Shochu

This ACSA Innovation Award–winning shochu brings the Japanese-style spirit into a cocktail-focused range with higher ABV and lighter flavor profile.

To create novel flavor profiles, Western distillers are increasingly embracing a mold that is traditional in many Asian food and drink fermentations —and they’ve only begun to tap into its potential.

In the second of two articles on the making of soju and shochu, we take a closer look at the all-important koji mold, and we hear from three different producers of shochu—the light spirit that’s been outselling sake in Japan since 2003.

These two lighter spirits from East Asia have long traditions and remain popular in their home countries, but they are not the same. American drinkers are catching on. In the first of two articles, we look at the differences and then zoom in on craft soju.