Complete Guide to Japanese Drinks

I recently reviewed The Ultimate Guide to Japanese Whisky, and from the same publishers, Tuttle, comes the equally fascinating Complete Guide to Japanese Drinks.

I admit I haven’t tried a lot of Japanese drinks, but the handful of Japanese whiskies and gins that I’ve sampled have been superb, without exception. I do have a blind spot on sake. I’ve tried a few of those, too, but am not a big fan. I’m curious to learn more about Japanese drinks, though, so a complete guide seems a good place to start! Every time I write something about Japanese spirits, the posts always get lots of views, so clearly I’m not the only one interested in them.

This Complete Guide to Japanese Drinks covers sake, shochu, Japanese whisky, beer, wine (who knew?), cocktails, and other beverages. Curiously it doesn’t cover Japanese gin, which is a shame, although Japanese gin hasn’t been around for as long as the other drinks covered in this otherwise excellent and comprehensive book.

The Authors

The book’s co-authors are Stephen Lyman and Chris Bunting. Bunting was living in Japan when he researched and wrote Drinking Japan, subtitled ‘A Guide to Japan’s Best Drinks and Drinking Establishments’. He now lives in Ilkley in the UK, which seems an unlikely place for a Japanese drinks expert to end up, but he’s kept up his passion for Japanese drinks of all kinds.

Stephen Lyman’s story is also unlikely, but true. He was a college professor when he discovered the Japanese drink shochu in a Japanese bar in Manhattan. The discovery led to him visiting Japan over twenty times in the next ten years, going to over 100 distilleries and breweries, before finally getting an internship at a shochu distillery. He is now, amongst other things, a sake sommelier and spends half each year in Kyushu in southern Japan.

Prohibition and Japan

In other words, what these two guys between them don’t know about Japanese drinks is probably not worth knowing. The book begins with a history of ‘Japan’s Rich Drinking Culture’, full of interesting information. The story of an attempt to introduce Prohibition in Japan is fascinating. Opponents of the idea distributed leaflets which said, basically, ‘that there was no example of an advanced civilization that had not embraced alcohol.’ Prohibition didn’t catch on, except for a law banning children from consuming alcohol, and 17 Japanese villages went dry.

Part One is called Native Japanese Alcohol Traditions, and has separate and detailed chapters on the country’s main alcoholic drinks including sake, shochu, awamori, and umeshu, which are plum liqueurs and other fruit-based fermented drinks.

Part Two is Western Alcohol Traditions in Japan and covers whisky, beer, wine, and cocktails. Finally, there’s a guide to Japanese bars around the world.

Photos

The book is beautifully-designed and filled with excellent photos, as you can see from the samples shown here. It’s a lovely big coffee-table book that runs to 160 pages.

Sake

The Japanese believe that sake was a gift from the Gods because it was capable of changing the way people felt. Who else would have the power and ability to do that, other than the Gods? The authors even tell you how easy it is to make your own sake in a week, and how to make other spirits. A fascinating fact here is that pasteurization was not invented by Louis Pasteur but had already been invented by a sake maker in 1568, 296 years before Pasteur ‘discovered’ it.

Awamori

Awamori was a completely new Japanese spirit for me, and it’s described as ‘Okinawan Moonshine’, which sounds interesting. This chapter has several pages about the history of awamori, before one of the authors flies to the island of Miyakojima to see how it’s made. This isn’t just a book about spirits, it’s a history book and a travel book as well, and the awamori chapter alone runs to 12 very entertaining pages.

Umeshu

Umeshu is plum liqueur, and Japan has other fermented fruit drinks too. The authors explain that there’s evidence this traditional drink might have been made as long ago as 3,900 BC! You can try making it yourself, too, as the book also includes a recipe for umeshu, which is basically plums, sugar, and vodka or other white liquor.

Western Alcohol Traditions in Japan

Part Two follows, and this covers those drinks which didn’t originate in Japan but are now a big part of Japanese culture. The most notable is whisky, of course, but there are sections on Japanese beer and wine, and other drinks. It’s full of fascinating titbits, like the fact that in Japan they don’t grow vines in rows on the ground but the grapes hang down from canopies above your head. It’s a labor-intensive method of growing but produces greater yields. It also gives the grapes more space, which is better suited to Japan’s hot and humid climate.

There are sections on Japanese bartenders and cocktails, and finally a lengthy guide to bars around the world where you can sample Japanese drinks. If you want an awamori bar in New York, or you want to find Japanese wine in Paris, it’s all in here.

In fact there’s very little that doesn’t seem to be in here about Japanese drinks and drinking culture. It’s a great reference source and also an absolute joy to read.

Buying The Complete Guide to Japanese Drinks

You can learn more and order a copy on the Tuttle website.