Shochu from Miyazaki

How do ingredients, koji and water shape it?

Miyazaki is long from north to south, and each area grows different crops, which become the base. The warm south and the Miyakonojo area favour sweet potato, the west near Kumamoto rice, and the north, where few potatoes grow, barley, buckwheat, other grains and chestnut. Yellow Koganesengan is the main potato, though some distilleries use purple or orange varieties. The water is groundwater and spring water stored by the forests of the Kyushu mountains.

What does it taste like?

The base changes the character. Imo shochu tends to be aromatic and sweet, gaining complexity with long ageing. Barley shochu has the body of a distilled spirit with a clean finish, and buckwheat shochu is fragrant with a light sweetness. Rice shochu is gentle and floral, with an aroma close to sake. Lighter vacuum distillation is common too.

A short history

After the war, poor illicit spirits circulated, so in 1953 the government specially allowed cheaper 20% shochu, and in Miyazaki it stuck. In 1973 a distillery in the north brought the first buckwheat shochu in Japan to market. In 1983 a distillery in the south launched the first imo shochu made entirely by vacuum distillation.

Is there a GI?

When we checked the National Tax Agency's list, no geographical indication had been designated for shochu from Miyazaki. Unlike neighbouring Kagoshima ("Satsuma") and Kumamoto ("Kuma"), Miyazaki's identity lies in its variety of ingredients and its 20% drinking culture. Check the base and the strength on the label.

Where are the distilleries?

The prefecture's shochu site lists distilleries around Nichinan, Kushima, Miyakonojo, Hyuga, Saito, Ebino, Kobayashi, Takanabe, Takachiho and Miyazaki City. A prefectural promotion body says there are 38 shochu distilleries in the prefecture.

Visiting and what to eat with it

The prefecture's tourism site introduces places where you can see the process and taste, including Kirishima Factory Garden (reservation needed), distillery tours in Aya Town (booked in advance), a tunnel lined with shochu casks, and a place where you can make your own shochu. Locally, hot-water shochu is popular at six parts shochu to four parts water (rokuyon) or seven to three (shichisan). Local meat dishes and dishes with lively herbs and spices are enjoyable partners.