Along with some of the friends that I’ve been force feeding shochu to for months, I went to the absolutely insane Wako Sake Bar in Wan Chai for their “Gentlemen’s Night” which is 7 hours of free flow sake and shochu. We started out with shochu, but while I continued on after the 2nd hour, the others all switched to sake (which they certainly regretted the next day), and it seemed a lot more enjoyable for them. At the time I wondered why they switched because we were there ostensibly for shochu, but it’s like wine vs whiskey isn’t it? You can drink a lot of wine and it doesn’t have to be great to enjoy – shochu can be hit or miss, especially neat or with ice.
Obviously this isn’t a normal situation, free flow for 6 hours? But I do think shochu really does need food to truly shine; can you just drink it casually? Without a mixer? I do, but is that the future of it? I don’t even know if Japanese drink it on its own. Recently I’ve been drinking it as a nightcap, just a glass or two before I go to sleep, very relaxing especially with warm water.
Another side note on Wako was that they have a terrific selection of shochu on one giant table, and they let you pour as much as you’d like yourself into carafes. You can have whatever you want at your own pace. If you go for sake, they get someone to pour for you – it’s more managed. I assume it’s because no one actually drinks the shochu – and true enough, only our table even tried shochu for the 6 hours we were there