Kagoshima鹿児島県
Sweet potato country, and where imo shochu comes from.
94 bottles here · 34 producers · Imo (sweet potato)
27 more from this prefecture are listed under Amami.
Protected origin: Satsuma薩摩焼酎
Sweet potatoes grown in Kagoshima, excluding Amami, with rice or sweet potato koji and Kagoshima water. Fermented, distilled in a pot still and bottled within the prefecture.
Designated 2005 by Japan’s National Tax Agency. Source.
Kagoshima is where imo shochu is from, and the reason is soil. The southern tip of Kyushu is covered in shirasu, a deep volcanic ash deposit that drains too fast and holds too little to be good rice country. Sweet potatoes do not mind. A crop that grows where rice fails, in a domain that still had to pay its taxes, is most of the explanation for why a whole prefecture distils potatoes.
The variety that matters is Kogane Sengan. Most Kagoshima labels in this catalogue name no variety at all, and of the ones that do, this is by some way the commonest. It's a starchy, pale-fleshed potato bred for processing rather than for eating. That's why so many of these bottles share a family resemblance underneath whatever the koji and the still are doing.
The prefecture is also where the modern category was rebuilt twice. Tomino Hozan, from Nishi Shuzo, put yellow koji and low-temperature fermentation into a spirit that had always been made with white. What came out was citric and light. It overturned the assumption that imo shochu had to smell of the field. Kuro Isanishiki, from Okuchi Shuzo, went the other way and revived black koji in 1987. That set off the kuro boom. It's why so many labels in this catalogue now have a black version.
Note that Amami, though administratively part of Kagoshima, is not covered by the Satsuma GI. This is brown sugar country, not sweet potato country. The occasional imo bottle from the islands, and there's one in this catalogue, isn't Satsuma shochu either. Amami has its own page here, and its own legal category.
Producers here
- Satsuma Shuzo11 bottles · Official site
- Nishi Shuzo8 bottles · Official site
- Komasa Jyozo7 bottles · Official site
- Tasaki Shuzo7 bottles · Official site
- Hamada Shuzo6 bottles · Official site
- Yotsumoto Shuzo5 bottles · Official site
- Ibusuki Shuzo4 bottles · Official site
- Kirishimacho Joryujo4 bottles · Official site
- Yamamoto Shuzo4 bottles · Official site
- Nakamura Shuzojo3 bottles · Official site
- Chiran Jozo2 bottles · Official site
- Fukiage Shochu2 bottles · Official site
- Jikuya Shuzo2 bottles · Official site
- Nagashimakenjo2 bottles · Official site
- Nakamata Shuzo2 bottles · Official site
- Ogatama Shuzo2 bottles · Official site
- Oyama Shuzo2 bottles · Official site
- Satoh Shuzo2 bottles · Official site
- Shiratsuyu Shuzo2 bottles · Official site
- Yachiyoden Shuzo2 bottles · Official site
- Bansei Shuzo1 bottle · Official site
- Denen Shuzo1 bottle
- Hombo Shuzo1 bottle · Official site
- Kami Shuzo1 bottle
- Komaki Jozo1 bottle
- Manzen Shuzo1 bottle
- Moriizo Shuzo1 bottle · Official site
- Oishi Shuzo1 bottle · Official site
- Okuchi Shuzo1 bottle · Official site
- Ooyama Jinhichi Shoten1 bottle
- Taikai Shuzo1 bottle
- Tensei Distillery1 bottle
- Yamatozakura Shuzo1 bottle
- Yoshinaga Distillery1 bottle
A producer is linked only where a page on their own domain was read while researching one of their bottles. The rest have no link rather than a guessed one.
Others who distil here
The Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association lists these as distilling here. We hold no bottle from any of them, so there is nothing to recommend and no tasting note to give. What follows is a record that they exist, with their own site where the association publishes one.
