Kissui: A Rice Vodka Distilled Twelve Times and Filtered Through Bamboo

Kissui means absolutely pure.

For a vodka that's almost a tautology, purity is the entire brief of the category. What makes this one worth talking about is what it's made from and what it's filtered through.

Rice, Not Grain or Potato

Kissui is distilled from 100% Japanese rice.

That matters more than it might sound. Vodka is usually wheat, rye, corn or potato, and each leaves a signature even after heavy rectification, wheat is soft, rye is peppery, potato is oily and full. Rice leaves a faint sweetness and a light, clean body.

It's distilled twelve times.

The Water

Takara Shuzo makes this in Fushimi, the sake district of Kyoto, and blends it with local spring water.

Fushimi's water is famously soft. It's why Fushimi became a sake center, and it's the same water behind Kizakura's beer. Soft water is low in the minerals that give a spirit grip, so it produces something rounder and gentler.

If you drink our Mio sparkling sake or Towari soba shochu, Takara made those too. They are one of the largest drinks houses in Japan and they do a lot of things quietly well.

Bamboo Charcoal

The distinctive step is the filtration.

Most vodka is filtered through activated carbon, usually from coconut shell or hardwood. Kissui uses bamboo charcoal, which is finer-pored and less aggressive.

Aggressive filtration strips everything, which is the point for some vodkas and a loss for others. Using a gentler medium means the rice's subtle sweetness survives the process instead of being scrubbed out. You end up with a vodka that is clean but not blank.

It was the first Japanese vodka to reach the United States, and for a while it was the only one here.

How to Drink It

Cold and neat, in a small glass, is the honest test, and it passes, which most vodka doesn't.

In cocktails it's excellent anywhere you want the vodka to add texture rather than just alcohol. A vodka martini made with this has more body than you'd expect.

Pair It With

Clean and cold food. Handrolls, salmon ikura don, seaweed salad, crispy rice.

Try It at Juraku

Kissui is on the vodka list at Izakaya Juraku, Lower East Side.