A rice shochu aged fifteen years in oak, the rare end of a category most people drink within a year. Soft and rice-led underneath, vanilla and coconut from the cask. Sip it like an aged spirit, not mix it.

Shochu (焼酎, "burnt liquor") is Japan's distilled spirit, fermented and then distilled, which puts it alongside whisky and brandy rather than sake. This is a kome (米, rice) shochu, made from rice koji and rice, so it sits at the soft, rounded end of the category rather than the earthy sweet-potato or smoky barley end. Honkaku shochu (本格焼酎), the traditional single-distilled class, keeps the character of its base ingredient instead of stripping it out. Yoshimura Hideo Shoten brews in Iwade City, Wakayama, and is better known for its Kurumazaka sake. It has worked with rice for over a century, and that experience is what sits behind this long-aged bottling.

What does Yoshimura 15-year aged rice shochu taste like?

First impression is gentle and round, not sharp. The rice base gives a soft, faintly sweet body, and the fifteen years in oak sit on top of it: vanilla, a hint of coconut, the kind of warm woody note you find in an aged spirit. There is no smoke and no harsh alcohol burn. It is closer to a mellow aged rum or a soft whisky than to a young, fiery shochu. The finish is long and dry, with the cask lingering rather than the rice. What sets this version apart is simply the age. Most shochu reaches you within a year or two; fifteen years in barrel is the rare end of the category, and you taste every one of them.