How does awamori differ from shochu?

Awamori is Okinawa's distilled spirit: rice koji made with black koji mould and water are fermented and distilled once in a pot still. By law it belongs to the honkaku (single-distilled) shochu family, but three things set it apart from other shochu: all the rice becomes koji, the koji is black koji only, and there is only one mash.

What does the law say?

Under Japan's Liquor Tax Act, awamori is a kind of single-distilled shochu. Only a spirit made from rice koji grown with black koji mould and water, distilled in a pot still and with nothing but water added, may be labelled "awamori". Like all single-distilled shochu it is 45 % alcohol or less; above 45 % it is classed as raw-material alcohol.

Awamori made with black koji mould (Aspergillus luchuensis, awamori-kin) and Okinawan water only, and fermented, distilled, stored and bottled in Okinawa, may also carry the geographical indication (GI) "Ryukyu". Ryukyu was among the first spirit GIs in Japan, designated on 30 June 1995 together with Iki and Kuma. "Ryukyu awamori" on a label is this GI.

Four differences from shochu

• All-koji mash: all the rice is turned into koji, then water and yeast are added in one go. There is no second mash with a main ingredient, as with sweet-potato shochu.
• Black koji: the mould makes a lot of citric acid. The sour mash keeps unwanted bacteria away, so awamori can be made all year in Okinawa's heat.
• Thai rice: hard, dry-textured Thai (indica) rice lets the koji mould spread its threads easily. Since around the 1920s it has been the main rice, for its steady price and quality.
• Kusu: awamori gains aroma and roundness the longer it rests (see Kusu and shitsugi).

A short history

Distilling most likely reached the Ryukyu Kingdom around the 15th century through trade with Siam (today's Thailand) and its neighbours. Under the kingdom, awamori was an official drink that only craftsmen in three districts near Shuri Castle (the "Shuri sanka") were allowed to make.

The name "awamori" first appears in 1671, in a list of gifts to the Tokugawa shogunate; before that the drink was written as "shōshu" or "shōchū".

The Battle of Okinawa in 1945 burned many distilleries and destroyed almost all the old kusu. After the war, the story goes, production restarted with black koji mould found in the ruins of a distillery. Shipments peaked in 2004 and have fallen since; growing beyond Okinawa and Japan is the industry's challenge today.

For the steps, see How awamori is made; for shochu's wider story, A short history of shochu and awamori.