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Of course if you have more information want to find out a little bit more history feel free to talk to us as well but of course now we get to the part of trying the aari so today you’ll be experiencing the liquor that used to be
Drunk by the Royals of uh Japan so what’s interesting about today’s experience is that I think some of you might have tried um our Mari kind of on by itself uh today what we want to do is really show you the versatility of our Mari and how it pairs differently with
Some of our own Singaporean Cuisine so our head into the expert guidance of Thomas L so he’s our ourari expert uh today he’s been appointed as his former role is our Mori jyna by the Okinawa prefecture aari distillers Association so I leave you in his expert hands to
Guide us through today’s uh drinking and food pairing uh experience thank you so very um good afternoon everyone and as they say in in the Ruku Kingdom language or the aamori dialect uh hiai mensor hello welcome all right and as mentioned earlier thank you once again
For taking your time and joining us in exploring the world of our Mori so as uh people are starting to to travel again especially with uh the Luna New Year I was coming from the airport just now traffic was crazy so this afternoon this thirsty Tuesday we would like to
Transport you to the uh amazing beautiful islands of Okinawa to the Exquisite aamori that we are going to taste and I shall be uh your tour guide a facilitator in uh guiding and uh sharing uh the idiosyncrasies the interesting aspects and facets of this interesting Spirit from Japan this
Travel session traveling without moving to the interesting little cups that will be tasing our we’ll take around 80 minutes the first session will be about 20 minutes delving into uh the fundamentals the background the basics of what this mysterious arguably oldest Spirit of Japan or Asia is all about and
The next 60 Minutes towards the second part of the session we’ll be having uh more interaction more fun we’ll be buing into uh pairing the Japanese aori with local Singaporean Southeast Asian uh based Cuisine and most importantly throughout this session we love to gather all your thoughts at any time of
The presentation you might have any questions or Curiosities I’m sure most of us here would have different experiences and entry points uh with regards to personal experiences with alore and especially uh taking on the short video that we have viewed together so do write down or do feel free to
Share any Curiosities or queries that you might have all right so let’s begin on the first part of the session all right so perhaps we can start uh the session rolling by receiving perhaps a few questions from all of you ladies and gentlemen I mean I’m sure some of you
Have are familiar with aamori we have tasted some of the brands or perhaps some of you are knew or haven’t tasted this interesting uh spirit at all so perhaps one or two questions from uh from the floor with regards to yes understand that here how are they
Different okay all right so the the models here in terms of sport right so we have check with with the team where I believe the products are already here and uh these are also unique uh interpretations amori one which is model by the alori uh Esters operative
Association which is a blend of 47 distiller and of course one is specific from one of the leading uh Pioneer dist excent one more question perhaps anyone all right if not then uh we’ll just start uh the segment rolling with what is a Mori all about is it sake is
It suu is it akin to a bottle of rum to Mescal tequila or whiskey so what’s our morning all about so when we think of Japan it’s very common to think of yonu or sake it’s really trending now Japanese sake for the past three to four years exports in into southeast Asia has
Grown has been skyrocketing year on year despite the challenges of the pandemic Malaysia Singapore Tha and Vietnam has been experiencing year on-year growth of above 100% for Japanese sake so Japanese sake is well established or at least in this part of the world and globally being a major representative of Japanese
Quality alcoholic beverage then of course on the second wave is suu many of you might think oh suu isn’t that Korean land K isn’t so from Korea all right but if you delve deeper actually the origins of soou are from the southern prefectures the southern islands of Japan not too far away from
Okinawa from kushu from kagoshima from o all right from Miyazaki uh that’s where the trade routes all right the knowhow of this all right since the Stills were invented right from Mesopotamia from the Middle East they travel through India and from India they went to the auta
Kingdom then and they entered to uh Japan and the Korean Peninsula through the southern islands of Okinawa and the kushu islands so if you do a bit of research the origins of soou are also from the southern prefectures of Japan and today’s focus aamori is I mean in
General in Broad Strokes is also a type of suu but it’s a soou specifically distilled and made in the islands of okin so this is protected by the WTO the World Trade Organization and it’s also a geographical indication recognized by uh trademark bodies International in the world and of course by the geographical
Indication as ratified by the National Tax Agency of Japan so aamori is essentially suu that is distilled specifically within the islands of AO all right so you might say oh so what’s so special beside it being geographically limited or indicated so number one what makes this difference is
Its ingredients all right so there are four key ingredients in Japanese Armory which has which shares parallels with quality Japanese suu number one it is made from rice just like sake suu but Japanese soou has a versatility or variety being made from sweet potato Emo or barley Mogi kokuto from brown sugar
Etc whatever uh raw uh produce or plants that are in abundance in that specific Town Village or area that has a high level of starch that could be fermented and distilled but be used as a base ingredient so in the islands of Okinawa I mean they have of
