The Charming Mitosaya Botanical Distillery (Ep. 59)

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!