Bright, Victoria-based distillery Reed & Co Distillery has spent the last three years tinkering with koji, the mould-inoculated grains that form the base of miso and soy sauce.
Now, founders Hamish Nugent and Rachel Reed have added a series of koji-based spirits to the company’s range.
The debut offering is Yuzushu Shochu, a 50/50 mix of rice shochu and local yuzu juice made to be sipped over ice (like a limoncello) or in a highball with a splash of soda.
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“It’s a ‘made’ drink, but it’s not an RTD,” Nugent told Drinks Adventures.
Next in the line-up is an Australian Rice Shochu that’ll be ready by August. A Koji Gin made from a cold-distilled shochu base should hit the market by December. It’s made with seaweed and sudachi, a Japanese citrus fruit.
As far as Drinks Adventures is aware, these are the first locally produced shochu — an ancient Japanese spirit that can be made from a range of vegetables and grains — on the market.
Although, demand for Asian-made beverages continues to rise in Australia, as we recently reported.
Nugent says that more shochu is consumed than sake in Japan, but that Australians are more familiar with sake.
The latter is “brewed, filtered and bottled to be consumed kind of like a beer, whereas shochu is distilled,” he explains.
At Reed & Co, a starter grain like rice or barley meets house-inoculated koji before spending 17 to 30 days in open fermenters.
After that, the whole fermentation runs through a copper pot still just once before bottling.
“Whereas whiskey is all about maturation in oak, we’re trying to showcase the base raw ingredients,” Nugent says.
Early releases will be true to the Japanese style, then Nugent and Reed plan to get a bit more creative.
“We need to bring everyone up to up to speed before we get too whacky,” he says.
Notwithstanding these concerns, Reed & Co recently promoted its limited edition Chilli Koji Liqueur – a barley-based spirit infused with guajillo and chipotle chillies – to its core range.
“It’s pretty weird, but people are buying it,” says Nugent says, adding that it makes a mean dark & stormy cocktail.
Reed & Co’s Koji Spirits Yuzushu Sochu (RRP $55) is out now.
More:
Base spirit matters in gin, says brewer & distiller Simon Brooke-Taylor: S10E6
Richie Hawtin, Japanese sake enthusiast and techno legend: S5E3
Japanese sake with experts John Gauntner and Shuso Imada: S2E2
