Brand: Toki No Kokuin (時乃刻印)
Distillery: Miyazaki Honten Co, Ltd.
Location: Miyazaki Prefecture, Kyushu Island, Japan
Grain: 100% Japonica rice (kome)
Koji: black
Alcohol: 23% (46 proof)
Price: $$
Tasting Notes
Toki No Kokuin is an award winning shochu, reciving a Gold Medal at the 2009 World Wine Championships. This reflects, no doubt, the extremely neutral and easy-drinking nature of the spirit. This pure rice shochu is very easy drinking despite aging for 3 years in oak barrels. While there is very little English language information avialable, my guess is that these are virgin oak barrels as there is no hint of any other oak-aged spirit in the flavor.
The neutral, slightly alcoholic nose leads to a smooth, sweetish flavor. Again, very neutral. The finish is slightly sweet with a hint of mint.
The Verdict: Worth Drinking
Toki No Kokuin lives up to the name of a kome shochu. These tend to be the smoothest, easiest drinking of all shochu varieties. This would make excellent cocktails, but you might hesitate to mix this lovely spirit only because it’s so pleasant to drink on its own.
Kampai!
Just bought a bottle of this stuff and am drinking my first glass on the rocks. I actually didn’t have any idea before buying it that it was oak aged, and I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the nice color as I poured it! Very nice stuff.
I would like to order a few bottles of this Shochu. Please let me know if this can be accessed from the LCBO (Ontario).
Thanks,
Todd
Todd: I am not a distributor or importer, only a shochu lover who shares information. I’d recommend you visit one of your larger liquor stores and see what selection they have available. I’ve only seen a handful of brands available in Canada, unfortunately. You have very restrictive alcohol laws, even relative to the US.