is a Japanese distilled beverage. It is typically distilled from rice, barley, sweet potatoes, buckwheat, or brown sugar, though it is sometimes produced from other ingredients such as chestnut, sesame seeds, potatoes, or even carrots.
Typically shōchū contains 25% alcohol by volume, which is weaker than baijiu, whiskey, or vodka, but stronger than huangjiu, sake, or wine. It is not uncommon for multiply distilled shōchū, which is more likely to be used in mixed drinks, to contain up to 35% alcohol by volume.
Etymology The word is the Japanese rendition of the Chinese shaojiu (), meaning "burned liquor", which refers to the heating process during alcohol distillation.What is the origin of the word shōchū? Suntory The word is a cognate of the Korean soju.
Culture
Drinking
Shōchū should not be confused with sake, a brewed rice wine. Its taste is usually far less fruity and depends strongly on the nature of the starch used in the distilling process. Its flavor is often described as "nutty" or "earthy".
Shōchū is drunk in many ways according to season or personal taste:
neat, i.e., on its own with nothing added on the rocks, i.e., mixed with ice, known as "rokku" in JapaneseWallin, Lisa, "A Guide to Shochu and How to Drink It", Japanese Food Guide diluted with room temperature water (水割り mizuwari) or hot water (お湯割り oyuwari),Joe, Melinda, "How I learned to stop worrying and love the shochu ", The Japan Times, 11 May 2012, p. 13 mixed with oolong tea or fruit juice as chūhai (shōchū highball), a mixed drink consisting of shōchū, soda water, ice and some flavoring, often lemon, grapefruit, apple or ume (East Asian plum) mixed very cold with a beer-flavored mixer known as Hoppy
Shōchū is widely available in supermarkets, liquor stores, and convenience stores in Japan while canned chuhai drinks are sold in some of Japan's ubiquitous vending machines. However, it is more difficult to find shōchū outside Japan except in urban areas with large enough Japanese populations. Interest in shōchū has begun to grow in North America, particularly in cosmopolitan cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver, Toronto, and New York. Dedicated shōchū bars have begun to appear in New York and more than 100 brands are now available in the U.S. market.
In Kyūshū, the center of production, shōchū is far more common than sake. Indeed, there "sake" (酒) generally refers to shōchū, and is sometimes consumed mixed with hot water (Oyuwari), especially in cooler months. First hot water is poured into the glass, then shōchū is gently added. The liquids mix naturally and stirring is unnecessary. Typically, when serving a standard 25% ABV shōchū oyuwari, the amount of shōchū exceeds the amount of hot water and is enjoyed for its aroma. Occasionally, shōchū and water are mixed, left to stand for a day, and then gently heated. This traditional pre-dilution technique is known as maewari in Japan.
Boom The early 21st century witnessed a consumer boom in shōchū within Japan, and in 2003 domestic shipments surpassed those of sake for the first time. Shōchū bars appeared serving shōchū exclusively, and premium brands with a focus on particular ingredients, production methods, or aging techniques entered the market. The beverage has undergone a change of image; formerly it was seen as an old fashioned drink, but now has become trendy amongst young drinkers, particularly women. The boom also caused a serious shortage of sweet potatoes, a basic ingredient of some popular types of shōchū and, with the emergence of expensive premium brands, pricing scams appeared.
In 2005 the Japanese television drama Kiken na Aneki illustrated this change in drinking habits. Its plot centered on the Minagawa family of Miyazaki Prefecture, who were brewers of a sweet potato shōchū called imojōchū. The lead character Hiroko (Ito Misaki) spends the majority of the series trying to come up with enough money to save the distillery from loan sharks, but in the process becomes involved with corporate distilleries. The larger companies formulate an advertising campaign that results in the imojōchū becoming a popular drink. In this fictional account, the beverage is marketed to young women when it previously had been mostly consumed by the older male generation.
There are several reasons for shōchū's recent popularity. With increasing health-consciousness, many people see it as healthier than some alternatives. There have been well-publicized claims of medical benefits, including that it can be effective in preventing thrombosis, heart attacks, and diabetes. It is also a versatile drink that is suited to most styles of cuisine.
Shigechiyo Izumi, a Japanese citizen who apparently lived to be 120 (though the claim is disputed), made shōchū part of his daily dietary regimen. This practice was mentioned along with his record in the Guinness Book of World Records. Because of his intimate passion for shōchū, many have speculated that shōchū is healthy and can actually promote longevity. This even prompted some Ryūkyū shōchū brewers to market a special Longevity Liquor (長寿の酒) shōchū bearing his name on the front label. Despite these claims, Izumi's personal physician strongly advised against drinking shōchū, as his kidneys were not strong enough to process shōchū in his advanced age. But Izumi went on to say: "Without shōchū there would be no pleasure in life. I would rather die than give up drinking."
History
Shōchū production has been historically attested to since the 16th century. When the missionary Francis Xavier visited Kagoshima Prefecture in 1549, he recorded that "the Japanese drink arak is made from rice [...] but I have not seen a single drunkard. That is because once inebriated they immediately lie down and go to sleep."
