Kuroki Honten is a very old distillery founded by Toshiyuki Kuroki in 1885. It is located in Miyazaki prefecture, east of Kyushu island. It produces some of the most prized shochus in the Japanese archipelago.
The Osuzuyama micro-distillery is a kind of laboratory for the parent company. It is supported by an organic farming cooperative (Yomigaeru Daichi no Kai). The raw materials grown here are sweet potatoes, rice and barley.
This Yamasaru ("mountain monkey") is a mugi shochu (barley shochu). It comes from the small Osuzuyama distillery, run by Shinzaku Kuroki. For the first fermentation, a white koji was propagated on barley grains in buried clay pots. After a week of secondary fermentation of Rokujyo Oomugi barley with house and indigenous yeasts, atmospheric distillation is carried out in pot stills. This is followed by a 2-year resting period, during which the shochu refines its flavors and texture.
Nico's tasting notes
On the nose, the cereal's deliciousness envelops us, with a few toasty nuances, but also a very tender heart. We're reminded of toasted bread, cookies just out of the oven, or buckwheat pancakes with their characteristic salty note.
Aeration allows us to access something deeper, where the cereal is melted by fermentation. The result is a malty, slightly creamy syrup that becomes more spicy as time goes by.
The palate is very greedy from the outset, approaching the palate with a beautiful suavity. Flavors of toast do the rest, with soft cereals and crunchy, toasty, almost toasted, even smoky edges, as a whisky might be.
The finish is peppery and slightly vegetal, with toasty yet mellow cereal that lingers for a long time.
"A delicious cereal that's as toasty as it is delicious... "
