Craft Spirits Awards 2020: Shochu scores points in Berlin

 Craft Spirits Awards 2020: Shochu scores points in Berlin

Japan's traditional spirit competes for the first time at Craft Spirits

On Friday evening, March 6, 2020, this year's Craft Spirits Awards were presented at a ceremony in the Säälchen at Berlin's Holzmarkt. For the first time this year, there was also a "Shochu" category. Ginza Berlin GmbH submitted eight shochus to the competition. The result: 6 x silver, 2 x gold!

"We are delighted beyond measure that all eight of the shochus we submitted have received an award," says Kai Fryder, CEO of Ginza Berlin. "We would like to thank our producers Machida Shuzo, Omoya Shuzo and Ookubo Shuzo for making so many great products that are created with a lot of love and craftsmanship in small distilleries. And of course our thanks go to the competent expert jury as well as Theo Ligthart & Thomas Kochan for the outstanding organization."

The awards in detail:

Gold for:

• Sato No Akebono Gold, Kokuto Shochu (Brown Sugar), Machida Shuzo, Amami Island
• Kampou, Imo Shochu (sweet potato), Ookubo Shuzo, Kagoshima

Silver for:

• Chingu Kuro Black Koji, Mugi Shochu (barley), Omoya Shuzo, Iki Island
• Kakuzou, Mugi Shochu (barley) Omoya Shuzo, Iki Island
• Samurai No Mon, Imo Shochu (sweet potato), Ookubo Shuzo, Kakoshima
• Ookubo, Imo Shochu (sweet potato), Ookubo Shuzo, Kagoshima
• Sato No Akebono Genshu, Kokuto Shochu (Brown Sugar), Machida Shuzo, Amami Island
• The Tatsugo Gold, Kokuto Shochu (Brown Sugar), Machida Shuzo, Amami Island

About Machida Shuzo:

Machida Shuzo produces the finest kokuto shochu, i.e. shochu made from brown sugar, and is based on Amami-Oshima, the largest island in the Amami archipelago at 712 km². The history of sugar cane cultivation on Amami goes back some 400 years. Kokuto Shochu is very rare and is produced exclusively on Amami Island. Amami is a protected designation of origin, like Champagne or Bordeaux.
The company has even been growing its own sugar cane since 2017. Their unique distillation and ageing methods produce world-class Kokuto Shochus.

About Ookubo Shuzo:

Ookubo Shuzo was founded in 1893 and produces great Imo Shochus (sweet potato) in the city of Shibushi, Kagoshima Prefecture, Kyūshū. Ookubo Shuzo is a small business, with just 12 people taking care of everything from growing, harvesting and processing the imo to producing the shochu. The company is famous throughout the country for its sweet potatoes and also sells them to other distilleries for shochu production.

About Omoya Shuzo:

The home of Omoya Shuzo is Iki Island, a tiny island with only 28,000 inhabitants, located in the Tsushima Strait between Japan and South Korea. The designation of origin "Iki Island" for Shochu was geographically protected by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995 (comparable to "Cognac" or "Champagne"). Only seven distilleries still have this special status, and Omoya, founded in 1924, is the smallest of them with seven employees. All of Omaya's shochus are produced in very small batches.

About Shochu:

Shochu is Japan's most popular traditional spirit, which has been produced for over 500 years in mostly tiny factories, making it a true craft spirit. As with sake or soy sauce, koji, a mushroom that is an integral part of Japanese cuisine, is used in the production process. It supports the fermentation process and gives off very characteristic flavors. Shochu can be made from a wide variety of raw materials. Barley, rice, brown sugar or sweet potato are often used, but unusual products such as paprika, shiso, milk or sesame are also used. For a spirit, shochu usually has a rather low alcohol content of 25-30% by volume, which also makes it an exciting accompaniment to food. Genuine shochu, known as "honkaku shochu", is always single-distilled, making it easy to taste the base product. Furthermore, no additives may be added to it.