Tiff: When most people think of Japanese spirits, they often think of sake, but it is in fact shochu that is the national spirit of Japan.
Outselling sake in Japan for the past decade, shochu is a clean, crisp white spirit that is rich in flavour that has been distilled and drunk in Japan since the 16th century.
Iichiko, has been Japan’s best-selling shochu producer for the past 30 years or so, which makes sense as the word literally means “it is good”.
Although shochu is unique among spirits in that it can be made from a variety of materials including rice, sweet potato or buckwheat, Iichiko make all their shochu from barley, which gives it rich malty notes.
To find out more about the spirit and iichiko’s variations, we talk to Tetsuro Miyazaki, General Manager of iichiko USA about nature, taste and of course the cocktails you can make with their liquids.
Thank you for joining us.

Tetsuro: Thank you very much.

Tiff: Now, iichiko is the result of a true harmony between nature and science? What does that mean exactly?

Tetsuro: Uh, yes. iichiko is distilled in Oita Prefecture on Kyushu Island, in the southern part of Japan and there is one of the most famous hot spring spots in Japan? And then iichiko uses iron-free water that is naturally filtered through bionic rock to produce, incredibly pure spring with, elegant flavour. So natural element of its surroundings, combined with cutting edge technology and the clean production techniques, all. come together to create a delightful and the distinctive taste of iichiko. Our manufacturing process involves the use of food mould called koji The production of this Koji requires very dedicated control . We constantly check the climate, humidity and the other conditions of the Koji ,while manufacturing, testing the harmony between nature and the science.

Tiff: Now, how important is the environment in which the Shochu is made?

Tetsuro: Yes, Shochu is mainly made from barley, rice, sweet potato, and the buckwheat. Most of the shochu is made in the Southern part of Japan. I say on the island called Kyushu and each shochu is made from the special ingredients of each area or Kyushu Island. For example, Kumamoto Prefecture. It's famous for its rice shochu, while Kawashima prefecture is famous for its sweet potato shochu. And the prefecture where our distillery is located is famous for barley shochu. Different regions have different main ingredients. They find the climates and the different food culture. So you can enjoy a better range of Shochu flavours.

Tiff: Now your Shochu is distilled only once. How important is that to the flavour of the liquid?

Tetsuro: Yes. Uh, singular distillation is very important for authentic Shochu called Honkaku shochu. We want to keep the flavour of each ingredient in the liquid as much as possible. For this reason, we distill once. Vodka for example, highlights the number of times it's distilled, but the more it is distilled, the more the flavour is lost. The purpose of Shochu is to enjoy the characteristic of the ingredients, so single distillation is a very important point for shochu.

Tiff: If someone hasn't tasted Iichiko shochu, can you describe exactly what the flavour is for us?

Tetsuro: Yes. We have two main products in the US. One is a classic Iichiko. It's called Iichiko Silhouette. And the other is Iichiko seitan, which is a product with higher AVB for cocktails. If you haven't tried the shochu before, I would recommend the classic Iichiko Silhouette first This is a 25% ABV lower alcohol that will help you understand what classic barley shochu is all about. It is it's very easy to drink and has an interesting barley flavour. It produces aromas of white peach and golden plum. If you are a bartender or interested in cocktail or spirits such as mezcal, Iichiko seitan is good for you, I think. This is first higher ABV shochu with the umami rich flavour, seitan has notes of jasmine tea and sea grass.

Tiff: Now you spoke of the barley, why is it that you've chosen barley as the base of the liquids?

Tetsuro: This is because our distillery is located in Oita prefecture and Oita prefecture is a barley producing area. We are still working with local farmers to research and current debate barley party, which suitable for shochu, we give once a year to the farmers who grows our best barley.

Tiff: Now, what does two row barley mean?

Tetsuro: Two row barley is a type of barley. Two row barley grows in two directions, so it looks like two rows, when viewed from above. It was introduced mainly for using in beer and the later in shochu. The grain is generally large when compared to other types and is suitable for shochu making. For example, we cut off about 30% of our barley a way to make shochu.

Tiff: Now I believe the water is that you use is naturally filtered through over a thousand feet of volcanic rock. What difference does that make?

