KANAGAWA, Nov. 8 — ZEN-NOH Kanagawa, the marketing arm of agricultural cooperatives in Kanagawa Prefecture, and Kumesen Syuzo Co., a distillery in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, have jointly developed Shonan Harumi Rice Whisky made entirely from domestically-grown rice.
The new whisky, to be put on sale on Nov. 27, uses the Kanagawa-born rice brand Harumi as an ingredient.
ZEN-NOH Kanagawa aims to promote the product as a new step to create high value-added products using low-grade rice varieties.
The whisky is made only from the Harumi rice classified as third-class rice, which contains between 45 percent and 59 percent high-quality grains, and germinated brown rice.
According to ZEN-NOH Kanagawa, it is the world’s first whisky made with the technology of saccharifying polished rice using germinated brown rice instead of malt.
The whisky, with its rice-derived gentle sweetness and rich flavor, features a smooth texture, it said.
As Japanese whisky attracts growing attention, ZEN-NOH Kanagawa says it believes the whisky offers a new way to make use of low-grade rice, amid lingering concerns over increased incidence of chalky immature grains and stink bug damage caused by high temperatures.
The new whisky will be priced at 11,000 yen for a 700-milliliter bottle and 3,300 yen for a 200-ml bottle.
The first batch of the product — 3,000 bottles each for the two types of bottles — will be sold at places like farm coops’ direct sales outlets in Kanagawa Prefecture.
ZEN-NOH Kanagawa also plans to expand sales of the product to restaurants and other establishments in the prefecture, with hopes to export it in the future.
Rice whisky made from Harumi, a rice variety grown in Kanagawa Prefecture PHOTO COURTESY OF ZEN-NOH KANAGAWA