Podcast

INTRO

In the 60th episode of the Japan Distilled podcast, your hosts take a long, hard look at koji cocktails. That is, cocktails made with koji based spirits.

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 have gradually been won over to the world of cocktails.

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

Koji … Cocktails?

Koji spirits, collectively honkaku shochu, ryukyu awamori, koji whiskies, and gins made with a koji spirit base (usually redistilled shochu or awamori) are beginning to make their presence felt in American cocktail bars.

The Japanese spirits industry has certainly been pushing shochu and awamori as low proof alternative spirits bases for well over a deacde and the ascendance of the low proof cocktail may have finally created the momentum necessary for this shift.

Since there was no native cocktail tradition in Japan as we discussed in Episode 58 on classic Japanese cocktails, these spirits do not have classic cocktail recipes to rely on. Therefore, they either need to be considered as substitutes for western cocktails, or new cocktails need to be developed.

The Leading Edge

Jesse Falowitz and Taeko Ichioka of Mizu Shochu can really be said to be the originators of the koji cocktail. Their Mizu Shochu line of spirits has been in cocktail bars in New York City and beyond for a full decade at this point. In fact, the flirtybird has been on the menu at Angel’s Share for a full 9 years.

Following in their footsteps has been Nankai Shochu out of Los Angeles whose social media is all cocktails all the time and newcomer Mujen, which has all the glitz and glamor you would expect from a brand developed in the shadows of Hollywood Hills.

Applications

The easiest application for koji spirits is as a replacement for another spirit in a classic cocktail. But they are classics for a reason so the koji spirit needs to either change the profile or enhance the drink in some way.

Using examples from the Honkaku Spirits portfolio, because that’s the portfolio we are most familiar with, Colorful Sweet Potato Shochu can serve as an excellent gin replacement in a negroni or an alaska. In the case of the negroni, Colorful creates an aromatic profile quite different from a classic gin negroni. In the case of the alaska, sweet potato shochu makes this particular koji cocktail a completely different experience than a gin-based alaska.

Another application, of course, is to create original koji cocktails as Angel’s Share did with the flirtybird Mizu Shochu Cocktail. This gives bartenders (professional or at home) the chance to be creative with other Japanese ingredients. Shiso leaf, pickled plum, wasabi, yuzu kosho, miso … the possibilities are exciting. As we discussed in Episode 58B, Yokka Koji Awamori ended up the best spirit options for the top 2 finalists of our first ever Koji Spirits Cocktail Competition.

And finally, there is the potential for a split base cocktail as was done at Death & Co. in NYC with their Adreneline Rush cocktail, which split Takamine Koji Whiskey with Overproof Jamaican Rum and Rye Whiskey to create a boozy flavor bomb.

More to Explore

Perhaps the most fun with koji cocktails is making them for yourself. Experiment, learn, try different brands to see how they change the resulting koji cocktail.

KANPAI!

INTRO

In Episode 59 of The Japan Distilled Podcast, your co-hosts profile Mitosaya Botanical Distillery in Chiba Prefecture, makers of some of the most interesting eau de vie we’ve ever tried. 

CREDITS

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

Mixing and Editing: Rich Pav (https://www.uncannyrobotpodcast.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 have been to more distilleries than we can remember.

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

Mitosaya Botanical Distillery

Chiba is probably best known as the home of Narita Airport and/or Tokyo Disney, but despite its proximity to the capital, much of it is quite rural. The Mitosaya Botanical Distillery is situated in Otaki Village in the Isumi District in Central Chiba. During the bubble era, the Chiba Prefectural Government had established a public botanical gardens. The Chiba Botanical Gardens were unique compared to those in other parts of Japan in that they were dedicated to medicinal plants more so than pretty flower beds. Nevertheless, when the bubble popped so did the prefecture’s tax revenue and their appetite for operating a botanical garden. 

The gardens were shuttered and fell into disrepair until Hiroshi Eguchi went looking for a site for his dream of opening a botanical distillery. A Tokyo independent book seller, he first discovered European fruit brandy, which sent him to Germany to study how to make eau de vie under one of the premier spirits makers in the world. 

His search for the perfect location for his distillery led him to the Chiba Botanical Gardens where his Mitosaya Botanical Distillery is now situated. He and his family live on the property and he operates the distillery with one other full-time distillery worker and some part time support. 

Unlike many other distilleries, he’s turned his property in a community center of sorts with Farming Fridays and other opportunities for his neighbors and fans to come and help out. 

