After making a name for itself in Japan, the US and the UK, popular Japanese spirit, Shochu, has hit Australian shores and become a popular choice at Tokonoma in Surry Hills.
The newly opened Japanese restaurant has one of the most extensive ranges of Shochu in Australia, boasting a range of flavour combinations including nashi pear and pistachio; buckwheat, goji berries and green papaya as well as peach and lemon.
Shochu is distilled from a number of raw materials including barley, buckwheat, sweet potato and sugar and can be consumed straight or on the rocks, diluted with hot or cold water, soda water or tonic water; mixed with a low-alcohol beer or sweetened with fruit juice or green tea.
The infusion process at Tokonoma usually takes around three months, whereby the shochu is placed in a cask with a combination of fruits and spices, with sugar then added to enhance the flavours.
One of the more popular shochu drinks is 'chu-hais' - shochu served with home-made flavoured sodas. The spirit is also used as a base in a number Tokonoma's cocktails, in the same way one would use vodka, including in the Sashini Tini, which is shochu shaken with Tanqueray 10 and ginger liquer, garnished with a wasabi dipped skewer of raw salmon.
Paul Birtwistle, bar manager of Tokonoma, believes that shochu-based beverages are becoming more popular, perhaps more so than sake. "We've changed a few of our house cocktails to actually have shochu instead of sake ... it actually turned out better," he said. "It gives it a little more impact on the palate and a little more strength in the cocktail as well."
According to Birtwistle, sake usually consists around 12 to 18 per cent alcohol, whereas shochu is a distilled spirit as opposed to a fermented, brewed beverage, with alcohol levels around the 25 per cent mark.
Thirty to 40 per cent of Tokonoma's drinks menu consists of shochu-based beverages and despite it being more potent than sake, it is easier to drink with a meal than other spirits like vodka or whiskey.
Tokonoma's shochu tonics are big sellers, Birtwistle says, with guests appreciating how the product is made and the effort that goes into the final product. "It is a bit of fun but there is also a concept behind it in that we infuse it for two to three months. We really extract as much of the goodness as we can out of the fruit and the herbs and we allow it to sit and mesh together," he said.