The oldest existing direct reference to shōchū in Japan can be found at Kōriyama Hachiman shrine in Isa, Kagoshima. There, two carpenters working on the shrine in 1559 inscribed the following graffiti on a wooden plank in the roof: "The high priest was so stingy he never once gave us shōchū to drink. What a nuisance!" Source of the photo of the graffiti at Kōriyama Hachiman Shrine.
From these early times through to the Edo period shōchū was produced throughout Japan in the traditional kasutori way, using single pot distillation. During the Meiji period, the column still was introduced to Japan from Great Britain, making affordable mass production of high-purity multiply distilled shōchū possible during a time of chronic rice shortages. Shōchū made the traditional way was called "old-style shōchū" and that produced using the new multiple-distillation machinery "new-style shōchū."
In the early 20th century, Hajime Katahira (1884–1936), Minosuke Kurose (1882–1967), and Tsunekichi Kurose (1885–1925) in Kasasa Village in Kagoshima Prefecture established the Kurose Toji Guild. Through their experience in both Okinawan Awamori and sake production, these men revolutionized traditional shochu production through the introduction of black koji (A. awamori) and multi-stage fermentation. Prior to this multistage fermentation process, shochu was made in the donburi style with both koji inoculated grains and the main ingredients added to a single fermentation. Today, almost all authentic shochu is made with a multi-stage fermentation. At its peak, the Kurose Toji Guild boasted more than 500 members who would travel throughout Japan to produce shochu from local agricultural ingredients.
Tamaki Inui (1873–1946), a lecturer at University of Tokyo, succeeded in the first isolating and culturing aspergillus such as A. kawachii, A. awamori and a variety of subtaxa of A. oryzae. His contemporary Genichirō Kawachi (1883–1948), who is said to be the father of modern shōchu with his development of the Kawachi Drum koji machine, isolated white koji, also known as A. kawachii, which is named after him. These discoveries results in great progress in producing high quality shochu in Japan, but the Kawachi Drum machine and other innovations led to the eventual demise of the Kurose Toji Guild, which today has just a handful of active members, but primarily continues to live on in a museum in Kasasa Village. Aspergillus developed by Kawachi has also been used for soju and makgeolli in Korea.
Definition and classification Japan's alcohol taxation law, as revised in April 2006, defines two categories of shōchū (in Japanese) (in Japanese) (also called white liquor).
Multiply distilled shōchū Alcohol distilled more than once with special machinery for that purpose, diluted for sale to an alcohol by volume level of less than 36%, that meets the following conditions:
Fruit or grain that has been allowed to germinate is not used as a base ingredient in whole or in part (preventing brandy and malt whisky from being considered shōchū). It is not filtered through white birch charcoal. If sugar is used as a base ingredient, in whole or in part, then the result of distillation must be at least 95% alcohol by volume (see discussion under brown sugar shōchū). It is not infused with other ingredients during distillation (eliminates gin and other flavored spirits).
Until the 2006 revision the law referred to this category as . Kōrui (Class A) in the classification of shōchū simply means classification and does not mean that the quality is superior to that of Otsurui (Class B).
It is generally distilled from a fermented liquid similar to molasses. Repeated distillation forms ethyl alcohol of high purity which is typically odorless and has a taste of little distinction. Water is then added, and the precise nature of this water has subtle effects on the taste and palatability of the shōchū.
Kōrui shōchū is made from sweet potato, potato, and corn. It is generally produced in modern large factories. Distillers make Kōrui shōchū by weakening the distilled alcohol.
The specialized distillation equipment, called a patent still lends it to mass production at low cost, so large corporations produce this kind of shōchū in high volume. In Japan, it retails in plastic bottles, cans, and paper cup form and is consumed as a cheap alcoholic drink. It forms the base of several cocktails and liqueurs such as chūhai and umeshu.
Singly distilled shōchū Alcohol distilled using other than multiple-distillation machinery, with alcohol by volume of no more than 45%, from one of the following:
ferment whose primary ingredient is grain or potato and their kōji ferment whose primary ingredient is grain kōji (see awamori) ferment whose primary ingredient is sake lees, possibly with rice and/or its kōji (see kasutori shōchū) ferment whose primary ingredient is sugar (restricted types) and rice kōji (see brown sugar shōchū) ferment whose primary ingredient is grain or potato and their kōji along with other ingredients,The large variety of permissible ingredients includes ashitaba, azuki beans, amachazuru, aloe, oolong tea, ume seeds, enokitake, otaneninjin, pumpkin, milk, ginkgo nuts, kudzu powder, kumazasa, chestnut, green peas, acorns, sesame, kombu, saffron, cactus, shiitake mushroom, shiso leaf, daikon radish, no-fat powdered milk, onion, various seaweeds, horse chestnut, tomato, dates, carrots, nori, peppers, water chestnut, sunflower seeds, safflower, matatabi vine, matcha, lily root, mugwort, lotus and wakame. provided the other ingredients form no more than 50% by weight other substances with certain restrictions
Until the 2006 revision the law referred to this category as , sometimes abbreviated to "otsushu" (乙焼). Otsurui (Class B) in the classification of shōchū simply means classification and does not mean that the quality is inferior to that of Kōrui (Class A).