Umeshu (梅酒) is a Japanese plum liqueur made by steeping green ume in a spirit with sugar. It is an infusion, not a fermentation, and its appeal is sweetness, a refreshing acidity (about half of it citric acid) and a distinctive aroma from the ume stone. The premier fruit is the Nankō cultivar of Kishu, in Wakayama.
This is our main guide to umeshu, written for chefs and curious drinkers alike: what it is, the base spirits and styles, how it is made, what gives it its flavour, and how to serve it. It sits inside our Drinks Masterclass.
What Is Umeshu?
Umeshu (梅酒) is a Japanese-style liqueur made by steeping green ume (青梅) in alcohol with added sugar. Under Japan's Liquor Tax Act a liqueur is an alcoholic drink made from alcohol plus sugars with an extract content of two degrees or more, roughly two grams of non-volatile matter, mostly sugar, per 100ml. It is often called plum wine in English, though ume is closer to an apricot and umeshu is infused, not fermented like wine.
Its appeal is the balance of sweetness, refreshing acidity and a characteristic aroma. Unlike a brewed or distilled drink, whose materials and method are largely fixed, a liqueur lets the maker design flavour freely, which is why umeshu now appears in many bases and styles. Finished commercial umeshu is typically around 13 to 15% alcohol.
For a chef or buyer, the useful framing is that umeshu is a flexible, food-friendly liqueur: sweet enough to please, sharp enough to refresh, and varied enough that base spirit and ume cultivar genuinely change the glass.
Source: NRIB liqueur booklet (the liqueur definition, extract content and umeshu's appeal), facts extracted and reworded. Finished-product alcohol level is from the SushiSushi range; the NRIB source specifies only the base-spirit floor for home-making.
Types of Umeshu
Umeshu is classified mainly by its base spirit, and increasingly by added flavourings. The base sets the character: a neutral spirit lets the ume lead, while a characterful base lends its own notes. The standard modern base is a neutral white liquor or shochu; the historical Edo-period base was aged refined sake.
| Base or style | Japanese | Character |
|---|---|---|
| White liquor / shochu base | ホワイトリカー | Neutral ~35% spirit; lets the ume character lead. The standard modern base |
| Refined sake base | 清酒 | The historical Edo-period base; softer, rounder |
| Characterful spirit bases | 梅酒プラスα | Honkaku shochu, awamori, mirin, brandy or whisky, each adding its own note |
| Flavoured umeshu | 味付梅酒 | Yuzu, shiso, ginger, tea, peach and crushed-ume nigori styles for body and cloudiness |
The practical lesson for a list or a shelf: pick by base as much as by brand. A white-liquor umeshu is the clean, ume-forward benchmark; a sake or aged base reads richer; a brandy or whisky base crosses over for Western palates; and flavoured and nigori styles widen the range for cocktails and by-the-glass pours.
Source: NRIB liqueur booklet (base-spirit classification and flavoured styles), facts extracted and reworded.
What Gives Umeshu Its Flavour?
Three things define umeshu: acidity, aroma and sugar, working together. About half of umeshu's acid is citric acid, the source of its refreshing tartness. Its characteristic scent comes largely from benzaldehyde, which is concentrated in the ume stone rather than the flesh. Sugar both draws the flavour out of the fruit and rounds the sharp acidity into balance.
The aroma detail is worth knowing: benzaldehyde makes up under 10% of the aroma compounds in the ume flesh but over half in the stone or seed, which is why the stone is considered important to umeshu's flavour and why historic recipes added crushed kernels. On sugar, the type matters as well as the amount: rock sugar, granulated sugar, starch syrup, honey and brown sugar each shift the roundness and richness, and cutting sugar too far flattens the drink rather than just making it drier.
For a chef, this explains the spread on the shelf: a long-steeped, stone-in umeshu reads deeper and more aromatic, while the sugar choice is much of why two umeshu at the same strength can taste so different.
Source: NRIB liqueur booklet (citric acid share, benzaldehyde distribution between flesh and stone, the role of sugar types), facts extracted and reworded. The amygdalin-to-benzaldehyde mechanism is not named in our source.
How Is Umeshu Made?
Umeshu is an infusion, not a fermentation: green ume are steeped in a spirit base with sugar, and over time the alcohol and sugar draw aroma, acid and flavour out of the fruit. There is no yeast and no brewing step; the spirit is already made before the ume goes in.
As NRIB describes home-making: choose fresh, undamaged ume, since damage causes cloudiness and mould; large, extract-rich fruit such as Nankō suits umeshu well; sterilise and dry the jar, and dry the washed ume; use a higher-strength spirit such as 35% white liquor for safe sterilisation; layer ume with sugar and pour the spirit over; then store somewhere cool and dark, as light degrades quality. Slow-dissolving rock sugar is favoured because it lets the still-low-sugar spirit penetrate the fruit early, helping both sterilisation and aroma extraction. The ume cultivar shapes the result, from the rich, quick-extracting Nankō to the cleaner, firmer Shirakaga and the cloud-prone, smooth Bungo.