- Amakawa Shuzo
Brands: Amami
- Amamioshimanishikawa Shuzo
Brands: Shima no Napoleon
- At StarOfficial site
Brands: Ran
- Higashi ShuzoOfficial site
Brands: Nanakubo
- Hinatayama JozoOfficial site
Brands: Asahi
- Iwakawa JozoOfficial site
Brands: Oyattosaa
- Izumi ShuzoOfficial site
Brands: Izumi ni Maihime
- Kagoshima Shuzo KurosetojidenshokuraOfficial site
Brands: Satsuma Morohaku
- Kai Shoten
Brands: Isami
- Kamesawa Shuzojo
Brands: Amami
- Kamikawa Shuzo
Brands: Shoyojurin
- Kanzaki Sangyo
Brands: Ine no Tsuyu
- Kedoin Joryusho1902 · Official site
Brands: Nokaido
- Kikaijima ShuzoOfficial site
Brands: Kikaijima
- Kirishima Kogen BeerOfficial site
Brands: Ichiyo no Koi Nikki
- Koba Shuzo
Brands: Hitorigura
- Kojika Shuzo1971 · Official site
Brands: Kojika
- Kokubu Shuzo
Brands: Satsuma Kokubu
- Komasa JozoOfficial site
Brands: Kozuru
- Kora Shuzo
Brands: Hachiman
- Kozuma ShuzoOfficial site
Brands: Nansen
- Matsunaga Shuzojo
Brands: Amami
- Matsuzaki Shuzo
Brands: Daikoku
- Mishima Shochu Muku no Kura
Brands: Mishimamura
- Mitake Shuzo
Brands: Mitake
- Murao Shuzo
Brands: Satsumajaya
- Nangoku Shuzo
Brands: Seikai no Kaori
- Niiro Shuzo1920
Brands: Tenkaichi
- Nikka Whiskey Satsumatsukasa Joryugura
Brands: Ryumondaki
- Ogome Shoten
Brands: Satsuma Kotobuki
- Oki Shuzo
Brands: Ine no Tsuyu
- Okinoerabu ShuzoOfficial site
Brands: Ine no Tsuyu
- Okubo Shuzo1910 · Official site
Brands: Samurai no Mon
- Osumi ShuzoOfficial site
Brands: Osumi
- Oyamajinshichi ShotenOfficial site
Brands: Satsuma no Homare
- Sagara ShuzoOfficial site
Brands: Sagara
- Sakurai Shuzo
Brands: Kinposakurai
- Sanwa ShuzoOfficial site
Brands: Sanwatsuru
- Saota Shuzo
Brands: Ine no Tsuyu
- Satasoji ShotenOfficial site
Brands: Kakutama
- Sato ShuzoOfficial site
Brands: Satsuma
- Satsuma Kinzan GuraOfficial site
Brands: Kinzangura
- Satsuma MusoOfficial site
Brands: Satsuma Muso
- Shinhira Shuzo1904 · Official site
Brands: Kingesa
- Shiota Shuzo
Brands: Rokudaime Yuri
- Shiraishi Shuzo
Brands: Tenguzakura
- Shirakane ShuzoOfficial site
Brands: Shirokane no Tsuyu
- Shiratama Jozo
Brands: Mao
- Shochugura Sasshu Hamadaya DenbeeOfficial site
Brands: Kikojijikomiden
- Takaoka Jozo
Brands: Amami
- Takasaki ShuzoOfficial site
Brands: Shimakanro
- Tamura
Brands: Junkuro
- Tanegashima Shuzo1902 · Official site
Brands: Chozojukusei Kuyo
- Toji no Sato Kasasa
Brands: Kurosetoji
- Tomita ShuzojoOfficial site
Brands: Ryugu
- Uezono Shuzo
Brands: Sononotsuyu
- Uto Shuzo
Brands: Tenmonkan
- Wakamatsu ShuzoOfficial site
Brands: Satsumaichi
- Wakashio ShuzoOfficial site
Brands: Satsuma Shirowakashio
- Yamada Shuzo
Brands: Nagakumo
