Shochu
Everyone knows sake (SAH-kay), the famous rice-brewed beverage that's one of the most famous images of Japan. But another popular drink is shochu, a distilled beverage made from various sources including barley, sweet potatoes and rice. In decades past, shochu was seen as a lower-class drink, but in recent years its image has risen, and now it's considered quite trendy. Shochu can be drunk straight or on the rocks, but my own favorite way to enjoy it is as chuhai, that is, mixed with soda water and a flavoring like fresh lemon or grapefruit juice, and I keep wondering when restaurants and bars in America will discover this exotic yet highly drinkable Japanese concoction and popularize it. If you're interested in seeing what this unique beverage tastes like, we're happy to announce that the amazing traditional Japanese Food Drops series now includes shochu flavored candies. Try them now!
I'm a big fan of the Japanese drink known as shochu. I drink it all the time (bad Japanese pun).
posted by Peter in Japan at 5:29 PM
5 Comments:
So the bad Japanese joke is basically, Shochu 焼酎 happens to sound similar to the word しょっちゅう shotchuu, lit. "doing all the time." Hence saying しょっちゅう飲む is saying I drink [it] all the time, without stopping, which is a joke since it sound like the drink Shochu.
Okay, go back to what you were doing.
5:32 PM
Some shōchū makers label their products for US export as soju, the Korean distilled liquor, due to a loophole in liquor licensing laws in New York and California that allows restaurants with a beer & wine license to sell soju. This allows these establishments to sell cocktails based on soju or shochu while avoiding the expense and restrictions of obtaining a full bar license.
4:39 AM
Interesting. Yes, as with all things there's a Korean version of anything from Japan, or a Japanese version of anything from Korea. It'd be nice to see these drinks get more popular.
2:37 PM
Well, onikoroshi and absinthe didn't make it, although it's pretty to look at. Maybe shochu and absinthe?
Now sake with crushed mint leaves shaken in a martini shaker, that's mighty good.
3:41 PM
Shochu has become quite popular in the San Francisco area resteraunt cocktails, but is known as Soju (the Korean pronounciation). Korean soju is slightly different from Japanese shochu: often blending different types of shochu together (barley, rice, tapioca, wheat) whereas Japanese shochu is almost always straight. Sweet Potato shochu I've only seen from Japan.
3:31 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home