The gardens are not big enough to support the agricultural produce needed to make even his tiny batches of eau de vie, but they provide plenty of material for him to find new ingredients to make things from. He will first test out his ideas in a table top experimental still and then once he’s found a recipe he’s happy with, he’ll reach out to local farmers to source the ingredients he needs to make a full batch.

Each batch represents a new brand, which is dated and numbered and named with a clever label. His products range from fruit distillates to macerated liqueurs to oddball ingredients like peanuts or chili peppers. Every bottling is distinct and all of them range from fascinating to delicious. 

Needless to say, Stephen and Christopher fell in love with the man and the place. 

KANPAI!

EPISODE INTRO

In this bonus episode addendum to the 58th episode of the Japan Distilled podcast, guest host Matt Alt joins Stephen Lyman to reveal and discuss the finalists for the 1st ever Japan Distilled Koji Spirits Cocktail Competition.

CREDITS

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

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

HOSTS

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.

MATT ALT Author of numerous books including his most recent, Pure Invention: How Japan Made the Modern World, is an exploration of Japan’s incredible post-war rise to commercial diplomacy juggernaut. He’s also an accomplished drinks writer and cocktail historian.

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

SHOW NOTES

The Rules

1. Create an original cocktail using a koji spirit base. Any koji spirit is welcome, though honkaku shochu and Ryukyu Awamori are preferred.
2. Needs to be simple enough to make that a well stocked cocktail bar can make the drinks if provided with the appropriate base spirit.
3. 5 finalists will be selected to have their cocktails made by a professional.
4. Judges will rate the drinks based on “would I order another one now or in the future” on a scale of 1 (no) to 5 (absolutely).

The judges were Japan Distilled co-host Stephen Lyman, frequent Japan Distilled guest host Matt Alt, graphic designer and friend of the podcast Pablo Pineda, and Fukuoka denizen and shochu fan Yuko Nonaka.

The Finalists

Out of the dozens of submissions we received, we chose 5 finalists to be made at Bar Ugle in Fukoka by Takuma Tsutsumi.

Tsutsumi-san prepared all of the various juices, syrups, and other ingredients over the course of the week before the final judging for the competition, which was held on April 15, 2023.

All of the cocktails were very enjoyable.

The Untitled Cocktail

Ingredients:

3 oz Mizu Lemongrass Shochu

½ oz satsuma tangerine vanilla syrup

mist of 1:5 mixture of fish sauce and heavily peated scotch whisky

satsuma tangerine rind, thinly sliced

Instructions:

shake shochu and syrup on crushed ice. 

Served up, pour over candied tangerine rind, mist with peated fish sauce concoction

Creator: Ben Samuelson, Monroe, Maine

Feedback: Sadly, Mizu Lemongrass Shochu is not a domestic product here in Japan and we were unable to source it in time for the finals. A vacuum distilled rice shochu was substituted, but that did not rescue the drink. The vanilla did not have the lemongrass to offset its strong flavor.

Shochu Want Me, Baby!

Ingredients:

2 oz Goro Satsuma Shochu (sweet potato)

¾ oz orange curaçao 

¾ oz lime juice

¾ oz ginger syrup

½ oz cucumber juice

⅛ tsp yuzukosho (the green stuff)

Garnish: lime wheel (dehydrated if you got it) and a few sprigs of cilantro

Instructions:

Low ball whiskey glass, 1 large ice cube. 

Add all ingredients to shaker, shake and double strain over the large ice cube.

Creator: Garrett Ryan, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Feedback: The lime juice and yuzukosho partnered to overpower the rest of the drink. The shochu barely showed through at all. Could definitely be delicious if the ratios were work-shopped a bit more.

Kyushu 75

Ingredients: 

50ml vacuum distilled rice shochu

20ml yuzu juice

1 teaspoon powdered sugar

90ml champagne 

3-5ml red shiso syrup

Instructions: 

Combine shochu, sugar, yuzu juice and ice in an ice shaker 

Shake and pour into a champagne glass 

Top up with champagne!

Pipette red shiso syrup into bottom of glass.

Creator: Sam Seager, Parts Unknown

Feedback: Not a bad riff on the French 75, but the shochu got lost and the yuzu juice ended up overpowering all but the bubbly. Could definitely work with a little work-shopping on the proportions and choosing just the right champagne and shochu combo.

The Basil Crush

Ingredients:

1.5 oz rice shochu 

4 fresh basil leaves 

1 teaspoon lemon juice 

2 teaspoons simple syrup

4 cucumber slices 

club soda to taste

splash of elderflower liqueur

Instructions:

Muddle the basil, cucumber, syrup, and lemon juice in a tall glass. 

Add shochu, elder flower and ice, mix well top with club soda.

