Daiyame 40: The Sweet Potato Shochu That Smells Like Lychee

Hand someone a glass of this without saying what it is, and almost nobody guesses sweet potato.

They guess lychee. Sometimes jasmine, sometimes white grape. Then you tell them it's imo shochu and they go back and smell it again.

What Daiyame Means

Daiyame is Kagoshima dialect for the drink you have in the evening after a day's work.

That's the whole ethos of shochu in Kyushu, not a special-occasion spirit, but the thing that marks the end of the working day. Naming a premium bottle after it is a good joke and a good statement at the same time.

It's made by Hamada Shuzo at their Denzouimgura distillery in Ichikikushikino, Kagoshima.

Where the Aroma Comes From

This is the part that makes the bottle worth talking about.

Hamada uses what they call the koujuku method: the sweet potatoes are aged for three to four months in a humid environment before they're steamed and fermented.

That pre-fermentation aging is what develops the tropical aromatics. It isn't an additive and it isn't a yeast trick, the smell is coming from what happens to the potato while it sits. By the time it reaches the koji and the still, the raw material is already a different ingredient.

How It's Built

• 80% sweet potato, 20% black koji rice
• Vacuum distilled in stainless steel
• Rested in ceramic-lined steel tanks
• 40% ABV

Aroma: Lychee, red grape, jasmine

Taste: Rich, with a long finish

That 40% is deliberate too. Most shochu sits at 25%, which is lovely neat and disappears in a cocktail. Hamada took this one up specifically so it could hold its own mixed.

How to Drink It

Neat or on a big rock first, so you actually meet the aroma.

Then, if you want to see why the strength exists, try it in place of a white spirit in something simple, soda and a squeeze of citrus, or as the base of a highball. It doesn't vanish.

Pair It With

Grilled and fatty, the way imo shochu usually goes. Pork belly skewers, tebasaki, pork kakuni.

The lychee side also does something unexpected with spicy edamame.

Try It at Juraku

Daiyame 40 is on the shochu list at Izakaya Juraku, Lower East Side. If you think you don't like imo shochu, this is the one that changes it.