Awamori

Hello, everyone!
Have you ever tried  'Awamori'? And do you know what 'Awamori' is ?
'Awamori' is Okinawa's traditional spirit. It is commonly called 'Shimazake' or 'shimaa'.
It has a history of five hundred years,originating from the Kingdom of Siam(Thailand).And Thai rice is still used in its production today.

The picture above is bottles of 'Awamori'.These are only fraction of the number of 'Awamori'
There are 48 distilleries in Okinawa. On each distillery, lots of characteristic Awamori are distilled.
Incidentally,the gold one is my favorite!
Now, I would like to give you a simplified explanation on  how 'Awamori' is produced.



Raw materials of  'Awamori' is Thai rice.
The initial process is to soak Thai rice in water,  rinse and steam them. And add some malt into it.
 The picture above is the drum.



After letting them sit for a whole day, move it to the shelf that has a  blower function.  Keep them at a certain temperature.

And mix up them with black koji malt to mature.




In the fermentation tank, ferment rice malt that matured for 40 ~ 50 hours, with water and yeast.
It takes about from 2 weeks to 20 days for  maturing fermentation broth.  





In the pot metal single distillation vessel, distill fermentation broth  on heating. 






 Awamori whicht distilled is stored in the tank or clay pots or vases.  
When Awamori is aged for three years or more, it is called 'kusu', and remainder is usually six months old.





This is the picture of bottling process. 'Awamori' is almost done!





The most popular way to drink 'Awamori' is with water and ice.It can also be drunk straight, on the rocks, and in cocktails.
I wish you will enjoy 'Awamori' with your choice of the way to drink.
And I recommend that comparing the tastes and aromas of several 'Awamori'. 

 Shizuka.