Creator: Carrie Connin, Continental, Ohio

Feedback: Imminently crushable. A near perfect summer refresher. While the rice shochu was great, the drink was elevated by the use of Yokka Koji awamori. We judged based on the rice shochu per the recipe, but the awamori added body and texture lacking with a vacuum distilled rice shochu.

Shiri Shiri

Ingredients:

2 oz Kumejima’s Kumesen Awamori Koshu

2 oz carrot juice

1 oz shikuwasa juice 

0.5 – 0.75 oz kokuto sugar simple syrup

1/8 tsp could konbu dashi

1 egg white 

Shikuwasa zest

Instructions: 

Add all ingredients to cocktail shaker and dry shake until thoroughly combined

Add ice to shaker, shake again until cold

Pour into chilled Ryukyu glass and let rest for a few moments until foam rises to the top

Zest a bit of shikuwasa on top of the foam for decoration

Creator: Andrew Schutts, Brooklyn, NY

Feedback: very complex drink. The consensus among the judges is that this was best described as “soup” and we mean that in the best way possible. It was chewy, rich, decadent, and fascinating. Had to replace Shikuwasa with an alternative citrus due to availability. Like the Basil Crush above, this drink was also improved with the use of Yokka Koji. That spirit’s girth really helped balance everything.

The Winner!?

When all the scores were tallied, we had 2 drinks that rose to the top. The Basil Crush and Shiri Shiri were runaway favorites with both receiving average scores of 4.5 among the judges (2 4s and 2 5s for each of them).

Both drinks garnered by far the most discussion and in both cases Tsutsumi-san was asked to make the drinks again with different base spirits.

The head to head battle was a study in contrasts. The light, refreshing, summery Basil Crush versus the rich, heavy viscous, wintry Shiri Shiri. It’s a little ironic that a drink based on Okinawan food would be the most warming.

Ultimately we had to pick a winner and we went back to the foundational principles of the competition – a home cocktail competition. The Basil Crush was awarded the top prize based on that distinction. The Shiri Shiri called for using egg whites in a home cocktail and that is probably too tall a task for many home bartenders.

Neverthless, both of these cocktail creators will be receiving prizes from the Japan Distilled Podcast.

KANPAI!

EPISODE INTRO

In the 58th episode of the Japan Distilled podcast, guest host Matt Alt joins Stephen Lyman to discuss the origins of Japanese cocktail culture.

CREDITS

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

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

HOSTS

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.

MATT ALT Author of numerous books including his most recent, Pure Invention: How Japan Made the Modern World, is an exploration of Japan’s incredible post-war rise to commercial diplomacy juggernaut. He’s also an accomplished drinks writer and cocktail historian.

If you have any comments or questions about Japanese cocktail history or culture, please reach out to Stephen or Matt via Twitter. We would love to hear from you. 

SHOW NOTES

Upheaval

The opening of Japan by Commodore Matthew Perry threw the country into chaos and the early days of western involvement in Japan was nothing like the civilized experiences of the later Meiji and Taisho eras. The first cocktails served in Japan were in western hotels catering to foreign businessmen, but the real establishment of a Japanese cocktail cultures would have to wait several decades.

The professionalization of Japanese cocktails really came with tourism and the establishment of international bartending in the hotels catering to foreign visitors. These bartenders focused on their craft, making the best cocktails available from the ingredients available.

The Japanese Cocktail

The first Japanese cocktail was not created in Japan nor did it represent Japan in any meaningful way. It was created by legendary bartender Jerry Thomas in 1860 in honor of the Japanese legation, the first Japanese diplomatic mission to the United States. However, until this mission, complete with samurai sword wielding dignitaries, came to the US, there was no Japanese presence in the country.

The cocktail, also known as the Mikado, is a weird one. Adapted from David Wonderich’s wonderful, Imbibe!

Ingredients:

15ml orgeat syrup

2.5ml bogart’s bitters

30ml brandy

1 or 2 lemon peels

fill tumbler 1/3 full of ice, add syrup, bitters, and brandy, stir well with a bar spoon.

Originally, this was a rocks drink, so pour the concoction over a fresh glass of ice, garnish with lemon peel(s). However, Dr. Wonderich recommends serving it up after its well chilled with stirring.

It’s believed by Tokyo-based cocktail historian, Kadzuo Ishizura, that Thomas was trying to create a version of Chinese shaoxing wine, which he may have been familiar with due to the large number of Chinese immigrants working in the US at the time.

The Bamboo

Rightly understood as the first cocktail created in Japan that is still sometimes consumed today. The bamboo was created by German-born barman Louis Eppinger who created the drink at the Grand Hotel in Yokohama no later than 1890. May even be weirder than the Japanese. Again, from David Wonderich’s wonderful, Imbibe!

