EGN NEWS DESK
One afternoon in February 1891, a Japanese chemist named Jokichi Takamine arrived by practice in Peoria, Ill. He was there on the invitation of the Distilling and Cattle Feeding Company, by far the biggest spirits producer in America on the time, and he got here bearing a probably revolutionary manner of creating whiskey, utilizing a kind of mildew referred to as koji to kick-start fermentation.
His course of, which changed the malting approach sometimes utilized by Western distillers, promised to extend yields by 10 p.c or extra, making the distillers, and him, thousands and thousands of {dollars}.
But the corporate, generally referred to as the Whiskey Trust, was stricken by corruption and collapsed earlier than he might begin manufacturing. Dr. Takamine, and the Takamine course of, have been largely forgotten.
Recently, although, quite a lot of koji-based whiskeys have begun to look on liquor retailer cabinets and high-end again bars within the United States, this time not for the sake of effectivity however for taste: The course of creates a spirit poised between savory richness and stylish floral notes, unmistakably whiskey however on the similar time completely distinctive.
“Koji whiskey is delicate on the palate, with out the oiliness of a conventional whiskey, and it has a mellow end,” mentioned Mike Vacheresse, an proprietor of Travel Bar in Brooklyn, which serves a number of koji-based spirits.
Among the newcomers is a whiskey referred to as, appropriately, Takamine, which is distilled in Japan in collaboration with Honkaku Spirits, a Long Island-based importer that makes a speciality of koji-based liquors.
“There’s an umami quotient to it that isn’t current in numerous malt whiskey,” mentioned Christopher Pellegrini, who began Honkaku in 2020 to import shochu, an unaged koji spirit. Among its companions in Japan was a small distillery on the southern island of Kyushu referred to as Shinozaki, whose proprietor, Hiroyuki Shinozaki, had already spent years tinkering with the Takamine course of.
In order for grain to ferment, a distiller first has to transform its starch into sugar. In the European custom, that’s sometimes accomplished by letting the grains germinate simply sufficient to create an enzyme that can begin the conversion, a step referred to as malting.
Japanese producers obtain the identical finish by inoculating their grains — normally rice — with koji mildew, which works quicker and extra effectively than malting. Yeast cells then eat the sugar and launch alcohol as a byproduct. Very roughly talking, the result’s sake; whether it is then distilled, you get shochu.
Dr. Takamine, who was born right into a samurai household in Japan in 1854 and moved to the United States on the urging of his American spouse, was removed from the primary to make use of koji mildew. Various sorts of koji have lengthy been a staple methodology for making spirits like shochu and sake, in addition to nonalcoholic merchandise like soy sauce and miso. Koji is so pervasive in Japanese tradition that individuals name it “the nationwide fungus.”
Dr. Takamine’s perception was to use conventional koji strategies to creating corn whiskey. More than a century later, Mr. Shinozaki and his son, Michiaki, determined to observe his lead, this time utilizing barley and a barley-specific mildew, in addition to growing older it in a barrel.
But there was an issue: Japanese guidelines maintain that the ensuing product can’t be referred to as whiskey, which they are saying should be made with malted barley; and since it’s barrel-aged, it might’t be referred to as shochu both (aged shochu should be filtered to take away colour). So distillers like Mr. Shinozaki needed to discover importers like Honkaku who might promote it in markets just like the United States, the place the principles are looser.
Chris Uhde, a vice chairman of the whiskey importer ImpEx, first encountered koji-based whiskey in 2014, when a good friend introduced a pattern to his home in Los Angeles. “It was like what I knew, but it surely was an enlargement past that,” he mentioned. “It was enjoyable and completely different.”
Today Mr. Uhde and ImpEx work with two Japanese distilleries, Fukano and Ohishi, to create a portfolio of koji-based whiskeys, every with its personal distinct profile. Fukano Blonde is fruity and floral, whereas Ohishi, typically aged in used sherry barrels, presents notes of plum and chocolate.
ImpEx started importing these whiskeys to the United States in 2017, and at first it was sluggish going. Koji-based whiskey appeared dauntingly unfamiliar to all however essentially the most adventurous drinkers, whereas purists claimed it wasn’t even whiskey.
That finally modified, Mr. Uhde mentioned, particularly as Americans’ curiosity in Japanese whiskey has grown to a mania over the past decade.
“I’m sufficiently old to recollect after I.P.A.s have been first launched, and other people mentioned, ‘Oh, that’s bizarre and wild and completely different,’” he mentioned. “And then it slowly got here into its personal.”
Honkaku started importing and promoting Takamine whiskey in 2021, and it’s now out there in 25 states. Mr. Pellegrini and his model ambassador, Stephen Lyman, mentioned their shipments have been promoting out, and that the Shinozaki distillery is investing in new tools to fulfill demand.
The normal Takamine is aged for eight years, although some restricted, one-time releases have been aged as much as 26 years. Every spring, timed to the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, Honkaku releases a whiskey partly aged in barrels made partially with cherry wooden, giving it notes of stone fruit and contemporary flowers.
The timing is greater than only a nod to U.S.-Japanese relations. After his whiskey undertaking failed, Dr. Takamine pivoted to medical analysis, and in 1903 he patented a course of to isolate adrenaline (right this moment referred to as epinephrine), which he then licensed to the American pharmaceutical firm Parke-Davis.
The license, which additionally granted him the rights to promote his product in Japan, made him a fortune. In 1912 he paid for the mayor of Tokyo, Yukio Ozaki, to ship greater than 3,000 cherry bushes to Washington, the primary to be planted across the Tidal Basin.
Dr. Takamine settled in New York City, the place he died in 1922, at 67. By then the story of his koji whiskey was quick fading into historical past. Today he’s remembered, if in any respect, for his work on adrenaline — a incontrovertible fact that Mr. Pellegrini hopes will quickly change.
“Once you have got sufficient koji whiskey, you begin to miss it in different whiskeys,” he mentioned. “You type of really feel like there’s one thing missing.”