Tetsuro: Yes, iichiko is made from three ingredients, barley, Koji and water with water playing a very important role in our product. Our ground water is soft and a very suitable for shochu production, producing a dedicate ??? ???. I think it has a great inference on the soft and the dedicated taste of each iichiko. This water is not only used as a low material for our shochu, but it's also useful used to clean the machines and all other operations. I used to work at the distillery before, and I used to doing this groundwater in plastic bottle. It was very good.

Tiff: Now you mentioned Koji. Can you tell us the secret behind it and what it does to the barley as well as its links to umami?

Tetsuro: Yes. First of all, Koji is a food mold that is used in many Japanese foods. If you think of miso, soy sauce, sake et cetera, you will find that they have a unique sweetness and the umami. This same effect is produced during the shochu fermentation process. So koji converts barley starch into sugar, which is then converted into alcohol with ease. The mash contains alcohol, as well as umami ingredients created by codes. So distilling preserves as much flavour as possible, into the liquid. In addition, our product Iichiko seitan which is higher ABV, is made from a hundred percent barley koji. That means koji only. So you can feel the aroma of koji in particular.

Tiff: Now we've spoken about the liquid being distilled only once, but can you explain the blending process?

Tetsuro: Yes. This is also the character of Iichiko. We have dozens of different unblended shochu. What makes the difference is the flavor changes depending on the barley used, the distillation, method, the Koji and the yeast. For example, we use two types of distillate method. One is called atmospheric distillation, and the other is called vacuum distillation. Atmospheric distillation is a normal pressure distillation method that produces a liquid with a savory and the strong aroma. On the other hand, vacuum distillation removes air from inside the distalation machine, lower boiling point, and the allowing on the liquid with a different ??? aroma to be extracted. These different types of unblended shochu are then blended together by our blender. The blender will taste these different type of unblended shochu and create the desired image.

Tiff: Now Iichiko has been around since the early fifties. How has production changed in that time?

Tetsuro: Our company originally started as a sake brewery, then in 1979, we launched Iichiko Shochu. At the time, shochu had an image, it was like grandfathers drink and, uh, it was only drunk in some parts of [inaudible]. The reason for this was that it was too strong flavour and distinctive to be accepted by young people. So iichiko used the latest technology at the time, such as vacuum distillation methods to give shochu an interesting flavour. This led to young young people drinking shochu and the creating a shochu boom in Japan in the 1980s. In fact, until about 20 years ago, Saki was the most popular Japanese alcohol beverage, but in 1993, shochu surpassed Saki in sales to become the most popular alcohol product in Japan. In Japan now, shochu is the most popular, more popular than whiskey or saki.

Tiff: How important is the concept of wa or harmony in creating shochu?

Tetsuro: Yes. Wa is one of the most fundamental concepts of Japan's moral system and it's very important to iichiko. In fact, the name of our company is Sanwa, and we have the sound of wa in our company name sound sanwa means three harmony in Japanese. This means that we want to cherish harmony with people, harmony with nature, harmony with the community and, many other harmonies. We aim to bring these harmonies to everywhere, through iichiko products.

Tiff: Now, if we talk about iichiko saiten, it has been produced with bartenders, particularly in mind. What makes it so perfect for cocktails?

Tetsuro: Yes. Uh, we actually had a cooperation, of many bartenders from the development stage. For example, Kevin Diedrich in San Francisco and the Kenta Goto in New York. They're always looking for new things to do. So the purpose of iichiko saitan was to makes a bar industry know about shochu. So to achieve this, may of our R&D department visited the US and repeatedly had meetings and tastings with bartenders. And then as a result, we launched at thebbars iicheko saiten which brings a characteristic of koji to the bars.

Tiff: Can you go into a little bit of detail about the aroma and flavors of that expression?

Tetsuro: For iichiko saiten the initial scent is of honeydew melon, white grape, white pepper, and barley notes. On the palette, the spirit has rich umami notes of jasmine tea, white peach and a hint of citrus.

Tiff: I believe the expression has won a number of awards since its release. Do you want to tell us a little bit about those?

