Comments on: Shochu: Japan’s firewater

By: bender

bender — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 08:46:12 +0000

It’s same as vodka or any other spirit…which was an issue in the WTO. Try and compare.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 04:27:55 +0000

I think Triangle 20 of the Koshu variety. Typically any shochu that comes in a plastic jug is Koshu. But anyway, about Triangle 20, it’s produced by Sapporo Beer and is a blend of barley and corn. I would recommend mixing this with some barley tea (mugi-cha 麦茶) but really you can mix anything with a koshu shochu.

By: Overthinker

Overthinker — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 13:51:37 +0000

If the bar doesn’t have chuhai (basically not likely, unless they’re shut) then any konbini will have cans of the stuff. I prefer to mix my own though – shochu screwdrivers are nice. I prefer shochu to sake by a long way. Imojochu that is, the spud stuff from Kagoshima (or Kumamoto).

By: Jay

Jay — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 09:44:52 +0000

I am sitting in a hotel room in Niigata, Japan for the first time and experiencing Shocyu, Trangle 20. I am not sure whether this is a koshu or otsushu but I suspect it is high in alcohol content. After a week, I miss my Tanqueray and tonic, but this is close to gin and I am enjoying it. I am going to the bar tonight and hopefully they have chuhai. Thanks for all the information and history on shocyu, shochu, koshu, otsushu, or whatever the heck I am drinking. I like it.

By: bender

bender — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 06:53:43 +0000

Claims about “origins” go nowhere…I don’ think it helps one nation look superior than the other. I wonder why this “origin” stuff is so rampant in the Far East. Basically, it seems like everyone wants to prove they’re better than Japan. Kind of smell some anti-Japanism going on here. But, is being the originators of sushi or sake make one more superior? How about fermented beans- natto? Maybe they want to deny being the originators of this stinking stuff?

In Europe, the “origin” stuff seems to be all about money- blocking Americans from making similar products under the same name- which I think is kind of harsh because many Americans came from Europe and it is their “European Heritage”, too.

By: ampontan

ampontan — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 03:29:09 +0000

“…like I’ve said – in terms of origin, shochu did not travel to Korea.”

Nowhere did I say that it did.

By: Wing

Wing — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 22:19:33 +0000

I think the author is misunderstanding the origins of shochu and soju. Soju is NOT the Korean version of Shochu. Soju is merely the Korean pronounciation of the characters for “fiery liquor” and whaddaya know, it sounds very similar to shochu… Just like the thousands of hanja/kanji words that sound similar to each other and to their original Chinese pronounciations.

It is historically more accurate to say that traditional shochu came from China or from Korea through China than vice versa. Now, MODERN soju may very well rip off Japanese shochu, but like I’ve said – in terms of origin, shochu did not travel to Korea.

Origins
——-
China -> Korea -> Japan

Modern Distillation Process
—————————
Probably that soju imitates shochu

By: ampontan

ampontan — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 06:00:33 +0000

Lirelou: More than two tokkuri of sake and I get a real bad hangover. I prefered the dry variety to the sweet when I drank it, and chilled to heated.

By: lirelou

lirelou — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 05:57:33 +0000

I like sake, and avoid soju, except for the occasional “baekseju”. My best friend imports sake to Puerto Rico, and several years ago I brought him a few bottles of very expensive Korean sake. It almost ended the friendship (humour, but he did judge it to be horrible.) On my last trip, I trucked along several bottles of soju and baekseju. He likewise found those unpalatable. I find the Taiwanese sake to be of drinkable quality. The only down side of sake it that it gives (me, at least) a bad case of “water buffalo breath”. I’ve never drunk a bad Japanese sake, and even the California sakes are palatable. Korean distilled sojues, on the other hand, are too strong for my taste, and I would rather put up with the occasional (dilluted) Jinro.

Jinro: You know your’re in trouble when you can feel the frog’s warts.

By: klutz

klutz — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 09:26:03 +0000

Thank you for the props. Most people who don’t know anything about soju will believe what Koreans tell them. Mainly that Korean’s “invented soju”, its a kind of “rice wine”. The fact is that Koreans didn’t invent soju anymore then Koreans invented distilling alcohol. And soju is not made from rice, which is false. Except for a very very small amount of “Jeounju” type soju. If you ever had the displease of trying that rat poison, you would remember its awful taste until your death.

Korean soju is made from what ever is available and cheep. I will repeat that: whatever is cheep. Rice is never cheep in Korea at lest not as cheep as the bulk grains and crap that Jinro gets.

They distill pure grain alcohol and then add water back into it.

Then Koreans add aspartame to give it that hint of sweetness. And as you can guess aspartame is mostly used because its cheep.

Now its done and you get ‘green’ jinro soju. Now mix with kimchi chegae wait three hours and make road pizza.