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NISHIHIRA CATALOG 2022

A FAMILY TRADITION 94 YEARS OF ISLAND DISTILLING Our story begins way back in 1875 when our forefathers started producing awamori on the island of Okinawa some 300 kilometers south of Amami Island Awamori is the native spirit of Okinawa and Moritoshi Nishihira brought the craft to Kikai Island with his wife the distillery s first head distiller Tomi in 1927 Sadly the Kikai distillery was destroyed during wartime air raids and the distillery was relocated to Naze Amami Island in 1947 Though we continued to produce awamori for some time it was around this period we shifted to kokuto shochu production a liquor made with traditional dark sugar extracted from the sugarcane After the Amami Islands were returned to Japan following the war kokuto shochu became a geographically limited product and permission to produce this fine drop was restricted to the Amami Islands an expanse incorporating 56 islands with distilleries on five of them Harnessing the science of koji we mash our moromi in earthen pots before adding our kokuto sugar to the mash and distill in the traditional way via single atmospheric distillation This helps retain the innate goodness of our ingredients and ensures our unique character A family run operation spanning 4 generations we pride ourselves on history quality and handcrafting each and every bottle ourselves Our dreams are big and we look forward to bringing an exciting new range of products to the table both old and new Stay tuned for what we have in store for the world Our Way Blessed with the bounty of an island paradise we craft our liquor with the mineral rich waters of Amami domestic shortgrain rice koji additive free kokuto sugar and adopt earthen pots for our first mash We are a small family run distillery and each and every bottle contains hand crafted shochu made with care and the spirit of greatness From our very traditional drops such as Kana and Sango to our new and exhilarating ISLAND and Mashu labels we do our utmost to extract the fine traits of the island its history our history and the innate goodness of the ingredients that go into our kokuto shochu lineup Enjoy an array of distinctive flavours in each and every bottle enjoy a rare drop only made on the Amami Islands Enjoy what we call Amami island liquor 日本語版

O U R I S L A N D

OUR traditional lineup

R U O A NEW JOURNEY STARTS HERE

Inspired by the Turquoise green Waters of Amami ISLAND APRIL 2022 RELEASE ISLAND Produced in a hidden paradise found in the middle of the Pacific Ocean Island is a handcrafted single distilled spirit made from sugarcane Locally known as kokuto shochu it s a taste of one of Japan s best kept secrets Amami Island Name ISLAND Aging 1 year in tank ABV 40 VOL 720ml Style On the rocks or used as a base for quality cocktails

The Story of Mashu This bottle celebrates Mashu a daughter of Amami Island born sometime during the late Edo Period while Japan was just beginning to modernize She worked for Irish engineer Thomas Waters who built four sugar factories on the island in the late 1860s and the two fell in love Several local songs depict their story and this bottle is dedicated to Mashu Through song and this bottle of fine Amami liquor may she live on and continue to bridge our cultures together Mashu is the first in a 5 bottle series set to be released individually over the next few years The series known as Amami Hidden Series is a play on the Japanese word hiden which means untold story and the rather fitting English word hidden which means unknown or out of sight There are many great stories and entities from Amami that are unknown and well deserving of being brought to the forefront we hope to do this through the crafting of some extra special labels to celebrate the hidden treasures of Amami Mashu is a 50 year old label while the remaining four will range between 9 to 30 odd years all of which extremely limited single barrel kokuto shochu LIMITED EDITION 50 YEAR OLD BOTTLE

Name Mashu Aging 50 years 28 years tank 2 years barrel 20 years bottle ABV 34 VOL 500ml Style Straight or on the rocks Special Note 250 bottle limited release first from the Amami Hidden Series

Name KANA Aging 1 year in oak barrel ABV 30 VOL 720ml Style Straight on the rocks cut with soda or used as a cocktail base Amami s first barrel aged shochu KANA My Beloved

KANA My Beloved This time honored drop has been around since WE first started using barrels over 50 years ago a drink much loved by the islanders The TERM KANA derives from the local Dialect and CAn BE Rendered as My Beloved in English kana is made from fine kokuto traditional raw sugar white koji and mineral rich island water she is distilled with a traditional atmospheric still which enables us to extract exquisite flavor and aroma topped with a year spent in the barrel to add A little spice wood and vanilla to her profile The barrel and kokuto are indeed a match made in heaven Enjoy on the rocks straight or cut with a little soda or other carbonated liquid matches with cashew nuts cheese or for the sweet tooth some good ol rum n raisin ice cream

SANGO A geographically restricted product kokuto shochu is only made on the Amami Islands Our well renowned drop Sango which means coral in English is mashed in traditional earthen pots distilled via single atmospheric distillation and aged in stainless steel tanks Enjoy a true island liquor bursting with character and made by our family on beautiful Amami Island

Name SANGO Aging 1 year in tank ABV 30 VOL 9000ml Style On the rocks cut with water soda or used as a fresh cocktail base SANGO SANGO Eng Coral Made between stunning coral reefs only on Amami will you find such fine liquor

A debut drop to commemorate the accession to toji distiller by 4th generation distiller Serena Nishihira a role her grandmother Tomi had undertaken some 90 years earlier A delicate balance of old and new Tomoet Moi is a limited edition shochu that fuses traditional white koji with its yellow variant a strain rarely used in shochu today Tomoe Moi is aged for two years to acquire a well rounded pro le and delivers an exquisite taste like no other Delicious as is or enjoyed with ice The choice is yours Name Tomoet Moi Aging 2 years in tank ABV 40 VOL 720ml Style Straight or on the rocks Special Note Limited edition small lot label

Nishihira Distillery

11-21 Komata-cho, Naze

Amami, Kagoshima, 894-0012

JAPAN

Phone-0997-52-0171

www.nishihira-shuzo.com/en