Shochu, with a lower alcohol content than many spirits, finds a new audience in the US

Courtney Kaplan is well-known as a sake sommelier. She and her partner, Charles Namba, run Echo Park sake bar Ototo, which is next to their popular izakaya, Tsubaki. In 2023, Ototo won a James Beard Award for Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program. Ototo doesn't only serve sake. It also has a robust shochu menu. In the United States, shochu is a lesser known spirit here but in Japan, it's more popular than sake.

Evan Kleiman: What is the difference between sake and shochu?

Courtney Kaplan: They're quite different. The main difference is in the production. Sake is fermented, so it's probably closest to beer in the way that it's brewed whereas shochu is distilled, so it's a spirit, and it can be made from a variety of different base ingredients. Sake is always made from rice whereas shochu can be made from barley, it can be made from rice. Often, it's made from sweet potato. You'll even see some versions made from sesame or with ginger or carrot. The variety of base ingredients is much broader than it is with sake but the main difference really is the distillation of the product.

Is it correct to say that Korean soju is an equivalent?

They're similar but different. They share the same characters, which just basically mean "distilled spirit," so they're pronounced quite similarly. I'm not an expert in Korean soju, so my knowledge is quite limited but my understanding is that Korean soju is often distilled multiple times to create a really clean drinking experience, sort of like vodka, which is often multiple distillations. Whereas honkaku shochu, which is the shochu that we serve at Ototo, is single distillation, so you really taste the base ingredient underneath. If it's made from sweet potato, you really taste the sweet potato. If it's made from rice, you really taste the rice. They're both distilled spirits and they probably originate from similar innovations and distillation technology but they do drink and operate quite differently.

Are there regulations pertaining to shochu in terms of how it's made?

In order to be considered honkaku shochu, it does have to go through only one single distillation. There is another category of shochu, called otsurui shochu, which is multiple distillation. That is a primary difference in the category, depending on what you're going to be using it for. If you're going to be sipping a shochu where you really want that base ingredient to shine, you're going to want to look for the honkaku shochu. Oftentimes, the multiple distilled product is more suitable for mixing or for using in cocktails. That is a relatively strict regulation that you will see on the label of shochu.

Why are we only now starting to see it more frequently here in the US?

That's a really great question because it's been popular in Japan for quite a long time. I worked at a restaurant in New York in the early 2000s and they actually branded their bar as a shochu bar because all of our Japanese chefs, that was what they prefered to drink and they thought that New Yorkers would take to it as well. I think it's a complicated beverage for folks to understand, possibly because of the confusion with Korean soju. I do think there is more of an interest in it now. 

I hope the interest is because it's such a compelling beverage. I think it really shows fascinating flavor profiles. It typically clocks in around 25% alcohol by volume. There are some that are higher and some that are lower but it's a great opportunity to make a cocktail that, perhaps, has a little bit lower ABV, which I know a lot of people are looking for these days. 

It has a unique place in the world of spirits that you can't really replace with anything else. I think, for many years, it was often used as a substitute for restaurants that didn't have a full liquor license. You are able, in California, to buy shochu under a beer and wine license so it would often get plugged into what we would think of as a traditional cocktail. I think today, folks are really embracing shochu for what it is and developing cocktails to really let it shine on its own.

Talk to us a little bit about how shochu is best consumed. Can you drink it either hot or cold, as you would sake? Is it something to be sipped or do people drink shots? How is it best enjoyed?

In my experience, there's not a huge culture of shot-drinking in Japan, although I'm sure there's definitely people in places where that's possible, but it is usually sipped. The classic ways of drinking it in Japan would be you could drink it neat, you could drink it over ice, you could drink it with a little bit of water, called mizuwari. If you want to drink it warm, you do what's called oyuwari, where it's mixed with hot water. I don't often see shochu on its own just warmed, perhaps because of the higher alcohol content, but oftentimes it'll be mixed with hot water and then drunk that way, maybe with a squeeze of lemon or a little bit of umeboshi, the Japanese pickled plum. It's also the base ingredient in a whole style of cocktails called chūhai, which is an abbreviation for "shochu highball." It's shochu mixed with fruit juices or oolong tea. That's the staple izakaya drink all across Japan, the chūhai.

Is that how you're serving it?

