INTRO
In episode 62, our hosts dive into our 2nd ever shochu distillery profile. This one for Sanwa Shurui, makers of iichiko shochu.
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 deep respect for Sanwa Shurui
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
Sanwa Shurui, Co. Ltd.
Sanwa Shuri, Co Ltd. was established in 1958 when 3 sake and shochu making families from Oita Prefecture merged. Within two years a 4th family would join. They would work together over the next 2 decades before hitting on the recipe that would make them the largest shochu producer in Japan.
iichiko arrives!
Iichiko 100% barley shochu hit the market in 1979 and never looked back. Today iichiko is the best selling barley shochu in Japan and the best selling export shochu in the world. The families of Sanwa Shurui had borrowed the vacuum distillation of 100% barley shochu that made Nikaido a very popular brand and weaponized it by doing what came naturally to a company that was essentially a cooperative across 4 families. Blending different distillates. While the formula is a secret, we do know that each of Sanwa Shurui’s many iichiko expressions is a blend of some of their more than two dozen 100% barley shochu recipes. While all use barley koji, the distillery works with a variety of koji strains, yeast strains, fermentation temperatures, still designs, cuts, and maturation methods to differentiate each based distillate into a component for their blends.
Stephen is fond of referring to iichiko to the Johnny Walker of Japan, but unlike Johnny Walker, all of the spirits blended into their products come from their own production facilities. Their headquarters in the countryside outside Usa City, Oita, make the bulk of their distillate and most of their blending and bottling happens there as well. However, the Hita Distillery, a former Nikka juice factory, is also hard at work making blending components as well as their own Hita-specific blends. Hita is a famous onsen town in southern Oita with very nice spring water, giving the Hita blends their own unique character.
While iichiko is delicious in its own right, the success of the brand has almost as much to do with the marketing campaign. The original tagline, which still appears on the domestic Japanese packaging today, can be translated as “Downtown Napoleon.” This implies iichiko is “cognac for the common people” and the reference worked. Iichiko would lead Japan into its first honkaku shochu “boom” with the spirits category finally breaking out of its home island of Kyushu to become a national beverage.
Another part of the marketing campaign is a monthly poster release in train stations across the country, which has continued non-stop since 1979. For the past 44 plus years, a new poster appears across the country with a bottle of iichiko somewhere in the photo. An urban street scene, a rural agricultural shot, alone in nature. The subtext being that iichiko is a shochu for every occasion no matter where you are.
There are now many iichiko expressions including the recently released 43% iichiko Saiten, which was consciously designed with the western bartender in mind. The grain forward expression (uncommon for Sanwa Shurui) mellows and rounds out with dilution, making it an excellent cocktail component.
Other premium expressions such as iichiko kurobin (literally black bottle) and iichiko frasco (“flask”) are on the pricey side, but add a complexity to the standard iichiko silhouette while appearing in striking packaging. All in all, Sanwa Shurui has managed to set themselves apart by making beautiful spirits in excellent livery. While they are no longer the biggest shochu maker thanks to the relatively recent ascendance of the popularity of sweet potato shochu, iichiko remains one of the industry leaders.
Their success is in no small part due to their leadership. The 4 families have rotated the president’s chair every few years – giving all of the families and opportunity, in turn, to put their fingerprints on the company. And they have done a wonderful job. Despite their size, Sanwa Shurui manages to maintain the culture of a much smaller distillery.
Cheers
More to Explore
If you’d like to learn more about Furusawa Distillery, please reach out to Stephen or Christopher.
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