Authentic Shochu comes in a variety of styles, just like sake and wines. Understanding the factors that influence the characteristics of shochu will be helpful even when you face hundreds of them on a drinks list. It will also help you understand the depth of the world of premium shochus.
Below are the four key elements of shochu making:
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1st Element – Raw Material
In shochu making, one or a combination of more than 30 different raw materials can be used. Each brings a distinctive taste to the end product. Of these raw material options, the most common ones are barley, rice, sweet potato and dates, while other raw materials such as brown sugar, buckwheat and sesame seeds are also used.
Barley (Mugi): Usually the Nijo variety of barley is used for a light and easy-to-drink shochu.
Rice (Kome): Rice brings out rich flavors, and presents a soft palate as well as distinctive sweetness and fragrance. So-called rice shochus are the ones in which rice is used as the key raw material. The Kuma GI (Hitoyoshi in Kumamoto) is particularly famous for its all-rice shochus. The rice is also used typically as malted rice, on which koji microbes (see below) have been cultured, in the earlier part of shochu making, regardless of what the primary raw material may be (that can be barley or sweet potato).
Sweet Potato (Imo): Sweet Potatoes provide a distinctive, confectionary-like sweetness and rich flavors in the shochu.
Dates (De-tsu): Sweet fruits that originated in the Middle East and the only fruits the Japanese law permits for use in shochu making.
2nd Element – Koji Microbe, Japan’s Traditional Gastronomic Culture
One of the most unique features in both sake and shochu making is the use of a unique microbe called Koji (Aspergillus mold) in addition to yeast.
Most fermented and other distilled beverages in the world only use yeast.
Koji, in fact, is a very common microbe that connects and reflects the Japanese gastronomic culture. The production of many processed foods in Japan – such as miso (soybean paste), and tsukemono (pickled vegetables) - is started with the koji. You would find it interesting to know that blue cheese is also made with a similar microbe.
In shochu making, there are three main types of koji in use, and each of them brings out different characters:
Black Koji: Traditional koji with a long history. It gives the shochu a full body and brings out distinctively rich flavors.
White Koji: Standard koji that is used widely. It brings out lighter, gentler and crisper flavors.
Yellow Koji: Another traditional koji primarily used for sake production. It has been long avoided in shochu production due to its susceptibility to heat, hence requiring a rather complicated heat management process. However, in recent years, yellow koji has been slowly adopted to give some shochus special, unique characteristics.
| Fermentation in a Subtropical Climate In southern Kyushu, where the precipitation is high and the climate subtropical, it is difficult to make sake following the kan-jikomi style. Kan-jikomi is how sake is brewed in an extremely cold climate in the middle of a winter and is possible only in areas north of Kita Kyushu (northern Kyushu) and the regions in central Honshu Island facing the Sea of Japan, as well as the Greater Tohoku region in northern Honshu. However, in a subtropical climate like southern Kyushu, it has been a huge risk to make sake using expensive rice since the chance of spoilage is very high. Later in this book, we will explain how shochu is made with the special species of koji microbes which can withstand the risk of spoilage. |
3rd Element - Distillation Method
By law, Authentic Shochu is made by single pot distillation, another aspect that makes this type of shochu unique among the other distilled spirits globally.
There are two distillation methods: normal pressure and reduced pressure. Furthermore, the pot stills come in different materials (e.g., wood, stainless steel, tin, etc.), sizes and shapes, all reflecting distillers’ philosophy and characters and affecting the quality and style of the finished shochu.
It is usually the case that the extracts from the beginning and the ending of the distillation process are removed to avoid edginess in the shochu.
Normal Pressure Distillation: The pressure inside the pot still is uncontrolled, hence ‘normal’ pressure. While the normal boiling temperature for ethyl alcohol is 78C degrees (172F degrees), the boiling of the moromi mash occurs around 85 – 90C degrees or 185 – 194F degrees. The resultant shochu normally exhibits stronger, bolder flavors with slightly burnt notes of the raw materials.
Reduced Pressure Distillation: This method takes advantage of reduced pressure (near vacuum) in the pot still bringing the boiling temperature down to about 40 – 60C degrees (104 – 140F degrees). Consequently, it brings out rounder and lighter flavors with a soft palate impact. This ‘new’ method, introduced in the mid 1970s, revolutionized the shochu industry, permitting it to target a wider market.
4th Element – Aging Method
There are three principal ways of aging shochu. Some shochus are aged in oak and old sherry barrels, like Scotch and whiskies. Another means of aging is using ceramic/earthen pots. The third method of aging is in tanks. Aging in these different materials gives each shochu rounder and deeper flavor characters.
Barrel Aging: Oak barrels or imported barrels that once contained sherry are used. The barrels add unique scents as well as a beautiful amber color.
Ceramic/Earthen Pot Aging: Earthen pots have numerous microscopic pores, which allow the pot to ‘breathe’. With the effects of far infrared and the respiration by the pot, aging softens the flavor while adding no color.
Tank Aging: Aging in stainless steel or porcelain enamel tanks has minimal effects on the shochu, preserving the characteristics of the raw material used in making the shochu
2. The Process of Authentic Shochu Making
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Note: Unlike some vodka or gin, neither herbal infusion nor addition of sugar is permitted with Authentic Shochu. If the total extract exceeds 2 % by weight, such a product cannot be classified as Authentic Shochu.
What in the World is Parallel Dual Fermentation? The raw materials used in making wine and beer contain sugar. Therefore, the necessary fermentation can occur only by yeast, which converts these sugars into alcohol. For whiskies and shochus, on the other hand, a process is necessary to break down the starch of the raw materials into glucose because yeast alone cannot start fermentation where there is little or no sugar. This is called ‘saccharification’. Only after this process can yeast be added to kick off the fermentation. While saccharification in whisky is triggered by adding maltose, sake and shochu use koji, which converts the starch in the raw material rice, barley, sweet potato, etc. to sugar. The uniqueness of it all, however, is that with koji and yeast together, the saccarification of starch and alcoholic fermentation happen concurrently in the same batch. This is called ‘Parallel Dual Fermentation’. To our benefit, the amazing koji produces a considerable amount of citric acid which helps control the microbiological activities in the moromi (mash) and also organic and lactic acids to give a shochu unique flavors. This is one of the reasons why shochu can be set apart from other global spirits. |
A Sharp Increase in Honkaku Shochu Consumption Since 2003, when National Tax Agency statistics showed consumption of shochu overtaking consumption of sake for the first time, shochu has been Japan's national drink in market reality, as well as in name.
In particular, Authentic Shochu has been experiencing a steady increase in consumption, achieving a 9.3 % annual growth on average for the decade since 1994.
2004 was another memorable year, when the annual sales of Otsu-rui (Authentic) shochu (at 532,384 kl) exceeded those of Koh-rui (White Liquor) shochu (431,476 kl) for the first time in history.  (Source: ‘Taxable Shipment Volume of Liquor 2004’, National Tax Agency of Japan) |