EPISODE INTRO
In the 23rd episode of the Japan Distilled podcast, your hosts Christopher Pellegrini and Stephen Lyman explore American shochu (made in the United States). American shochu is in its infancy, but there is a lot of creativity and experimentation.
CREDITS
Theme Song: Begin Anywhere by Tomoko Miyata (http://tomokomiyata.net/)
Mixing and Editing: Rich Pav (https://www.uncannyjapan.com/)
HOSTS
CHRISTOPHER PELLEGRINI Vermont born and bred, long-time Tokyo resident and author of The Shochu Handbook, Christopher learned about delicious fermentations as a beer brewer at Otter Creek (Middlebury, VT). He now spends most of his waking hours convincing strangers that shochu and awamori are unlike anything they’ve ever tried before.
STEPHEN LYMAN discovered Japan’s indigenous spirits at an izakaya in New York City. He was so enthralled that he now lives in Japan and works in a tiny craft shochu distillery every autumn. His first book, The Complete Guide to Japanese Drinks, was nominated for a 2020 James Beard Award.
Stephen and Christopher enjoy excellent spirits no matter where they are made, but as Americans living in Japan, American shochu is particularly intriguing.
If you have any comments or questions about this episode of Japan Distilled, please reach out to Stephen or Christopher via Twitter. We would love to hear from you.
SHOW NOTES
Is Shochu Shochu if Made in Another Country?
Of course it is. There may be some question whether it can be classified as honkaku, or authentic, shochu, but there is no question that a koji fermented spirits made from an approved ingredient and distilled once in a pot still is a shochu.
We are more closely aware of shochu made in the US, but we have caught wind of shochu being made elsewhere. If you have additional information about these new foreign shochu companies, please let us know!
Sodo Spirits
As early as 2009, KC Sheehan at Sodo Spirits was making barley shochu in the Sodo neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. Their Even Star shochu line was an interesting mix of aromatic shochu unrepentantly designed as a cocktail play. Their primary brand was made with rosemary, but they also had ginger, mint, and chili pepper brands. All were made by adding the aromatic to the fermentation shortly before distillation so they were rightly authentic shochu. Sadly, they closed around 2016, but they can rightly be thought of as the O.G.
St. George Spirits
The most established distillery making shochu is St. George in Alameda, California where their master distliller Lance Winters has made a hybrid sake lees shochu by refermenting Calrose rice sake lees from a local sake brewery and blending with GMO free neutral spirit before single pot distillation in one of their beautiful copper pot stills. California Shochu was inspired by the extremely popular Ramen Shop in neighboring Oakland. Lance also designed the label for this striking package.
Hawaiian Shochu Company
The most authentic American shochu is made by a Japanese couple on the north coast of Oahu in Hawaii. Ken Hirata was a distillery worker at the fabled Manzen Distillery in Kirishima, Kagoshima before moving to Hawaii to set up the Hawaiian Shochu Company. Everything is made by hand in a distillery that is set up almost identically to Manzen.
Their main brand, Namihana, is released a couple times of year and is available almost exclusively through the distillery.
American Shochu Company
Taka Amano and his wife Lynne established the American Shochu Company in Frederick, Maryland with the goal of bridging American and Japanese cultures. Their Umai brand of 100% barley shochu has been a hit locally in Maryland and is now finding its way into other markets. Their 40% Roy’s Demon expression has been very well received and has fascinating packaging. They’ve created an expressive American shochu that should bridge our cultures for those lucky enough to find their bottles.
Horyzon Spirits
The latest entry to the American shochu scene is Horyzon, a rice shochu made from domestic American rice. This brand made in a craft distillery in Georgia is 40% ABV and is an incredible first effort from these enthusiastic young distillers. We see bright things ahead for them as they launch their flagship product, Horyzon Harvest Select. And in true Japanese fashion, they are too humble to put “shochu” on the label so they have decided to call their product an “American rice koji spirit.” We approve!
More to Explore?
To learn more about these American shochu brands and others we mention on the podcast, please have a listen. Also, if you know of others, please let us know!
Hello Christopher and Steven,
I hope all is well. I have a new, broad-topic inquiry for you. I saw where last month Diageo made a minority stake investment in Komasa Kanosuke which, although founded in 2017, was started by the 138-year-old shochu producer Komasa Jyozo. Komasa Jyozo pioneered barrel-aged shochus from what I’ve read. In fact, some of their whiskeys now are aged in their used shochu barrels.
From what I can tell, barrel-aged shochu has been around for decades albeit rare. However, as of late the aging trend seems to be increasing. Do you see this as a new trend whereby Japanese and American distilleries are starting to blend tradition with new, innovative expressions? Western distilleries are moving in a similar direction… Suntory Legent, Dewar’s Japanese Smooth, etc. And for further discussion, if these distilleries are using barley in these shochu expressions, is it safe to assume they are using only steamed barley, not malted? Crossing koji rice with malted barley would seem like the ultimate blend which probably wouldn’t be accepted in the east or the west in any category.
Best!
Whit, thanks for the note. Malting is expressly prohibited in honkaku (authentic) shochu production so they would not be using any malt even if they are making both malted whiskies and barley shochu. Blending the two would be an interesting experiment, but I am not sure of anyone who has done that to date.