| Tohge : Kitsukura Shuzo |
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Made from soba (buckwheat), soba-shochu can be enjoyed with traditional Japanese buckwheat noodles. Miyazaki Prefecture produces large quantities of soba-shochu, but it is also produced in the Saku area of the Nagano Prefecture. Surrounded by mountains, the Saku area is a highland grain-growing region 700 meters (about 2,300 ft.) above sea level. Since its cool climate is ideally suited to the brewing of sake, it is also the home for as many as 14 Japanese sake breweries.
Kitsukura Shuzo still produces Kikuhide Japanese sake. In days gone by, they used to make kasutori-shochu from the sake lees that remained from the sake brewing process, but in the mid-1970s they started to produce Toge, a soba-shochu, using buckwheat grown locally. When making soba-shochu, in addition to buckwheat and kome koji (malted rice), barley is often included among the ingredients. Kitsukura Shuzo, however, uses nothing other than buckwheat and kome koji, making it a truly genuine soba-shochu. It tastes good when mixed with hot water, but it is really something special when drunk mixed with sobayu, the hot water just used to boil buckwheat noodles. |
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| Tohge (Soba-Shochu / 35% alcohol) |
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| Because the buckwheat is the only ingredient except for the rice in kome koji, the fragrant afterglow of the buckwheat remains for longer than is normally the case. Recommended mixed with plain hot water or sobayu (hot water from boiling soba noodles). |
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| Tohge Crystal Old (Soba-Shochu / 40% alcohol) |
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| Characterized by its mellowness, fulsome umami flavor and the rich aroma of the oak casks. Aged for more than three years in oak casks. |
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| Dattan Soba Shochu Kokyo (Soba-Shochu, 25% alcohol) |
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| A shochu made from Dattan-soba (Tartary buckwheat), a type of buckwheat containing higher levels of rutin, a natural substance that improves blood circulation. Because Dattan-soba contains bitter principles (any one of several hundred compounds with a bitter taste), even after it is made into shochu it produces a subtly bitter aspect to the after taste and a slightly heavy flavor. |
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