Kusu (aged awamori) and shitsugi

Kusu (古酒) is awamori of which every drop has been stored for three years or more. Since August 2015, awamori blended with younger spirit may no longer be called kusu. The longer it rests, the more it develops a sweet, vanilla-like aroma and a rounder, softer texture.

When may a label say "kusu"?

The rules are the industry's own fair-labelling code for awamori (泡盛の表示に関する公正競争規約).

• All of it must be three years or older. Until the change, a blend with more than 50 % three-year-old awamori could be sold as kusu; an amendment on 10 October 2013 made it "all (100 %)", fully in force since 1 August 2015.
• An age statement gives the age of the youngest kusu in the bottle. A "10-year kusu" is ten years or older throughout.
• When regular awamori contains 10 % or more kusu and is labelled a blend (ブレンド / 混和酒), the label must give the share of kusu ("kusu ○ %").

Awamori under three years old is usually called "ippanshu" (一般酒), regular awamori.

How does it taste?

The national standard for the "Ryukyu" geographical indication describes kusu, especially from atmospheric distillation, as having a rich, deep aroma in which a sweet, vanilla-like note and a matsutake-mushroom note blend together, both coming from what black-koji enzymes release from the rice.

Shitsugi

When you drink from the oldest pot (the "parent", oyazake), you top it up from the second-oldest, the second from the third, and so on. This way of ageing has been handed down since the Ryukyu Kingdom. The old spirit keeps its character without running out, and a family can pass it on for generations.

For shitsugi at home, the distillers' association and others suggest:

• For the parent pot, choose awamori of around 43 % from atmospheric distillation.
• Take out no more than a tenth of the total a year from the parent pot.
• Home pots usually hold between 3 shō (about 5.4 L) and 1 to (about 18 L).

For how to drink it, see How to drink awamori.