For a long time, Akira Nakazato, manufacturing manager of Mizuho Distillery, one of Okinawa’s oldest awamori producers, had been thinking of making another spirit. Sales of awamori, the islands’ traditional spirit distilled from rice, have been in steady decline since 2004.
“Okinawa didn't used to have a big selection (of drinks),” says Nakazato, 37, during our meeting in a craft beer bar in Naha. He explains that the first round at a pub was typically beer, followed by awamori. “However, with the internet and the proliferation of various types of alcohol, awamori has lost out to the competition.”
Okinawa’s awamori distilleries like Mizuho are feeling the pressure. Some, such as Shinzato Distillery, have turned to importing Scotch or freshly distilled spirit to blend and age their own whisky to ride the global boom in Japanese whisky. Others are putting a modern twist on the traditional awamori recipe, adding flavors like mango and passionfruit to produce liqueurs for cocktails.
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