Sun Sun Hop: barley shochu with aroma hops

 

• Name: Sun Sun Hop
• Type: Barley shochu with aroma hops
• Origin:  Kagoshima prefecture, Satsumasendai
• Distiller: Den En Shuzo
• ABV: 25%
• Price: about 1300 yen

This bottle is an excellent reminder of what booze should be all about: fun, fun, fun!

Seriously, this shochu put me in a good mood by just taking a first whiff from the bottle.

I think simply looking at the bottle's label suffices to understand this is not a pompous, overly serious, pretentious drink you want to brag about on Instagram. This is meant to be enjoyed, period.

And enjoy it I did: Sun Sun Hop turned out to be the ideal shochu to drink on summer evenings, after a day spent in the open air sauna we call Tokyo.

As the label says, this would be your regular barley shochu, but aroma hops and beer yeast have been used in the production process. At first I thought this was Den En Shuzo's take on the beer-flavoured liquors that are an integral part of the Japanese boozescape, from the early days of Hoppy down to the beer-flavoured mixers and RTD canned cocktails (give Kinmugi beer sour a try, if you are in Japan) that have appeared on the market lately.

But this is no substitute; this is proper shochu (albeit not honkaku, because of the unusual ingredients) in its own right. The barley is not too sweet, and there is a chewy umami which I reckon could come from black koji (just my hunch; the label doesn't specify which koji has been used), then the hops kick in and you get orange peel, grapefruit, and a gentle, pleasant bitterness.

There is a hint of spice in the ending: I'm thinking about cardamom, but maybe it's just the summer's heat playing tricks on my brain.

Sun Sun Hop is ideal highball fodder, and it really shines once the soda gets going.

The company's website suggests mixing it with jasmine tea, which I have not tried yet. I will experiment with the second bottle I'll buy, because this is no doubt a repeater.

I love the way the people at Den En Shuzo keep on trying new things and do their best to make shochu expand its reach into new territories. 

 

ザ　ブレイクダウン    

Had I tried Sun Sun Hop in winter, maybe I wouldn't be this enthusiastic about it.

But, taking into consideration how inexpensive this is, I can't help singing its praise.

This shochu is fun, fun, fun, and I like it a lot.

Vote: 4  + 2 + 2 = 8

                              (mister Tanuki, editor in chief)