At Tano, we make traditional Japanese Shochu and Korean Sool (Makgeolli, Cheongju & Soju) in Melbourne.
The response to people hearing this usually lands somewhere between curiosity and confusion. Around half of those who ask say they have heard of Soju, most have tried it, but very few know exactly what it is, other than the stuff in the green bottle which can signal the beginning (or end) of a very good night.
And when we talk about Shochu, people tend to hear Soju and the end result is the same.
The other half have never heard of either of these before, but did try Saké one time in Japan but it was served hot and they don't remember the rest of the evening.
That's the short answer. The long answer is, we at Tano are obsessed with a category of fermentation that has existed in Asia for centuries which most of the world has barely even recognised.
Koji, Nuruk, Daqu - these ancient microbial starters that turn every day grain into something extraordinary - fermentation agents with traditions that have been built over generations, refined through thousands of iterations, and producing flavours nothing else in the spirits world even comes close to replicating.
So, having had this obsession for so long, we wanted to make this here, with Australian ingredients, in a distillery in Northcote; an art filled space where people who care a lot about this stuff (us) come every day to make it by hand. More importantly, we wanted it to be a place where people can come and learn about how these amazing drinks are made.
To be honest, there is a tendency in the craft spirits world to talk about "Hand Crafted" in a way that starts to sound hollow pretty quickly - where invoking the word "craft" might automatically confer some kind of quality to a spirit.
But for us, we'd really just rather just show people the process.
Our Koji room, where we spend the weekend sleeping at the distillery, waking up at 2am to ensure our rice undergoes the necessary transformation into umami rich Koji.
Our Nuruk house, where wild microorganisms do things we can predict, but never fully control.
The stills, stainless steel wonders with minimal copper.
Our unique use of Bad Motivator barrels for our small batches, with a wider range of experimental woods than anyone else is using.
The decisions we make at every stage about what kind of spirit a batch wants to become - and believe us, with so many variables those aren't always easy decisions.
That's the craft that we love — not a concept, just our daily practice.
Anyways, tl:dr - the pages here go deeper into each part of all of this. Shochu, Koji, fermenting, distilling, Soju and the broader world of Korean Sool, and Nuruk. Read just this page, or read them all - either way, we think you'll come away with a new found sense of wonder at what our bottles contain.
Fletch and Kev