Sake Spotlight: Kagoshima

Episode 121. This week, we shine the sake spotlight on a region of Japan that is virtually unknown to most sake fans. We’re talking about Kagoshima, the volcanic, sub-tropical home base of “imo” sweet potato shochu on the southern tip of Kyushu island. Despite being a world famous mecca for distilled shochu, two of the over 100 distilleries in Kagoshima have ventured into sake production giving us a sake lifeboat in this vast ocean of shochu. Today we’ll be tasting one of them: Tenbu sake from Nishi Shuzo, a distillery founded in 1845. The remarkable point here is that they only received their sake brewing license in 2020 making this one of the youngest sake breweries around. How does sake that is made by shochu distillers actually taste?  Well, let’s dive in and explore the sake from one of the most unlikely places in Japan: Kagoshima! #sakerevolutionSupport the show