Awamori is Japan’s original spirit. It predates Japanese whisky by centuries and shochu by generations.
Whenever I talk about Japan’s best-kept gustatory secrets, I include awamori. Even if I only mention shochu, I’m consciously considering its ancestor at the same time. They certainly aren’t one and the same, but they are inextricably linked by history, culture, and process.
Aunty?
Awamori is older than shochu. Born and bred in Okinawa Prefecture, it developed from the experiments of Japan’s earliest distillers. After more than 600 years of refining the style, awamori has a phalanx of rules protecting it and a WTO-protected Geographical Indication (GI) to boot.
Well over 40 distilleries still make Ryukyu Awamori, the GI, to this day. Distillation know-how and technology (basically hollowed-out stumps and clay pots) gradually found their way north through the southern reaches of Japan’s archipelago, and shochu, in all its glorious forms, was eventually born.
Awamori rules
Production of Japan’s first spirit is far more rule-bound than shochu. Here are the limitations:
- made only from rice
- all of the rice is kojified
- single pot-distilled
- aged in vats, clay pots, or oak barrels
- no additives
- typically bottled at 30% ABV, but up to 44.9% is possible
It shares several similarities with shochu: rice, koji, single pot distillation, and no additives (if you prefer your spirits with unlabeled additives, check this list). But awamori is far more locked down in that only rice can be used, and 100% of the rice must be inoculated with koji before fermentation.
Another biggie here–only black koji mold can be used during inoculation. I promise I’ll get into koji in future posts, but I encourage you to start foraging the internet for that information right now. Koji is one of the keys to Japanese cuisine, so don’t hesitate.
One important way awamori is unique in Japan is its long fractional blending tradition known as shitsugi. Shitsugi is the aging process whereby younger vintages are blended into older ones in large clay pots over time. You’re not far off if you just thought of soleras in sherry aging.
If you’d like a deeper dive into the spirit of Okinawa, then check out this early Japan Distilled podcast episode.
Kanpai! Or as they say in Okinawa, kari-!
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