Barley (Mugi 麦) Shochu
Barley is the 2nd most popular base ingredient for shochu, and at over 40% of sales by volume, it’s not a distant 2nd either. Note: Mugi in the shochu context specifically refers to barley, although the kanji includes other types of grain.
For newbies to shochu, barley shochu has a lot in common, flavor and aroma-wise, with whiskey, and thus is often an entry-point for newcomers into shochu. While there is a definite familiarity, it’s worth knowing how they differ, particularly in 1) how barley shochu is made and 2) how it is aged. These factors make a significant difference in how the end product tastes.
Barley shochu is, like all shochu, made with two separate fermentation processes, the first (starter) fermentation with rice or barley as a base ingredient saccharified using koji, and the second (main) fermentation with barley added. Shochu also is often not aged, or at least not aged as long as whiskey. There is in fact a maximum darkness shochu can legally have (the color leeched from aging barrels) before it is no longer officially considered shochu.
The flavor of a particular barley shochu has less to do with the type of barley used and more to do with distillation (vacuum/atmospheric), koji types (black/white/yellow and rice/barley) and aging. Sanwa Shurui’s Iichiko is atmospherically distilled with 100% barley and has a light, smooth flavor, while aged barley shochus like Kannoko have richer, more whiskey-like tones.
Barley shochu, like the other main shochu ingredients, has its own Geographical Indication (GI), but only includes the shochu made on tiny Iki island off of Fukuoka. This GI requires shochu to be produced on Iki Island itself, using rice in the starter fermentation, and only using Iki water.
GI notwithstanding, most barley shochu is actually made in Northern Kyushu, around Fukuoka and Oita, including most of the major brands like Iichiko, Kannoko and Nakanaka.