45ml French vermouth

45ml sherry

2 dashes of orange bitters

2 drops of angastora bitters

stirred over cracked ice, strained into a stemmed cocktail glass, squeeze and twist of lemon peel, serve with a pimola or olive.

The Professionalization

Post-WW2, the Japanese bartending community professionalized under guilds dotted throughout the country. Just as with other crafts, apprentices learned international bartending under the watchful eye of their mentors and the masters were every bit as strict as in other disciplines. Today hundreds of cocktail bars throughout Japan can trace their roots to proteges of these post-war pioneers.

As with cruise ships and grand hotels, the bartenders are almost always clothed a tuxedo or at least a bow tie and are nearly always men. But these things are changing, and for the better.

The winner of the 2022 Diageo World Class Japan final was Yui Odata of Wine&Bar Mugiya in Miyazaki City down in southern Kyushu. She has proven once and for all that women are every bit as capable of being world class bartenders in Japan. Highly recommend a visit and strongly suggest you go early and order whatever she wants to serve you.

KANPAI!

Episode Intro

In episode 57 of the Japan Distilled podcast, your host Stephen Lyman is joined by author and podcaster Jim Rion for a deep dive on sanaburi shochu, one of the original forms of kasutori shochu.

CREDITS

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

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

HOSTS

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.

JIM RION moved to Yamaguchi Prefecture almost 20 years ago and has since become both an ambassador for the area and also an unquestioned expert in all things Yamaguchi booze. He’s the co-host of the Sake Deep Dive podcast and recently published his first book, Discovering Yamaguchi Sake: a taster’s guide to Breweries, Culture, and Terrain.

Stephen and Jim bonded over sanaburi shochu exploration.

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

Show Notes

We first introduced kasutori shochu in episode 17 where we did touch briefly on sanaburi shochu, also known as sanabori shochu. To get some background, please listen to that episode before this one if you haven’t already.

In this episode, Jim Rion joins Stephen to dig into perhaps the most traditional style of kasutori shochu, sanaburi shochu, which dates back to the Edo period when sake lees were distilled to remove the residual alcohol so the lees could safely be used as fertilizer.

Today sanaburi shochu is classified as seichou kasutori shochu, which would be literally translated as “orthodox sake lees shochu” referring specifically to the fact that this is a very traditional production method. The lees, which are solids, are mixed with the hulls of threshed rice to create space to allow steam to pass through the lees.

This mixture is placed into a traditdional seirou mushi still, which is a large wooden structure in which steam is passed through to evaporate the alcohol, which is re-condensed when it hits a large metal cauldron on top that is filled with cold water.

This style of kasutori shochu was originally associated with a Shinto ritual, which is where the sanabori/sanaburi name came from. This is believed to have originated at the Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine in Central Fukuoka Prefecture and the production style is still associated with the region.

In fact, the 4 brands that are still sold commercially are all concentrated in western Honshu (Yamaguchi and Shimane) or northen Kyushu (Fukuoka and Saga). However, during the Edo era when there was a push to increase rice production due to a growing population, sanaburi shochu was being made all across Japan to produce fertilizer with the shochu being a byproduct.

Due to the rustic distilling methods, the drink itself is heavily grain or cereal forward with plenty of umami and lots of funk. Not for the faint of heart.

Current Brands

Today we are only aware of 5 brands on the market being made by 4 different sake breweries. Perhaps the most famous and the one with the highest annual production (about 1,500 bottles) is Yaku Dou Kabuto from Morinokura Brewery in Jojima, Fukouka. This brand is produced two weeks a year during the spring and is then rested for 12-13 years before release. It’s bottled at full proof (usually around 35% ABV). The first bottling was the 2002 vintage.

Morinokura also makes the Hitachiyama brand, which is a bit more affordable and not aged quite so long.

The other Kyushu based brand is Yamafuru from Narutaki Brewery in Karatsu, Saga, which is bottled at 25% ABV. We are uncertain how long it is aged before bottling.

Up in Yamaguchi, where Jim lives, Sakai Brewery produces the Nishikigawa brand in stealth baby blue packaging. Not the flavor profile we would expect with this bottling.

Finally, in Shimane Prefecture, Toyonoaki Brewery makes the Shippo sanaburi shochu, but it is so rare that the only pictures available online are from the brewery website’s product page.

More to Explore

This is, of course, a very unusual shochu style and not only is not much produced, it’s hard to find. If you track some down, please let us know what you think!

KANPAI!