For a buyer, the takeaway is that provenance and patience show in the glass: Kishu Nankō fruit and a long, careful steep are the markers of a serious umeshu.
Source: NRIB liqueur booklet (infusion method, home-making steps, rock sugar, ume cultivars); the Kishu / Nankō provenance is corroborated by our producer source Hamada (Kishu Ume). Facts extracted and reworded.
Popular Products
Four umeshu that show the range, from a classic Kishu pour to a fifteen-year-aged bottle:
Nakata Shiro Classic Umeshu, 300ml
The flagship plum wine from a Wakayama ume house, made with Kishu Nankō fruit. Sweet, refreshing and ume-forward: the benchmark classic umeshu and the place to start the category.
Hakutsuru Umeshu Genshu, 720ml
Full-strength umeshu, undiluted. Where most umeshu is brought down to 11 or 12%, genshu is bottled at full strength for a richer, more concentrated plum liqueur. Excellent over ice.
How to Serve Umeshu
Umeshu is one of the most approachable Japanese drinks to serve, because its sweetness and acidity carry it across styles. The classics are straight over ice (umeshu rock), topped with soda for a long, refreshing umeshu soda, or with hot water in winter. A full-strength genshu rewards ice; a delicate, lower-strength bottle suits soda.
It also has a place around food and in the kitchen. As an aperitif or a sweeter end to a meal it works where a dessert wine would, and its plum acidity cuts rich, fatty or fried dishes well. In cooking it lends a sweet-sour plum note to glazes, dressings and braises in the way a fortified wine might. The fruit and aroma show best chilled.
Our steer for a list: carry a clean classic for soda and cocktails and one richer or aged bottle for sipping, and lead guests in with an umeshu soda. (Serving and food-pairing suggestions here are our own practice rather than a cited standard.)
Source: serving and pairing guidance is SushiSushi practice; the NRIB source covers production and history rather than service.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is umeshu?
Umeshu is a Japanese plum liqueur made by steeping green ume in a spirit with sugar. It is an infusion, not a fermentation, so the spirit is made first and the fruit and sugar flavour it over time. Often called plum wine, it balances sweetness with a refreshing acidity and a distinctive ume aroma, and usually sits around 13 to 15% alcohol.
Is umeshu the same as plum wine?
Plum wine is the common English name for umeshu, but it is not strictly wine. Wine is fermented from fruit sugars, whereas umeshu is made by steeping green ume in an already-made spirit with sugar, an infusion. The fruit, ume, is also closer to an apricot than a plum. So plum wine is a handy label, but umeshu is a liqueur, not a fermented wine.
How do you drink umeshu?
Most often chilled: straight over ice, topped with soda for a long umeshu soda, or with hot water in winter. Full-strength (genshu) bottles reward ice, while lighter ones suit soda. Umeshu also works as an aperitif or a sweeter finish to a meal, and its acidity cuts rich, fatty or fried food well. Serve it cold to show the fruit and aroma.
What is umeshu made from?
Three things: green ume, a spirit base and sugar. The standard modern base is a neutral white liquor or shochu, though sake, brandy, whisky and mirin are also used. The premier fruit is the Nankō cultivar from Kishu in Wakayama. Sugar, often slow-dissolving rock sugar, both draws flavour from the fruit and balances the acidity.
Can you make umeshu at home?
In Japan, yes, under a 1962 exception to the Liquor Tax Act that lets households make ume liqueur for their own enjoyment. Three rules apply: the base spirit must be 20% alcohol or more, certain ingredients such as rice and grains are forbidden, and the result must not be sold. Elsewhere, check your local alcohol laws before making or sharing it.
Where to Buy Umeshu in the UK
If you are looking to buy umeshu in the UK, we keep a range with fast delivery across the UK, from classic Kishu plum liqueur to full-strength, charcoal-mellowed and long-aged bottles, plus flavoured styles. Start with a classic white umeshu if you are new to the category.
For more, browse the Drinks Masterclass, or read about sake and shochu, two of the base spirits umeshu is built on.
Provenance: built from the SushiSushi Knowledge Base record store/umeshu/umeshu.md. The definition, production, flavour-chemistry, legal and historical material is from the National Research Institute of Brewing's liqueur booklet, a separately copyrighted publication whose facts are extracted and reworded here, not reproduced; the Kishu and Nankō provenance is corroborated by our producer source, Hamada (Kishu Ume). Finished-product alcohol levels and serving guidance are from the SushiSushi range and our own practice.