Rihei Ginger Shochu: A Fifth of the Mash Is Ginger

Most things labeled "ginger" in a bar are flavored after the fact, a syrup, an infusion, a liqueur.

This is ginger in the mash, going through the still with everything else.

What's In It

Rihei is made with ginger grown locally in Miyazaki Prefecture, and the recipe is 20% ginger, 30% rice, 50% barley.

A fifth of the fermentable material being ginger is a lot. It's also single distilled, which means less is stripped out on the way, and bottled as genshu, undiluted, at 38% ABV.

The distillery is a family operation now in its fourth generation, working from a hundred-year history.

Why Single Distillation Matters Here

Every pass through a still makes a spirit cleaner and takes character with it.

For something like vodka that's the goal. For a spirit whose entire point is an aromatic raw ingredient, it's a cost. Distilling once keeps more of the ginger in the glass, at the expense of the smoothness a second pass would buy.

Combined with no dilution, that's why this arrives with real heat and real ginger rather than a suggestion of both.

What It Tastes Like

Ginger, clearly and immediately, but dry ginger, not sweet. There's no sugar here to round it off the way a ginger liqueur would.

The barley gives it a body underneath, and the rice softens the middle. The finish is warm in the way ginger is warm, which at 38% is doubly true.

How to Drink It

Soda. This is the one to make a highball with, and it makes an extremely good one, dry, hot, and nothing like a mixed ginger drink made with syrup.

On the rocks with lime is very good. Oyuwari, hot, is excellent in winter and worth ordering when it's cold.

Neat is for people who want to know exactly what they're dealing with.

Pair It With

Fried and fatty. Karaage, tebasaki, takoyaki, okonomiyaki fries. Ginger and fried chicken is already a Japanese pairing, karaage is usually marinated with it, so this just moves it into the glass.

Also good with pork kakuni and buta kimchi.

Try It at Juraku

Rihei Ginger Shochu is on the shochu list at Izakaya Juraku, Lower East Side. Ask for it with soda.