Shochu/Soju
Shochu is a distilled Japanese beverage that, like many white, Asian spirits, can be made from nearly anything. Rice, buckwheat, sweet potatoes, and barley are common sources. Shochu comprises a vast number of styles, can be single or double distilled, and often incorporates koji, a mold which helps to break down the starch during fermentation. Soju is the Korean version of shochu, and while it too is produced in a wide variety of styles, the primary difference is that it is typically sweetened, whereas shochu is not. Both shochu and soju are bottled around 50 to 70 proof, though exceptions exist. Neither is related, except tangentially, to sake.
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Soju (Korea’s rendition of Japanese shochu) is typically bottled at 25% abv or less, but Khee 38 hits a much higher proof point — 38% abv, to be exact, commanding much more of your attention than the typical mass market offering. Also available in a 22 proof variety, Khee 38 is distilled from rice in…
Korea fervor has given soju a moment of late, so it’s natural that soju would find its way to the ready-to-drink seltzer world. Hello Soju is currently offered in five flavors — many evoking the flavors you’ll find with regular soju from Korea — each made with a combination of real soju, grain neutral spirits,…
Did 2025 turn out the way you were expecting it to? The world’s gone so insane that, at this point, I don’t think anything that happens in the next 12 months could possibly surprise us. Did you also get the memo that the alcohol business is in massive decline? Turns out people stopped drinking, just…
Our recent trip to Korea opened my eyes to soju culture, how a small shot of a low-alcohol spirit could become an integral part of a meal, whether formal or not, expensive or cheap. (In fairness, no meals that I had in Korea were expensive — even “fancy” ones.) Luxury soju is hard to find…
Shochu is still tentatively making its way to U.S. shores and U.S. palates, but it isn’t often when we encounter aged versions. Iichiko is the top-selling brand of shochu in Japan (much in the way that Jack Daniel’s is the top selling whiskey in the U.S.), and it’s probably the top-selling brand of shochu here,…
While sake has long been more familiar to American palates, shochu is finally ready for its moment in the sun. Unlike sake, which is a brewed rice wine, shochu is Japan’s native distilled spirit, with remarkable utility for consumption neat, on the rocks, in cocktails, and beyond. And at a proof point normally hovering between…
Christopher Pellegrini is my go-to expert on shochu. He’s lived in Japan for 20 years, has written a book about the spirit, and recently started a company, Honkaku Spirits, to export the stuff to the U.S. As Pellegrini noted during a recent, lively Zoom tasting from Japan, where we tasted 8 of his company’s products,…
Christopher Pellegrini is trying to do for Japanese shochu what Ron Cooper did with mezcal. The American ex-pat and author of The Shochu Handbook is seeking to “connect the world with artisanal, koji-fermented spirits of Japan.” Honkaku’s portfolio includes koji whiskey, shochu, and aged awamori from 22 family-run distilleries established between 1745 and 1947. We received…
Yobo Soju is a rarity in an emerging category: Not only is it made in New York’s Finger Lakes area, it is done so by a Korean American mom and lawyer, Carolyn Kim, who wanted to pay homage to her roots with her take on Korea’s national spirit. The spirit is distilled from local Catawba grapes.…
Shochu continues to make slow inroads into the U.S. market, and to further those aims, Iichiko, the leading barley shochu brand in Japan and the one which American drinkers are most likely to be familiar, has released a new expression: Saiten. The unusual concept is that Saiten was designed specifically with the U.S. palate in…