Bringing Shochu to the Masses

By Don Lee

Overall, my time in Japan was unforgettable. The selection and the order of the distilleries we visited was thoughtfully curated and incredibly impactful. On top of the Shochu distilleries we visited, it was also interesting to see how Koji was used in other areas such as the Miso/Shoyu producer. It was great seeing the parallels of how Koji is used there as well as seeing how even the vocabulary is similar to Shochu production.

One of my most memorable experiences on the trip was seeing how Sake Lees were used in a process similar to Baijiu distillation at Kuncho Shuzo. "Solid Distillation" is a process that until then I had only heard of in the context of Baijiu. I'm curious to learn more about the history of the process in Japan and if there are other distilleries that do it.

Seeing the historic still at Sengetsu Shuzo then seeing a modern version of it in use at Oishi Shuzo was also very unique. Witnessing both of these distillation techniques (the "Solid Distillation" at Kuncho and the modern interpretation of older distillation techniques at Oishi) were very important experiences for international bartenders. Both Baijiu and Mezcal (some of which is produced similar to Oishi) use these unique distillation techniques to differentiate themselves from other categories as well as to market their authenticity. The fact that all the marketing for Oishi that I've seen in the US has been around their barrel aging shows that they themselves are not aware of how special their technique is and the potential for using that story to build their brand. I think similarly there are many things about shochu that will have great resonance to international bartenders that Shochu produces are unaware of and need outside advice on how to market themselves outside of Japan.