Now Drinking: Rice Whisky
I first tasted rice whisky at the record bar “In Sheeps Clothing” in LA and I was entranced by this beguiling spirit. Back in Chicago I struggled to find any locally, but was thrilled to finally find a bottle of Kikori Whisky this year. Sugary on the nose with hints of mineral and sweet bread, it’s a deliciously light and floral take on the classic Japanese whisky. It’s enough to just enjoy the drink, but I got curious… What exactly *is* rice whisky? And is it really a whisky if it’s made from rice?
Fermented and distilled rice is classified as shochu in Japan, but when that grain-based spirit is aged in wood barrels it technically becomes whisky. There are still only a few distillers making it worldwide, and Kikori is the lone American company as far as I can tell.
But it gets more complex: according to Distiller in early 2021 new rules were created for what can be classified as a Japanese whisky—most crucially Japanese whisky will need to be made from Japanese grains and fermented, distilled and matured *in Japan* to be labelled as such. Apparently this is all in response to the flood of brands importing whisky to Japan from elsewhere to capitalize on the popularity of Japanese whisky.
The irony here is that the modern Japanese whisky market is essentially a carbon copy of Scotch whisky—which developed based on the barley-driven agriculture of that region. (like the relationship of bourbon to corn in the US) So while rice is the biggest cereal grain of Japan, and therefore the most authentic grain to distill, it remains an outlier in the world of Japanese whisky.
Classifications aside, it’s delicious and you should drink it. 🥃 乾杯！