Kirishima Melt and Kirishima No.8: The Two Bottles That Aren't Everyday Shochu

Kirishima Shuzo is the biggest shochu producer in Japan, and most of what they make is meant to be poured without ceremony.

These two are not that.

Kirishima Melt

This starts as Kuro Kirishima, the black koji bottle that's a daily standard across much of Japan, and then gets matured for more than fifteen years, including time in oak barrels.

Fifteen years is a long time for any spirit, and it's unusual for shochu specifically. Most shochu is sold young because its appeal is clarity and the character of its base ingredient. Aging that long moves it somewhere else entirely.

What the oak adds: A woody aroma and a clear vanilla sweetness

What survives: The rich, thick body and crisp finish Kuro Kirishima is known for

The result sits closer to a whisky than to what most people expect a shochu to be, without losing the sweet potato underneath.

Kirishima No.8

A newer bottle, released in 2023, and a different kind of project.

The 8 refers to a sweet potato that Kirishima developed themselves. According to the distillery, shochu made from it carries fourteen times more sweet-potato-derived aromatic compounds than one made from ordinary sweet potato, which is where the fruity, floral character comes from.

The production is unusual too. It uses both black and white koji, and goes through both atmospheric and vacuum distillation. Most shochu picks one of each. Running both and blending is a way of getting the weight of pot distillation and the lift of vacuum distillation in the same bottle.

How to Drink Them

Melt neat, or with one large rock. Treat it like an aged spirit, because that's what it is. Do not drown it in water.

No.8 is more flexible, neat to meet the aromatics, on the rocks, or mizuwari. It's fragrant enough to survive dilution.

Pair Them With

Melt with the things you'd give a whisky. Pork kakuni, tonsouku, or dorayaki at the end of the night.

No.8 with grilled food, yakitori, tebasaki, kuro buta sausage skewers.

Try Them at Juraku

Both are on the shochu list at Izakaya Juraku, Lower East Side, alongside Kuro and Aka Kirishima. Tasting the four together is the clearest picture of one distillery we can put in front of you.