Kagoshima is famous not only for its meats – Kurobuta(black pork), Kuroge Wagyu(black-haired beef), and Jidori(local chicken) –
but also for its seafood such as Katsuo(bonito), Kibinago(silver-stripe round herring), Madai(red sea bream), Saba(mackerel), and Ise-ebi(spiny lobster).
Among all of these, I think the most famous product of Kagoshima is shochu.
The distilled spirits made from Kagoshima’s Satsuma-imo(sweet potato) come in many varieties, and their flavors and aromas have such a wide spectrum that they’re always fun to explore.
Plus, prices are very reasonable in Kagoshima, which makes the city a dream destination for drink lovers like me.
That’s exactly why I keep coming back: good food and endless kinds of shochu.
There are many shochu bars in Kagoshima.
Even regular restaurants, without calling themselves “shochu bars,” usually stock dozens of bottles.
So naturally, the true shochu bars have hundreds – or even more than a thousand – different kinds.
Among all those places, let me introduce one of my favorites: a casual, local spot where I meet mostly Kagoshima people.
I visited again during this trip, said hello to the owner(he didn’t remember me, but I greeted him anyway), and had a few glasses.
Shochu Bar Sasakura is located just next to Bunka-dori in the Tenmonkan area.
Even though it’s a “bar,” the food menu is quite rich.
You can easily have a light dinner here.
But in my case, I usually come after a big dinner somewhere else, so I just order something small like Eihire, a dried stingray fin grilled lightly over heat – something similar to dried squid or fish jerky in Korea.
For the first glass, I always ask for a recommendation from the “Kaori-kei” category to drink as a soda-wari.
“Kaori-kei” refers to the modern shochu trend that focuses on aroma.
It started with YASUDA from Kokubu Shuzo.
Even though it’s made only from sweet potatoes, it blooms with notes of fruit, flowers, and herbs.
That’s why when mixed with soda, it becomes light and fragrant.
Recently, I even found canned soda-wari shochu drinks at convenience stores.
Anyway, the first glass of the night was GLOW EP05 Ride the Waves, one of the most recommended Kaori-kei shochus during this trip.
It had a dominant melon aroma – almost like eating melon ice cream.
I liked it so much that I bought a bottle to take home.
The second recommendation was Satsuma Chaya Kame-shikomi.
Since I started with a modern style, I asked for a classic one next.
This shochu is made by the same distillery that produces Murao, one of the famous 3M brands.
If Murao is the flagship, Satsuma Chaya is considered the more affordable version.
As expected, it had depth and richness – the flavor of true tradition.
Next, I tried Ichiban Shizuku The First Drip.
After a heavy one, this glass felt clean and refreshing.
In my tasting notes, I wrote “like dew.”
I guess it’s probably made from the first distillation cut, but I haven’t confirmed the details.
After tasting a few new ones, I decided to revisit something familiar: Sato Kuro.
If the top of the shochu world is the 3M(Moriizo, Murao, Mao), there’s another group just below it called the 1M 1S, and when grouped together, people sometimes call them 4M 1S.
Though I’ve never actually heard anyone say that in person, haha.
Anyway, that “S” stands for Sato.
Just one sip and you can tell its quality.
The layers of aroma and flavor, and the balance between them – just perfect.
It’s not easy to find a bottle like this at regular liquor shops, but I was lucky enough to find one in Kagoshima, so of course I bought it.
For the last drink, I had Yasuda – the one that first pulled me into the world of shochu.
Hmm… it feels a bit different now from when I first tried it five or six years ago.
Back then, Yasuda was a total shock.
A shochu like this?
A flavor like this?
That was my reaction.
But now, there are so many aromatic shochus that the “Kaori-kei era” feels like a new Sengoku period.
So Yasuda doesn’t surprise me anymore, but its floral and herbal fragrance is still irresistible.
After finishing that glass, I decided to stop.
Even though I love shochu, after four or five glasses I start getting tipsy and can’t really distinguish the aromas anymore.
Ah… not that I went straight back to the hotel or anything, though.
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