Awamori is a Japanese drink rooted in its past. With six centuries of history in Okinawa and the Ryukyu Islands, the rice- and koji-based spirit is the oldest made in Japan. In some ways, it’s similar to shochu but differs in terms of production and place of origin, while offering a complex flavor profile veering from funky and bold to rich and laced with vanilla. Whereas shochu can be made with rice, sweet potato, barley and a wide range of additional ingredients, awamori is only made with rice and hails specifically from Okinawa. And unlike shochu, which remains a local favorite, awamori has fallen out of favor with younger consumers over the years. However, its old-school distilleries are deploying different strategies to stay relevant and find a new audience.
“The older generation still loves awamori in Okinawa, but the younger generation not as much,” says Akira Nakazato, the master distiller of the notable awamori house Mizuho Shuzo, or Mizuho Distillery, founded in 1848 and now run by the seventh generation of the Tamanaha family.
To tap into that younger age group before it’s too late, Mizuho and other producers have been tamping down on awamori’s strong flavor to create mixable renditions better suited for cocktails and branching out to other spirits, including gin and rum, that highlight local ingredients and traditions through a new lens.
An Exploration of Okinawan Terroir
Sugarcane has been cultivated across the mineral-rich Okinawan islands, a chain with both volcanic and coral geology, for four centuries. One beloved agricultural product and local specialty is kokuto, or Okinawan black sugar, served in bite-size cubes as a sweet snack and prized for its rich flavor. Combining that lineage with the island’s distillation heritage was perhaps an inevitable evolution.
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Under Nakazato’s stewardship, Mizuho unveiled the ambitious OneRum brand, sourcing kokuto from eight different islands in the archipelago. The result is a tantalizing series of eight rums representing the particular kokuto variety grown on a given island, as well as the terroir of its surroundings. In August, Mizuho released a blended rum including all eight constituent islands in one cohesive, tropical fruity whole.
“This project is connecting Okinawan sugar cane to the future,” Nakazato says, adding that Okinawa’s humid, subtropical environs should ring a bell for devotees to Caribbean rum. “It’s almost the same latitude as their famous rum production. I believe Okinawa can be a new sacred place for rum.”
Also under the OneRum banner is an agricole rhum made with sugarcane grown by Mizuho at its own farm, a project for which they’ve brought in a range of partners such as prominent Japanese bar owners and bartenders. “Compared to rum produced in other countries, you can feel the difference in terroir between Okinawan agricole rhum and the black sugar rum made on remote islands,” says Issey Teruya, the second generation owner of Sammy’s Bar Kiwi, a whiskey and spirits bar on Okinawa.
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For Teruya, one of the local partners who was invited to get involved in the project, Okinawan rum showcasing its unique terroir serves as an introduction to the island and its other more traditional spirits. “For those who don’t know about Okinawa, I would like to have them drink Okinawan rum first and visit Okinawa with their thoughts,” he says.
Kokuto is gaining traction in the bar world thanks to an awamori and kokuto liqueur released in 2023 called Kokuto de Lequio. It’s the brainchild of Shingo Gokan, the founder of Tokyo’s renowned SG Club cocktail bar and other hot spots, including Sober Company in Shanghai and El Lequio in Naha, Okinawa. It’s Gokan’s product, but it’s made in conjunction with a familiar face at Mizuho. “Spirits is a very small world,” says Nakazato.
Gin Is Also In on Okinawa
Perhaps no spirit has spread its production wings as far as gin, and Okinawa can now count itself among its many global homes. A leading example comes from Masahiro Shuzo, an Okinawan distillery founded in 1883. Masahiro Okinawa Gin includes local botanicals such as goya bitter melon, guava leaves, long pepper and shekwasha, a sour citrus native to the island. It is produced with awamori distillation techniques that utilize two different single distillers to create a uniquely flavorful gin.
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Mizuho began its own efforts in 2018 with Ori-gin 1848, its first craft spirits project beyond the awamori realm. According to Nakazato, Ori-gin’s rich, tropical profile evokes Okinawa with botanicals such as pepper, tea, shell ginger and shekwasha. “We use only local ingredients,” Nakazato says, adding that Ori-gin’s recipe also includes a particular strain of sakura yeast, while flavored editions highlight produce such as Okinawan strawberries.
Awamori Made for Cocktails
Another iron in the fire for an awamori resurgence is a brand produced specifically for cocktails. Ryukyu 1429 is an upstart, created in part with funding by the Japanese government to support the awamori industry. Ryukyu 1429 sources awamori from three distilleries—Chuko, Zuisen and Kumejima’s Kumesen—with the goal of buoying the category’s global presence.
“I believe that by creating great cocktails, bartenders can show the public the potential of awamori, similar to something like mezcal, which is now one of the most loved cocktail spirits,” says Gento Torigata, a bartender at the acclaimed London cocktail bar Kwãnt.
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Torigata notes that Ryukyu 1429’s three products each have a distinctive flavor profile that works well in different styles of drinks: Kaze showcases mushroom and spice, Mizu offers ripe tropical fruits and Tsuchi hints of dark chocolate. He recommends novices to the category start with its Tsuchi expression, which the producer compares in some ways to a white whiskey, in drinks like the espresso martini. His riff is the Ryukyu cocktail, incorporating Ryukyu 1429 Tsuchi with Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso Sherries, espresso, maple syrup and a pinch of salt, serving as an accessible introduction for Western drinkers looking to become acclimated to the spirit.
In addition to Kwãnt, cocktail bar luminaries ranging from the famed American Bar at The Savoy to the trendy, avant-garde Sips in Barcelona have turned to Ryukyu 1429 for specialty drinks. If awamori can grab a foothold in those types of establishments, perhaps it’s only a matter of time before spirits and cocktail aficionados around the world take notice. That’s the hope, anyway.
“We believe there will be an opportunity for bartenders around the world to show interest in awamori after experiencing the pleasures of drinking gin, rum and other spirits produced in Okinawa,” Teruya says.
Published: April 8, 2024
