Podcast

INTRO

In episode 72 our hosts reflect on a massive increase in awareness for shochu in awamori overseas and wonder about what 2024 has in store.

CREDITS

Theme Song: Begin Anywhere by Tomoko Miyata (http://tomokomiyata.net/)

Mixing and Editing: Rich Pav (https://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 are absolutely fanatic for these koji-based spirits form Japan and its so rewarding to finally see growth in the categories overseas. Let’s keep this going!

If you have any comments or questions about this episode, please reach out to Stephen or Christopher via Instgram. We would love to hear from you. 

SHOW NOTES

Wall Street Journal Magazine on Kysuhu Artisans

This piece by Tom Downey in Wall Street Journal is behind the paywall, but is an absolute masterpiece if you have an account.

2023 Reflections

Tales of the Cocktail, G7 Summit, Ritz Carlton, Jose Andres, New York State law change. This was a year of incredible growth in awareness of shcohu and awamori as categories in the United States and elsewhere.

Shochu Trends 2024!

The 2024 JSS Shochu Cocktail Competition is going in full force. Stephen and Christopher will keep doing everything we can to keep this thing growing. Please do your part as well.

Much More to Explore

As always, there is more to learn from listening to the episode or following Stephen and Christopher social media.

INTRO

In episode 71 our host Stephen Lyman is joined by James Beard Award Winning Author and Journalist, Emma Janzen to talk about the similarities, differences, histories, and culture behind two of the world’s most fascinating indigenous spirits traditions: agave spirits and koji spirits.

CREDITS

Theme Song: Begin Anywhere by Tomoko Miyata (http://tomokomiyata.net/)

Mixing and Editing: Rich Pav (https://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 love to all things indigenous alcohol traditions. While they both live in Japan and focus on Japanese spirits on this podcast, if you put something interesting and authentic in front of them, they are likely to enjoy it.

If you have any comments or questions about this episode, please reach out to Stephen or Christopher via Twitter. We would love to hear from you. 

SHOW NOTES

Special Guest Emma Janzen

Emma is an award-winning journalist and author who writes and photographs spirits and cocktails for outlets including The New York Times, PUNCH, The World’s 50 Best Bars, and more.

The recipient of two James Beard Foundation awards and two Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards, she is the author of a 2017 book about mezcal; she co-authored cocktail books in recent years with reputable industry figures such as Julia Momosé, Toby Maloney, and Jim Meehan; and has also contributed to various other texts including The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails and Signature Cocktails.

Currently the Drinkways Editor for Good Beer Hunting, she also serves as the Midwest Academy Chair for The World’s 50 Best Bars. In 2023, she was named an IACP finalist for best personal essay and ranked #32 on the Drinks International Bar World 100, an annual list of the industry’s most influential people.

You can learn more about Emma at www.emmajanzen.com and we strongly recommend you follow her on Instagram. To learn even more, here’s a link tree.

Agave Spirits v. Koji Spirits

Agave spirits, of course, refer to mezcal and tequila as well as less well known styles such as sotol and bacanora. All of these share a similar ancestry and all are made from agave plants, but they can express in such wildly different ways. In this episode, Emma breaks down agave spirits and with Stephen’s help, draws parallels to Japanese traditional spirits of honkaku shochu and awamori.

Distillation arrived in Mexico thanks to the Spaniards and potentially the Filipinos in the 16th century. This is around the same time that distillation arrived in mainland Japan, but we believe distilling was happening in Okinawa in the 15th century.

Both traditions grew up in isolation – Japan as a hermit kingdom and rural Mexico very far from the centers of European power at the time. Local agave production and processing lead to the creation of agave spirits while local agriculture and the use of koji for sacchrification of starches led to koji spirits in Japan.

Obviously, due to the very different cultures, climates, and production methods that are used to make these spirits, they are wildly different in how they express in the glass, but the common thread of their artisanal qualities cannot be missed.

Until very recently neither traditional spirits type was used in cocktails, but virtually always consumer straight or diluted with water or ice. Today, not only are both spirits becoming popular cocktail ingredients, they are at times paired together to create amazing drinks such as the Koji-San at Bar Goto in New York City.

Much More to Explore

As always, there is more to learn from listening to the episode or following Stephen, Christopher, and Emma on social media.

Kanpai!

INTRO

In episode 70, Stephen reflects on succession challenges in small family distilleries on his first solo podcast for Japan Distilled.

CREDITS

Theme Song: Begin Anywhere by Tomoko Miyata (http://tomokomiyata.net/)

Mixing and Editing: Rich Pav (https://uncannyjapan.com/)

HOST

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 uses his distillery visits to pause, reflect, refresh. This episode is the result of that time. He was bottling shochu while talking.

If you have any comments or questions about this episode, please reach out to Stephen via Twitter. We would love to hear from you. 

SHOW NOTES

Succession

Succession is defined as the action or process of inheriting a title, office, or property. In the case of Japanese spirits makers this is almost always a case of the father or mother passing the responsibility for the distillery on to the son or daughter. Let’s be honest, though. It’s almost always from father to son.

In this episode, the first of its kind for Japan Distilled, Stephen reflects on succession in these small family businesses while bottling shochu at Yamatozakura Distillery, where he has worked every autumn since 2013. This work gives him a lot more mental free time than he usually has and in this case led to him recording an impromptu episode reflecting on something that has been on his mind for a while.

