Sake & brews ── Shochu & Awamori
Iki Shochu
Iki shochu — Nagasaki's GI-designated barley spirit
The name reserved for barley shochu mashed with water from Iki Island in Nagasaki and distilled and bottled on the island itself. A rough ratio of two parts barley to one part rice koji is said to have traditionally been used, and Iki is known as the birthplace of mugi-jochu.
- Origin: Nagasaki Iki
- Barley
- About 940 km west of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
The raw materials are barley and rice koji, and using water from Iki Island itself as the brewing water is a condition of the designation. Barley's toasty aroma layers with a faint sweetness and umami from the rice koji, giving a rounder body than an all-barley mugi-jochu, and the island's seven breweries are said to bring out their own character through blending ratios and aging. In recent years, more breweries are also said to be gradually adopting reduced-pressure distillation to aim for a lighter style.
How it's made
The traditional Iki method is said to build the mash at a rough ratio of two parts barley to one part rice koji, and carrying out every step from koji-making through mashing, distillation, and bottling on the island itself is the condition for the GI 'Iki' designation, it's said. Single-distillation stills are the mainstream choice, and atmospheric distillation is said to give many of them a heavy, substantial body.
Why it took this shape
On Iki, a largely flat island ill-suited to paddy fields, distillation technology said to have arrived from mainland China around the 16th century is said to have combined with the island's climate to produce a barley-based spirit. Because rice had to be handed over as tax while barley was easier to keep for home use, a method pairing barley with rice koji is said to have taken root, and as the birthplace of mugi-jochu, that technique is said to be still passed down there today.
Before you go
- How to use an antenna shopA guide to what's sold at an antenna shop, its restaurant or eat-in counters, its tourist-information role, the cluster of shops around Ginza and Yurakucho, and how to use one before a trip or for last-minute souvenirs.
- All-you-can-eat and all-you-can-drink customsTime limits, last-order windows, and a few rules to know before booking a tabehodai or nomihodai course.
- Rules and etiquette around alcoholWhat's worth knowing before drinking in Japan: the legal drinking age, how strictly drink-driving is treated, rules on drinking outdoors, train etiquette, and customs like waiting for a toast and pouring for each other.
Dishes in the same style
- Mugi-jochuShochu made mainly from barley, mashed with rice or barley koji. It's said to carry a toasty grain aroma and a light, clean mouthfeel, with Iki in Nagasaki known as the birthplace and Oita as the region that popularized the all-barley style.
- Oita Mugi-jochuThe barley shochu style from Oita Prefecture that drove the modern trend for mugi 100 percent shochu, made entirely from barley and barley koji. It's said to have been developed by an Oita brewery in 1973, and its mild, easy-drinking character is said to have sparked a nationwide barley-shochu boom.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Nagasaki
- ArumadoA hard-boiled egg dyed pink is wrapped in fish paste and steamed into a kamaboko log that shows a pink-rimmed cross-section when cut — a Hirado specialty, with kin dishes called "arimado" in Sasebo and "ryugan" in Nagasaki.
- Goto UdonA hand-pulled noodle from Shinkamigoto, Nagasaki. Its technique is thought to trace back to envoys returning from Tang China, and the island's camellia oil is worked into the dough for a smooth, elastic bite.
- HanahajikiCucumber, carrot, deep-fried tofu, and shrimp are cut into strips and fanned out on a plate to be dipped in a hot mustard vinegar-miso — a dish from Isahaya said to be named for how the mustard "flicks the nose," traditionally served at Buddhist memorial services.
- HatoshiShrimp and squid paste sandwiched in bread and deep-fried, a Nagasaki specialty said to have arrived from China in the Meiji era, growing from a shippoku banquet course into a food loved across the city.
- HikadoFish or chicken and vegetables like daikon and carrot are diced fine and simmered, thickened at the end with grated sweet potato — said to originate in a meat stew eaten by Portuguese residents of Nagasaki, its name from the Portuguese word for "minced."
- HikitoshiChicken raised at home is butchered for this Iki hot pot, typically enriched with iki-doufu, a rich local tofu, and firm-boiled somen — said to have begun as a dish served to guests in the inner parlor, its name tracing to "hiki-toshi," leading a guest through.