Course an abundant of sweet potatoes other produce like lime Shasha which will be Showcase in refreshing cocktails towards the end of the session uh but for Japanese alori it is made using rice and the rice that they employ to make this aori is not the local rice because
Of uh the land the salt isn’t enough rice um to be uh cultivated within uh Okinawa to meet the production needs of our Mori so the rice that they mainly use is from Thailand what we call the long grain indar rice or the jasmine rice again to basmati rice so in
Contrast to Japanese sake for Japanese sake they use the Japonica rice the short grain rice all right so number one the raw ingredients that they use is rice and it is unique so ask well Thomas why do you why do they use rise from Thailand all right once again this is in
Reference and in Testament to the trade routes of a right being a trade Outpost due to its strategic location and it being an independent Kingdom till 1872 right so if you visit naha alori I mean Okinawa today you can see a lot of remnants of how the Glorious years of
The trading years of the uh Island or the kingdom the Ryu Kingdom of aamori so they did a lot of trade with the auta kingdom of Thailand and that was also where they absorb the knowhow of distillation so until today most of the rice has been used for
Making Japanese alore is the long grain tiites but of late there’s a trend again of local farmers planting rice and using local rice to make aori right so this is to uh especially for the smaller producers to uh mean to to Really Champion a purely 100% made in Japan
Prod that right because some of the uh what do you call that critics are say hey if this is this isn’t purely 100% Japanese because there’s highrise you right but that’s once again Testament to the history and to the lineage and to the trade friendship between the RQ
Kingdom and the a kingdom so still very much all right uh protecting and referring to how the identity and history of Okinawa is but today as mentioned there are small distilleries planting local rice and using also Japanese rice for making aamori but that’s only a handful and very minuscule
Because the production cost of Japanese rice is considerably higher than Ty rise which is in abundance number two is this this unique ingredient called Koji or Koji kin what we call in Mandarin magin right so it’s a type of mole that’s predominantly used in Japan and also in
China throughout southeast Asia and Asia in what we call scarification process in converting non-fermentable starch into sugar so our friends in Japan they use kji not only for making aor suu or sake but they also use employ uh the magical uh I mean powers of kji to make soy
Sauce mirin Etc right so in the realm of Koji this interesting beneficial mole when we talk about mole or fungus usually something negative or unhealthy comes to mind but in the production of alcoholic beverages it plays an integral role in crafting and giving the product its unique characteristics flavor and
Identity so in the world of Japanese kji magin there exists Tre types of koi differentiated by the color what we call the Yellow koi which is the most popular one widely used by Japanese sake Brewers to make sake number two what we call uh yellow koi used dominantly by soou
Distilleries in the southern prefectures of kushu for distilling Japanese soou and of course today’s Focus Koji number three the black Koji Kuro Koji right found and used predominantly and specifically only for the distillation and the fermenting base of Japanese ALB so one of the things that uh Ki produced
Besides I mean doing its main role of converting non-fermentable starch into sugar so one of the byproducts that it secretes is high levels of citric acid so citric acid acts as a bouncer all right it creates a barrier for nondesirable microorganisms that are floating in the air bacteria and all
Other undesirable fungus that exist in the warmer temperature of Okinawa all right so today’s temperature in Okinawa by the way is about 24 to 26° c not too far away from this afternoon’s uh uh weather in in NX right and of course uh humid weather once again invites a lot
Of uh undesirable microorganism so this high level of citric acid that’s been secreted by black Koji during the SAR ation process actually protects the base mesh of the production process right to once again uh protect and to retain the complex all right uh wild gamey rustic aromatics and flavors of alori that
We’ll be tasting shortly and kurooji a black Koji also works very aggressively right it works even in high temperatures and it draws and pulls out all the I mean complexities of the raw ingredient being the rice right the long TI green rice and of course the yeast and the
Naturally harder water the higher uh what we call Total dissolved solids TDS so Waters in Okinawa are also slightly different from Waters in central Japan in Hokkaido where so as we go further up north and the certain parts of uh what we call in the northern prefectures in
Pakita all right or in I waters are generally softer but Japan waters are generally soft all right low in minerality in what we call iron and manganese these are non-desirable elements that would give uh the finished fermented or distilled product a bitter age all right so generally down south in
The islands of Okinawa where it’s sunny cheerful relaxed you know it’s D the Hawaii of Japan so the minerality of the waters there are slightly higher but once again that gives also the age all right the rusticity to the texture and the mouth field of the aamori that
Will’ll be tasting shortly right so water Koji all right rice all right and of course most importantly is the influence of men right I mean in terms of culture how they uh put on all right an identity to the products that are being crafted so as we all know Okinawa
Being a sou so they’re always looking for something strong Rich hearty to pair with the complex Umami Laden Cuisine uh down south uh in uh Okinawa all right so there are a few Okinawa restaurants here also in uh in Singapore there’s one that I enjoy called nay Kanai if I’m not