Obviously, succession is not something that’s normally talked about on spirits podcasts, but in the case of Japanese craft distilleries, it’s vitally important. In Japanese culture, traditionally, if a small business owner did not have a successor, he would adopt one – either from a relative or even outside the family. And, again, traditionally, if a small business owner only had daughters, he would work to find an appropriately talented and dedicated man for his oldest daughter to take the family name and take over the business.

The former doesn’t really happen anymore. Today, several women run distilleries inherited from their fathers (or mothers) or relatives are invited to take over the business without formal adoption. However, there are still men who take their wives names in order to resolve the succession issue.

Succession Challenges

The impetus for this episode was watching Tekkan Wakamatsu take over for his father at Yamaozakura over the past few years, but in his more than a decade working in and visiting distilleries, Stephen has observed a wide variety of successions occur. Some seamlessly, and others with a fair bit of difficulty. This episode is an audio recording of his unvarnished impressions.

Much More to Explore

As always, there is more to learn from listening to the episode or following Stephen on social media.

Kanpai!

INTRO

In episode 69, Stephen chats with editor in chief of Imbibe Magazine, Paul Clarke, toward the end of their Imbibe in Kyushu Distillery Tour.

CREDITS

Theme Song: Begin Anywhere by Tomoko Miyata (http://tomokomiyata.net/)

Mixing and Editing: Rich Pav (https://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 love to imbibe in Kyushu, particularly when joined by friends, family, interested guests, and foreign media.

If you have any comments or questions about this episode, please reach out to Stephen or Christopher via Twitter. We would love to hear from you. 

SHOW NOTES

Imbibe Magazine’s Paul Clarke

Writing about cocktails and spirits since at least 2005, Seattle resident Paul Clarke currently serves as the editor in chief of Imbibe Magazine. His Book, The Cocktail Chronicles (Spring House Press, 2015) dives deep into America’s cocktail renaissance.

Paul was awarded a Spirited Award in 2014 from Tales of the Cocktail for “Best Writing about Spirits & Cocktails.” He currently hosts Radio Imbibe, a biweekly podcast about all things cocktails and spirits. This was not Paul’s first time, but it was his first time to imbibe in Kyushu.

Imbibe in Kyushu Shochu Tour

Paul joined a Kyushu distillery tour jointly organized by Honkaku Spirits & Japan Distilled and hosted by our co-hosts, Christopher Pellegrini and Stephen Lyman. The tour covered 7 distilleries in 4 prefectures over 6 days. In addition to the distillery visits, there we shochu-focused dinners and bar visits each evening.

Day 1: Welcome dinner in Fukuoka: fried chicken & honkaku shochu.

Day 2: Takahashi Shoten Sake Brewery and Shochu Distillery, sightseeing, izakaya dinner, incredible shochu bar visit.

Day 3: Drive to Hitoyoshi. Visit Takahashi Distillery (makers of Hakutake Shiro and The SG Kome Shochu), visit Jufuku Distillery (makers of Musha Gaeshi), izakaya dinner with master class in rice shochu service.

Day 4: Visit Toyonaga Distillery (makers of Toyonaga Kura), drive to Kagoshima, visit Jikuya Distillery (makers of Jikuya White & Jikuya Black), dinner at Izakaya Yokaban, a self service shochu bar we have talked about many times. After party at two different shochu bars.

Day 5: Visit Chiran Distillery (makers of Chiran Tea Chu), enjoy Shochu Street, the largest outdoor shochu festival in Japan, dinner at Mikan Izakaya, the first izakaya Stephen ever visited in Kagoshima City, drinks at other shochu bars.

Day 6: Drive to Miyazaki, visit Kirishima Distillery, Japan’s largest shochu maker, fly home.

This interview occurred on day 5 before Shochu Street so there is no discussion of Kirishima, but all other distilleries are discussed.

Much More to Explore

As always, there is more to learn from listening to the episode or following Stephen, Christopher, and Paul on social media.

Kanpai!

INTRO

In episode 68 of the Japan Distilled podcast, Stephen puts Christopher on the spot with an impromptu spirits evaluation.

CREDITS

Theme Song: Begin Anywhere by Tomoko Miyata (http://tomokomiyata.net/)

Mixing and Editing: Rich Pav (https://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 both judge for spirits competitions.

If you have any comments or questions about this episode, please reach out to Stephen or Christopher via Twitter. We would love to hear from you. 

SHOW NOTES

The Blindside

Christopher and Stephen were able to record in person for the first time ever in Stephen’s home studio in Fukuoka. Stephen commemorated the moment by lining up 6 blind tastes of clear spirits of unknown provenance and had Christopher judge them as if he were in a spirits evaluation session. Hilarity did ensue.

For those following along at home, the 6 samples were:

Jinro Fresh Korean Soju (16% ABV)

Miisha Vodka from Japan (40% ABV)

Jing Xiao Bai Baijiu from China ($40% ABV)

Hakutake Shiro Rice Shochu (25% ABV)

Kinmiya Korui Shochu (25% ABV)

Inugami “Shochu” from Brewdog’s Distillery

The verdict can be heard on the episode. One might have an outside chance for a medal depending on the circumstances.

Spirits Evaluation

Christopher and Stephen also discussed how to judge spirits. Well, mostly Christopher. Eyes, nose, mouth.

Kanpai!