Shochu Stop
January 13, 2012
Shochu Stop: Oyuwari
Happy new year! How did you spend your new year’s day?
The start of my new year was the worst. On new year’s eve, I was at my a party in SF and drank many whisky cocktails that my friend made. I enjoyed the cocktail and the party, and then went to the BART (the Bay Area train system) station around 3 am.
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November 25, 2011
Shochu Stop: Shochu Advisor
Hi everyone, I’m back!
Let me tell you what I was doing all this time, while neglecting this shochu column.
Two months ago, I went back to Japan to take the Shochu Advisor’s test, so I needed to concentrate on studying shochu. I did pass the test, and got the certificate. What is a Shochu Advisor? Yeah, I know, it sounds fake.
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August 24, 2011
Shochu Stop: Shochu vs. Soju
When customers visit Ippuku (where I work) and see the shochu collection, they invariably say, “Oh wow, look at the beautiful sake collection!” I’m tired of correcting them, but I have to, and I tell them that those bottles are not sake, they are shochu! And then, they think for a minute and say, “Oh, soju!”.
It’s so annoying. Ippuku is a Japanese restaurant, why would we have Korean soju?
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August 10, 2011
Shochu Stop: How to Enjoy Shochu
Since I have moved to the U.S. from Japan, I have felt sad about how Americans drink, because American people don’t drink so much. “飲みが足んねえ” (nomi ga tan ne e, or “They don’t drink enough”). They are too discreet. Maybe people can’t be a dead drunk in U.S., because of safety issues. Maybe they have to drive after drinking.
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July 27, 2011
Shochu Stop: Mugi Shochu (Barley)
This time I would like to talk about mugi (barley) shochu in more general terms.
Mugi shochu might be easier to understand than any other shochu, because mugi shochu is distilled from barley–like whisky, vodka, and gin. There are two types of mugi shochus. One is clear, and the other is amber. The amber one is aged in oak barrels, and the taste is like light whisky.
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July 13, 2011
Shochu Stop: Toyonaga (Short Rice)
I’m ashamed to say that I had not tried kome (short rice) shochu so often in Japan because I didn’t have many occasions to try it. Truthfully, I did not care for it much anyway, since I was most into imo (sweet potato) shochu. So I’m still a kome shochu novice. I want to introduce Toyonaga to you in this post for kome shochu beginners like me.
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June 29, 2011
Shochu Stop: Satsuma Shiranami (Sweet Potato)
Today, I’ll introduce you to Satsuma Shiranami which used to be my go-to shochu in Japan. I would get home late from work, turn on the TV and settle down into my couch and have this shochu on the rocks. It relaxed my exhausted body and induced a deep sleep. The next morning, I would get ready for another day of work.
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June 22, 2011
Shochu Stop: An Introduction
Hello, I’m Washi. Nice to meet you! I moved to the U.S. in January 2010 from Tokyo. Sorry ladies, I’m married. Anyway, I have been drinking soooo much shochu for years, and I just wanna say, SHOCHU IS FANTASTIC!
Huh? What is shochu? Don’t rush, I’ll tell you all about it later.
During my bachelor days, my life was full of shochu.
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