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Basic introduction of Kirishima Brewery

Kirishima's history starts in 1916 in the Miyazaki Prefecture, which is relatively recent when you consider Japan's alcohol scene, and yet they've made great strides in upholding the quality of Shochu's produced. It was founded by Kichisuke Enatsu, whose first Imo Shochu was made with a black koji in 1916, and thus the Kuro Kirishima (launched nationally in 1999) is an homage to that first Shochu made by its founder, and is named after the koji used. Over the next two generations of the Enatsu family, they would help steer their family's distillery into becoming the No. 1 selling Shochu company in Japan. They would constantly improve and enhance their Shochu making from utilising high quality locally harvested sweet potatoes, called the Kogane-Sengan sweet potato, to drilling for wells that would provide high quality waters for distilling.

Let's discover more about the Kirishima Brewery!

Perhaps one of the biggest achievements of Kirishima is nevertheless its adherence to being a sustainable company that has sought to be environmentally friendly. The company demonstrates a deep reverence for its employees and for the environment in which it is able to muster the raw ingredients needed to make its shochu. To that end, the company has sought to actively recycle Shochu lees. The next frontier for Kirishima has been to focus on producing what they call Kenreishu, which is a type of Shochu that focuses on establishing health benefits through the incorporation of traditional herbs.

And so with all that said, let's try some Kuro Kirishima!

Colour: Clear

Aroma: Fairly gentle and soft on the nose, with perhaps just a slight doughy quality.

Taste: Initially, it's all textural, coming off creamy and rich, and then in a few seconds there's a much more pronounced richer sweetness of dough and kinako (toasted soybean), almost alittle earthy, sort of like an earthy brown sugar doughy sweetness. Perhaps a sort of pastry dough coaxed in with brown sugar and kinako, that's yet to be baked, or maybe a traditional Malayan pastry known as Hum Chim Peng, with its sweet pillowy dough.

Finish: The richness and light sweetness continues, clean and yet with a creamy feel to it.

“Kuro Kirishima” reproduces the flavor of Kirishima when it was opened in 1916.
The body of the sake is made with black currant, and it is smooth and sweet, with a crisp finish.We specialize in independent brewing and production on the land of the capital city (Miyazaki Prefecture).
The five local Kirishima factories produce an average of approximately 200,000 bottles per day, a visual representation of the pursuit of quality and optimization of the system.

In order to keep up with the times and ensure stable production, an automatic disk-type koji making machine has been introduced for koji making. Kirishima Shuzo, through its own koji research, has established a method of “koji making” that efficiently produces enzymes and citric acid.

Koji” at Kirishima Shuzo
The koji mold used in shochu production produces citric acid. Citric acid prevents bacterial contamination and prevents the shochu mash from spoiling, making it possible to make shochu even in the warm climate of southern Kyushu. Incidentally, “Kurokirishima” uses black koji, “Shirokirishima” uses white koji, and “Torafurakirishima” uses black and yellow koji, hence the name.