🥃 Shochu

Shochu (焼酎) is a Japanese spirit that is often compared with vodka or whisky, but the country's 1953 Liquor Tax Act divides it into two classes. Continuously distilled shochu (the former class kō-rui, 甲類) is under 36% ABV, and single-distilled shochu (the former otsu-rui, 乙類) is up to 45% ABV. The strictest kind of the second class is called honkaku shochu, meaning authentic.

Continuously distilled shochu is column-still spirit purified of fusel oils and aldehydes; the law bans germinated grain, fruit and filtration through birch charcoal for it. For single-distilled shochu the law lists the permitted bases: grain or sweet potato with koji (mold grown on grain) and water; grain koji with water alone; sake lees; permitted sugar with rice koji; and grain or sweet potato with koji plus additives weighing no more than the base.

The name honkaku shochu (本格焼酎), as the National Tax Agency explains it, goes only on single-distilled shochu from these bases, and the permitted additives are several dozen plants and foods, from azuki beans and sesame to green tea. Four names are protected as geographical indications: Iki (barley with rice koji, 1995), Kuma (rice, 1995), Satsuma (sweet potato from Kagoshima, 2005) and Tokyo Shimazake from the Izu Islands (2024).

According to tax statistics, 353 million liters of single-distilled and 295 million liters of continuously distilled shochu were taxed in Japan in fiscal 2024, together about 8% of all alcohol. By the usual account, single distillation reached Okinawa from Siam in the mid-15th century and Kagoshima in the 16th century, and the first continuously distilled shochu in Japan was made around 1900.

Why this matters to you. The word shochu does not yet tell you how the drink was made: «本格焼酎» or «単式蒸留焼酎» means single distillation from the raw materials listed in the law, while «連続式蒸留焼酎» means column-still spirit. The names Iki, Kuma and Satsuma guarantee place and raw material. Check the strength on the label. WHO reminds us: there is no safe dose of alcohol.