Mistaken in great world so they’ve been around for a while so they have very rich flavorful they famous for their B God melon their Goya champuru uh they’re famous for uh ninawa they’re famous also for their pork all right so they use uh they also practice nose to tail eating
So one of my favorite chewy side dishes is the mimiga which is ball pigs ears all right that are cut thinly all right and it’s really crunchy and goes really well with a glass or two of refreshing a all right so that being said uh moving
On to current times so in the past I mean I still remember the first time I had my experience tasting uh a glass of aamori so it it was like uh I know an attack on my palette right so it gives me uh I mean uh parallels of my first
Tasting perhaps with a uh very rich and flavorful Chinese Fu perhaps or a lot of umami Laden rustic harsh on a strong complex characters that hit you right but nowadays as aori is evolving so there are a lot of distilleries that are also making uh different uh expressions
Of aor especially for the export market so as mentioned earlier Japanese sake honu has already established itself internationally as a quality uh alcoholic beverage from Japan which are Crossing Borders being P not only Japanese Cuisine but also you know European French it Italian Spanish and also souis Asian Cuisine right panak
Khan strange Chinese Indian Malay Etc then of course the wave of japaning soou which is also has been very popular gaining a lot of Attraction for the past many years a lot of initiatives done by the prefectural governments uh with bartenders around the world in the
Region and last but not least the third W what we call this interesting Spirit from Okinawa this mysterious Spirit that’s not uh heard of much or at least for now and how it is also being explored upon as mentioned earlier some of the distillers ex experimenting by using local rice and
As also shared uh there are 47 distilleries uh in existence today in the Okinawa prefecture and some of them are also experimenting in making uh distilling more fruit forward elegant lower alcohol by volume our right just to draw parallels with Chinese BYU perhaps in the beginning was
All a certain brand like maai which isang then Chang right more floral fruity lower ab expression so in the world of in the realm of Japanese alori such lower ABV more fruit forward aromatic alori expressions are also being made uh to uh to attract different palette preferences
Out there all right so in the distillation of alori there’s also what we call an atmospheric distillation and of course it reduce pressure distillation especially for uh friends or the media who are a bit more Curious on the technical aspects of Japanese Alor so traditionally the atmospheric distillation will be the uh traditional
Way using higher temperature of distillation from 85° to 95° C so this really draws up all the Umami all the intrinsic flavor of the raw ingredients resulting in a rich complex generally higher alcohol by volume product right so generally the alcohol volume by volume for armori ranges between 30% uh
To 43% but of course there’s also this interesting uh aamori right which is from uh the yonaguni islands which goes up to 60% called hanak right so traditionally div distill for uh specific religious rituals or celebrations but now it’s also being sought after by collecting bartenders all right to Showcase interesting
Artisanal spirits that are hard to find for the form conia or tast then of course in contrast it’s what we call the reduced uh pressure distillation method which is uh the differences is being distilled at a lower temperature between 45 to 55° C so hence the distillation process only draws the more aromatic
Compounds all right the lighter more pleasant aromatic compounds of the distillate so hence resulting in a lower alcohol by volume product and of course uh less uh robust but more uh delicate floral fruity Aromas uh that could show in their product all together right so in terms of destination all our Mori in
Japan are using the pot still right so as we all know in the world Spirits the larger quantity mass produced Spirits are usually being distilled in a continuous still for better Clarity Purity higher alcohol by volume larger production numbers and of course more artisanal uh alcoholic distillates single M whiskey
Pot still V carum are usually done in a traditional pot still right which is batch process and it takes much more time and Japanese aamori is also distill only once you know in contrast to Whiskey which might be instill twice two and a half two and a 3/4 three times
Right or other spirits that are distilled many many times so our Mor is only distill once once again to Showcase and to uh preserve and of course to uh protect and to retain the complex and the identity of the unique natural raw ingredients that they employing all right all good so far any
Questions yes the trend of using more the reduced pressure yes then TR TR yes I think so yeah good question uh question with regards to the different techniques of distillation what we call the reduced pressure at the atmospheric yes there for small certain distilleries and especially following the trend
Trends of the international export market and consumers especially the younger consumer segment where they are drinking lower ABV uh drinks right noow ABV drinks or zero ABV in general so there is a trend towards uh what we call uh reduced pressure distillation practices to showcase the lighter the
Rutier the soft and gentler side of our Bo any further questions so do if you any if any questions come to your mind do share as we go along all right so let’s move on now to the second segment which is the tasting all right
So we will gradually move on so in front of you are four tasting samples for our tasty assessment Adventure today so let’s refer to uh the tasting notes have been prepared by the team so as in discovering a new beverage of uh of interest is always