Right now, we are serving our version of a chūhai. We change it seasonally, depending on what we're finding at the market. Right now, we're offering it with mandarin orange and ginger syrup with a barley shochu. We also serve it on its own. We usually have 10 to 15 types of shochu from different base ingredients. Guests are welcome to choose how they'd like to enjoy it. We offer it neat, over ice or oyuwari (with hot water) as well as the alternative for people who really want to enjoy it in its pure form.

You have these different varieties on offer. Are there certain base ingredients that people seem to be drawn to more than others?

I think that for people who are just getting into shochu, rice is a really nice gateway because it does share some aromas and flavors with sake and it tends to be on the more delicate, elegant side of shochu. We find that people who are brown spirits drinkers or who like agave spirits often gravitate towards sweet potato shochu, which is made from these special sweet potatoes grown in Kyushu that are spicy and earthy. They can have a smokiness to them in shochu form. People who appreciate mezcal will really enjoy a glass of sweet potato shochu. We also have some that are oak barrel-aged that sort of give a whiskey-like drinking experience, although quite a bit lighter. Our first question when people are starting to explore shochu is to find out what other spirits they like to drink, and then make a recommendation from there.

So if I came, I would say that I'm a gin drinker.

We would probably start with a really clean, aromatic rice shochu served over ice, maybe with a little lemon or lime twist for you.

How much stronger is shochu than sake?

Sake averages about 15% alcohol and the shochu that we serve is 24% alcohol, so it is stronger. But compared to something like a gin or a vodka, which would probably be closer to 40%, it is still lighter than what we think of as our average Western distilled spirit.

What foods are best paired with shochu, do you think?

It depends on the style of shochu you're drinking. The sweet potato shochus, they're coming from Kyushu, where the food is pretty hearty, pretty rich and a little bit on the sweeter side. Things like braised pork belly or really rich stews go well with sweet potato shochu, especially at this time of year. If you're [into] lighter, fresher foods, I think rice shochu can be a really nice choice with them, things that are more neutral. Barley, which is probably the most neutral of all of them, has this very pleasant, grain-like aroma and flavor. I think it is really versatile and you can probably take it through your whole meal. Oftentimes, when I go out with Japanese friends, they'll just order a bottle of barley shochu for the table, some sliced lemon on the side and we drink that, from sashimi all the way through until the end [of the meal]. It is a really versatile drink at the table.

If we want to include it in our home bar, do you have a few favorite brands you could recommend?

The one that we probably personally drink the most of is a unique shochu called Beni Otome, which is made with sesame. They claim on their back label that they are the only alcoholic beverage in the world that's made from sesame. I don't know if that's true. It has this really beautiful, roasted sesame aroma to it. I love that over a big ice cube. That's what I sometimes will have at the end of the night at home, on its own or with maybe some toasted nuts or something to go with it. 

If we're looking for a really great introduction to show you something quite elegant, I would recommend Tori Kai, which is a rice shochu that's made using sake-grade rice that's been heavily polished. It's really refined, elegant and delicious. You could stir it over ice and pour it into a cocktail glass and almost drink it like a martini. It's really clean and clear.

If you wanted to really get down and try some of the sweet potatoe shochu, anything from the line of Hozan shochus are wonderful. They make a line of several different shochus using different colors of koji. They all have unique flavor profiles but they're considered to be the gold standard of sweet potato shochu. So I would start with something from Hozan.

Are there particular bottle shops you could recommend where we can find some of these brands?

The best place really that I've seen for show too is the Japanese supermarkets — Mitsuwa or Nijiya or Tokyo Central, particularly if you take the trip to Gardena or Torrance, to the big Japanese markets down there. They usually have a very wide selection of lots of brands. That's where I would recommend starting.

Recently, there was a labeling law passed here in California surrounding shochu. Can you tell us what it is regarding?

Up until very recently, we were only allowed to carry Japanese shochu on a beer and wine license, which is different from a full liquor license that allows for spirits, if the label said "soju" on it and it was 24% ABV or less. Shochu already has an identity problem and is already being confused with Korean soju. The fact that the label had to say "soju" was a huge source of confusion for consumers for an already complicated beverage. 

There was a bill passed this year [2024] that now allows shochu to be sold in bars and restaurants that have a beer and wine liquor license, which is really wonderful news for us. First of all, it will help the consumer understand what they're getting in the bottle. And there were quite a few distilleries in Japan that didn't want to write "soju" on their label because their product is not soju, so we were never able to carry them in our restaurant because of the labeling issue. My hope is that now with this new law, we will actually be able to carry some new brands that had been off limits to us.