Yes, it's correct. Saiten has received a lot of awards from San Francisco World Spirits Competition - a double gold, International Spirits Competition in New York - 94 points. Also. I was especially happy to be nominated for the top 10 new spirits in the 2020 Tales Of The Cocktail. This was the first time for an Asia spirit to have achieved this ad it was was a moment where I realise that bartenders had recognised shochu.

Tiff: Now, what cocktails do you believe that the saiten works best in?

Tetsuro: Saiten is incredibly mixable and has a savoury flavour and a umami like character in mixology. I am not a great bartender but in my opinion, the umami of saiten and the sweetness go very well together. The addition of a little sweetness increases the umami of the saiten. For a simple cocktail, I suggest a Gimlet or a Negroni. However, I think the best cocktail are those created by a professional bartender.

Tiff: When you drink the expression, what cocktails do you put it in?

Tetsuro: My favorite is very simple. It's called iichiko Saiten Sonic. So Sonic means soda water and the tonic water. Usually I put Saitan and seven parts. soda water, adding three part of Tonic water. So Tonic water brings sweetness in a cocktail and then that increased the umami of the iichiko Saiten. So it's a very simple, but I like this simple highball.

Tiff: Now, the Saiten sounds fairly adaptable, but why should people choose it over other clear spirits, like a gin or a tequila in their cocktails?

Tetsuro: Shochu is already popular in Japan, still breaking into the American drink culture. It offers on incredibly rich flavour, while also remaining very light with a smooth finish. Especially nowadays, many people want to experience new things and taste new flavors and see new worlds. Shochu is still to very well known in the U S but I believe it will definitely bring you a new experience.

Tiff: Now, another of your expressions, the silhouette can also be used in cocktails. What is the difference with this variation?

Tetsuro: Silhouette is a classic barley shochu. It actually this is our number one sales product, and silhouette is lower in ABV, 25% ABV compared to Saiten. Saiten is a 43% ABV. Silhouette is a classic expression of shochu, whereas Saiten was created, especially for the modern bartender and to boost the exposure of the spirit in the modern spirits industry.

Tiff: Now, compared to the Saiten, are there drinks that the silhouette expression is better suited for

Tetsuro: Silhouette is great in simple cocktails. In fact, everyday, I drink Silhouette with soda ad lemon and this shochu with lemon it's called Chuhai, an abbreviation of Shochu Highball. So I recommend with iicheko Silhouette, seasonal fruit and the club soda. You really get to taste the spirit and it has next to no alcohol content. It's great to enjoy a good day free cocktail any time of day, and it doesn't be behind the hungover.

Tiff: Now, are there any cocktails that bartenders have made for either of the expressions that you perhaps didn't expect?

Tetsuro: Yes. Many bartenders have surprised me, including Kenta Goto from Bar Goto, Kevin Diedrich at PCH and Masa Urushido in New York. Also Julia of Oriole in Chicago, they really understand what shochu is and then how to use shochu in a cocktail.

Tiff: If someone was starting to use one of your shochu expressions for the first time, how would you recommend they begin

Tetsuro: In my opinion, regular general shochu is lower ABV. So I think you need to pump up the alcohol content with mixing with other spirits, like the go, vodka, mezcal or something, but for iichiko saiten, you don't need it. I am not a good bartender, but, let's see, especially barley shochu is very good with citrus. So I recommend a barley shochu, with citrus, for too style. Also saiten probably, something sweet cocktail, like Negroni or Gimlet and a simple syrup shade that umami flavour.

Tiff: Now I imagine that both expressions are available throughout the U S

Tetsuro: Yes. Yes. It's available. Also drizzly carry iicheko as well.

Tiff: And I imagine internationally it's fairly widely available.

Tetsuro: Yes. We are exporting our shochu from Japan to over 30 countries, but its milky the classic iichiko Silhouette, the 25% ABV. For iichiko saiten, it's only available I the US for now, but, the next markets will be London, Singapore and Australia.

Tiff: Now, if people would like more information on iichiko shochu they can, of course, go to your website, which is iichiko.com or alternatively, they can connect with the brand on your socials.

Tetsuro: Yes, Iichiko underscore USA for Facebook and Instagram.

Excellent. Well, Tetsuro, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us today.

Thank you very much for this opportunity.