyushu, where the largest number of distilleries are now located. This gave birth to awamori, the Okinawan distilled spirit that uses black koji and Thai rice.įrom there, distillation techniques traveled to Amami Oshima (where our distillery is located). The most popular version theory, however, is that the Ryukyu Kingdom (now known as Okinawa) loved all alcoholic drinks, had discovered distilled spirits via their expansive trading, and eventually brought the technology home from Thailand. As to how shochu first arrived in Japan, there are a number of theories including trade routes from Korea and China. We agree the priest was stingy, though the worker shouldn’t have posted his compaint in the social media equivalent of their time. The word itself was first discovered on a wooden tag from 1559 where a worker complained that a priest was stingy for not sharing his shochu. Shochu’s history goes back at least 500 years.

The special vacuum stills used to produce ultra-smooth Nankai A Brief Look at Shochu’s History

Pure, flavorful, all-natural, and healthy. The single-distillation combined with koji-fermentation creates a craft spirit unlike any other. This makes it very different from other spirits like whisky or vodka, which rely mostly on yeast. It is a highly effective and efficient microorganism that also imparts the unique Japanese flavor characteristics. Koji-Fermented: Like many iconic Japanese foods (including sake, soy sauce, and miso), shochu utilizes a special mold called koji in the fermentation process.Very few, if any, other spirits in the world can claim to be single-distilled. This requires that every ingredient in the process be ultra-premium grade, as everything will affect the end result. As a result, the spirit is incredibly flavorful and highly representative of the spirit’s regional ingredients and terroir. Single-Distilled: Produced from a single pass through a pot still.What makes genuine shochu beautiful and complex is also what makes it entirely unique from all other spirits.

Therefore, for the purpose of this article, we will focus on the artisanal honkaku/genuine shochu. Starting with the basics, there are two types of shochu: “otsurui” (also known as “honkaku” or genuine) and “korui.” Korui is more like Korean soju or vodka in its production method. While that’s the simple and legal definition, it doesn’t do it justice. It also doesn’t begin to explain why we at Nankai are so passionate about sharing this amazing craft spirit with as many people as possible. Kappa-Dera) is dedicated to the creatures, and contains a mysterious relic claimed to be a kappa’s mummified hand.What is Shochu exactly? Shochu (pronounced “show-chew”) is a Japanese distilled spirit with alcohol by volume of no more than 45% and made from a variety of ingredients, but commonly rice, sweet potato, barley, or kokuto (“black sugar”). One theory suggests that this monster was inspired by the Japanese giant salamander, a large amphibian that could be found roaming freely in pre-industrial Japan. Kappa are mostly regarded as friendly beings with their big eyes, goofy beaks and distinctive crests of hair, but in the Edo Period they were regarded as dangerous carnivores capable of dragging children into the water and ripping their bodies open to feed on their livers, or their shirikodama-a ball of spiritual power housed within the human body. It also shares the same name as kappa, green reptilian creatures that live in ponds, rivers and lakes, and there are over a dozen statues of them lining the area’s streets. Kappabashi is an area of downtown Tokyo near Asakusa renowned for its kitchenware stores and its plastic models of food that make handy souvenirs.

The number one spirit in japan