Uh good to have a reference point right just like when we are visiting a new place a new uh Village a new town a new prefecture it’s good to know where are the interesting places to see to what are the interesting local snacks and food to try the people to meet Etc right
So we have prepared a pictorial wheel so this is actually the official official aamori flavor wheel that’s been prepared uh that’s been put together by the aamori distillers uh Association so we can see a whole spectrum of Aromas right ranging from uh from top right in Green from
Grassy nutty spicy to cereals mushrooms and as we move further down uh the wheel uh more sour fruit yogurt uh pickled radish uh aromatics come forward then of course as we move through the third quarter and the end of the wheel uh Aromas and flavors and Sensations that
We get from age Ai and last but not least on top in terms of uh the flavors that we can get from the other raw ingredients in terms of water uh in terms of uh minerality bitterness oiliness Etc but it’s interesting to see you know the three specific terms that
Are being uh highlighted in asteris towards the bottom left of the wheel where the rate color is you can see goatey ripe files and white plums all right so as mentioned aamori I mean until I mean in Okinawa until 0 1872 they were they were independent Kingdom all right the ryuu
Kingdom and they were ruled by Barons all right and one of the bar parents that took uh effort all right into really uh detailing and writing down the characteristics of ouri stated these three main uh flavors Aromas that gives our Mori its unique distinction in contrast to Japanese soou or Japanese
Saki so number one the smell of a male goat anybody smell or went to a farm and smell a meal good before right so this an interesting Aroma description based on the annals and the records of aori History all right and one of the interesting uh bar dishes we happen to
Go into city of naha there’s this interesting aii sh it’s a members only bar but certain days they allow friends and visitors to go in so one of the interesting uh side dishes that I tried was a Sashimi of H raw served with shredded Jinger all right so that was
Really interesting all right for me and the flavor was amazing and it well really with the age aoris I had that time and the second flavor that identifies or gives AI is distinct identity is what we call Rip files or files is known as gooseberries right to
A certain extent right you can find them in supermarkets from time to time depending on season and sometimes uh for wine lovers in the room all right a typical aromatic that you’ll find in a glass of refreshing syum Blom especially from in New Zealand that Gooseberry filis Aromas that sometimes you’ll find
In an AG aori and last but not least white plums or dry plums so these would be would be the three key interesting uh historical uh identity of AR aamori aromatics that’s been recorded down but of course once again you like to gather your thoughts and have uh your
Insights on the aamori that we’re tasting today all right so let’s move on uh to the tasting proper so we have four aori for your tasting PL today from two distilleries the first one is from this Distillery called hia shuzo the name of the dist is called hia shuzo and the
Brand is called zampa so this is about a little under under hour uh car right North of naha city so this theory is really unique so it started it’s been around since the late 1800s but it started commercial operations actively you know after the end of World War II
So it’s really rising from the ashes of War and the founder of this uh Distillery all right he left his job as a teacher all right to help and to make quality uh a because after the war at the time a lot of things uh generally were in ruin all right people still
Needed to have a heavy drink all right to to get through the challenges of the day of the times and since a lot of the distilleries uh were being destroyed so they were still there were people still making aori but not in I mean in a proper conducive manner so there were a
Lot of spirits or diset that were not really made properly cleanly so a lot of methanol aanl or so a lot of people got blind or got poisoning so this teacher stepped in and say Hey I want to really make sure that I make a good good
Quality aori that could be consumed uh by the local Okinawa people at the time right so zanpa is also the name of that beautiful Cape if you came to Theory today so it’s overlooks the sea all right and there’s a cape and of course zampa generally you know illustrate
Illustratively refers to the waves crashing on the cape and the waters that splashes on the cliffs right it dries on the cliffs so that’s the interesting meaning of zampa and today they one of the larger recognizable aami brands from Okinawa so they have a wide variety of Expressions all right from the nonage
Aori which is usually kept and sto for at least 6 months prior to release and all the tasting all the alores that we are tasting today are what we belong to the cat what we call Ag aamori so to be called an AG aamori the this slate has
To be stored for at least 3 years and above and this is age 12 years so it might be a blend of different disate but the younger youngest one in this bottle has to be at least 12 years and one of the interesting aspects of aami as
Mentioned byan and of course some of the organizers earlier is one of the few spirits that after it’s being bottled it continues to develop and age and put put on more nuances other Spirits whiskey brandy vodka rum Mescal as we all know any distillate that’s been bottled it
Will not age anymore all right wine beer in ages even though after it’s been B so this also one of interesting aspects of Japanese Aly due to it interesting ingredients especially the unique black kji that we were uh discovering about so this is the zampa
12 and we also have the zampa 24 years for us to taste side by side so both and all the aamori that we are featuring for your tasy pleasure today are all kusu or aged aonis so do feel free to just begin tasting side by side
The zampa 12 and the zampa 24 years