Sake and shochu from Kagoshima

How do sweet potatoes, koji and water shape it?

The prefecture has wide plateaus of free-draining volcanic shirasu soil, which suits sweet potatoes. The main shochu variety is the white-fleshed Koganesengan (黄金千貫), and the distillers' association says more than 40 varieties are used. Distillers work with white, black and yellow koji, and the koji changes the taste too.

What does it taste like?

The National Tax Agency's standard describes a bright, rich aroma from the potato, a sweet and full taste and a smooth mouthfeel right after distilling. Atmospheric distillation tends to be full and weighty, vacuum distillation lighter and cleaner. Each distillery adds its own touch, for example kametsubo brewing, where the mash ferments in clay pots buried in the ground.

A short history

Tradition says the sailor Maeda Riemon brought sweet potatoes from the Ryukyus in 1705 and grew them successfully. Potatoes came into shochu making in the time of the lord Shimazu Nariakira, at the end of the Edo period. In the late Meiji era brewers began using awamori's black koji, which resists spoilage and made brewing more reliable.

What is the GI "Satsuma"?

It was designated on 22 December 2005. Only sweet potatoes harvested in Kagoshima (excluding Amami City and Oshima District) may be used. The koji must be made from rice or Kagoshima sweet potatoes, and the water must be taken in the prefecture. Fermentation, single distillation, storage and bottling also happen there. The Satsuma Shochu Management Committee, inside the Kagoshima distillers' association, checks products.

What about Amami brown sugar shochu?

The Amami Islands are outside "Satsuma" and are the home of kokuto shochu. When the islands returned to Japan in December 1953, production from rice koji and brown sugar was permitted on the Amami Islands only. "Amami Kokuto Shochu" became a regional collective trademark in 2009.

Where are the distilleries?

The association groups its distilleries into 11 areas: Kagoshima, Ijuin, Chiran, Ibusuki, Sendai, Izumi, Kajiki, Osumi, Kanoya, Tanegashima and Amami. Its list shows more than 100 distilleries.

Visiting and what to eat with it

Whether a distillery needs a reservation for tours and tastings differs, so check its official site. The local vessel kuro-jyoka (a clay kettle, "chyoka" being dialect for teapot) suits gentle warming over low heat and pre-diluted shochu. Shochu with hot or cold water is the everyday way to drink it locally. Local dishes that go with it include satsuma-age fish cakes, kibinago sashimi and black pork. See How to mix shochu too.