Aka Kirishima: The Mash Turns Red, the Shochu Comes Out Clear

Aka means red, and the name is honest. It is just not describing what ends up in your glass.

Nothing is added to make anything red here. The color happens on its own, in the tank, and it is gone before the bottle is filled.

What Actually Turns Red

Aka Kirishima is made with Murasaki Masari, a purple sweet potato high in anthocyanins, the same family of pigment that colors blueberries and red cabbage.

During fermentation those anthocyanins meet the citric acid the koji produces, and the mash turns a vivid red. The koji here is white koji, not the black koji that gives Kuro Kirishima its name.

That red mash is the whole reason for the name. Then it goes through the still, and the pigment stays behind, because anthocyanins do not carry over in distillation. What runs out is clear.

So if you are expecting a red pour, that is not this. You get a colorless imo shochu whose aroma and sweetness come from the same potato and the same reaction that made the mash red. The color is the evidence, not the product.

The Distillery

Kirishima Shuzo was founded in 1916 in Miyazaki, on Kyushu, and is now the largest shochu producer in Japan.

We already pour their Kuro Kirishima, the black koji bottle that's the everyday standard across much of Japan. Aka is the other direction from the same house, less workhorse, more perfume.

What's in the Glass

Aroma: Red fruit, strawberry and Japanese bayberry, with a yogurt-like note underneath

Taste: Elegant, clearly sweet without being sugary

Finish: Lingering, soft

The yogurt note is the one that gives people trouble describing it. It's a lactic softness that rounds off the fruit, and it's not a flavor most people expect from a distilled spirit.

How to Drink It

Mizuwari, cut with cold water, is the traditional way with imo shochu, and it works here. Roughly one part shochu to one or two parts water, made ahead if you can be bothered.

On the rocks is good. Neat is good. Oyuwari, with hot water, pushes the fruit forward and is the right move when it's cold outside.

Pair It With

Imo shochu belongs with grilled food and fat. Yakitori with tare, pork belly skewers, tebasaki, yakiniku.

The berry character also does well against pork kimchi.

Try It at Juraku

Aka Kirishima is on the shochu list at Izakaya Juraku, Lower East Side. Ask for it next to Kuro. Same distillery, same clear pour, and they taste like different spirits.