Ozaki, Binchotan-Filtered Umeshu, 720ml
Kura Master 2023 Platinum. A 13% umeshu from Ozaki Shuzo in Shingu, Wakayama, matured with Kishu binchotan charcoal in the tank. 720ml.
This is Binchōtan no Shirabe (備長炭のしらべ), the umeshu of Ozaki Shuzo, a sake brewery in Shingu on the Kumano coast of Wakayama. It is made from local Kumano ume steeped in brewing alcohol with fructose, then matured with binchotan, the dense white charcoal Wakayama is famous for, laid inside the tank. The charcoal takes out rough edges and leaves a mellow sweetness with real depth. It won Platinum in the umeshu category at Kura Master 2023, the French-judged competition for Japanese drinks, placing in the top five of 102 entries.
Why Chefs Choose This
- Award-winning: Platinum, umeshu category, Kura Master 2023, judged in France by sommeliers and drinks professionals.
- Charcoal-mellowed: binchotan in the maturing tank rounds the drink off, so it is smoother and less cloying than many umeshu.
- Wakayama through and through: local ume and Kishu binchotan, from the prefecture that grows more ume than anywhere else in Japan.
- Easy on a list: 13% alcohol and a sweet-sour fruit profile that suits guests who do not usually drink sake.
How to Serve
- On the rocks: over a large piece of ice, so it opens up slowly without watering down.
- With soda: one part umeshu to two or three of soda water for a long, light aperitif.
- Straight or with water: neat and chilled after dinner, or with cold or hot water, as the brewery suggests.
- In cocktails: a ready-made base of fruit, sweetness and acidity for a spritz or sour.
Umeshu (梅酒) is made by steeping ume, the Japanese plum, in spirit with sugar until the fruit gives up its sweet-sour flavour and a faint almond note from the stone. Wakayama, the old province of Kii, is Japan's ume heartland and has a registered Geographical Indication for its umeshu. It is also the home of Kishu binchotan (紀州備長炭), the hard white oak charcoal prized by yakitori chefs. Ozaki Shuzo (尾﨑酒造) brews in Shingu, at the mouth of the Kumano River near the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage routes, and brings the two local specialities together in this bottle. Shirabe (しらべ) means a melody or tune.
What does umeshu taste like?
Sweet and tart at once, with ripe plum, apricot and a faint marzipan note from the ume stone. Ozaki describes this one as mellow in its sweetness and deep in flavour, and that is fair: the charcoal takes away some of the sharp, syrupy edge you find in cheaper umeshu, so the fruit and acidity come through cleanly. Over ice it is bright and refreshing; neat it is fuller and closer to a dessert wine. At 13% it sits nearer wine than spirit in strength.
Product Details
| Type | Umeshu (梅酒), Japanese plum liqueur |
| Product | Binchōtan no Shirabe (備長炭のしらべ) |
| Brewery | Ozaki Shuzo (尾﨑酒造), Shingu, Wakayama |
| Ingredients | Ume (Kumano area), fructose, brewing alcohol |
| Alcohol | 13% vol |
| Process | Matured with Kishu binchotan charcoal in the tank |
| Award | Kura Master 2023, umeshu category, Platinum |
| Volume | 720ml bottle |
| Serve | Chilled, on the rocks, with soda, or with water |
What does the binchotan do?
Binchotan is a very dense white charcoal made from oak, and Wakayama's Kishu binchotan is the benchmark. Ozaki lays it inside the tank while the umeshu matures. Like charcoal filtering in other drinks, it absorbs some of the harsher compounds and rounds the liquid off. The result is a smoother, cleaner umeshu in which the fruit and acidity come through more clearly.
How should you serve umeshu?
Cold is the usual way: on the rocks, over a single large cube, or lengthened with soda as an aperitif. Neat and chilled it makes a good digestif. The brewery also suggests it with cold or hot water, and a splash of hot water in winter brings out the plum aroma. It works as a cocktail base too, bringing fruit, sweetness and acidity in one pour.
How should I store an opened bottle?
Keep it upright, capped and out of direct light. Umeshu is stable thanks to its sugar and alcohol, so it does not need to go in the fridge, though chilling it makes it ready to pour. It holds its flavour for months after opening, but is at its brightest in the first few weeks.
SKU : X0114