Yanagita, Aokage Fortyone Barley Shochu, 41%, 700ml
Pre-order: due to arrive in the UK in late October 2026
Aokage at full strength: a 41% barley shochu, dense and roasted, made for sipping and serious cocktails.
Sold only to customers aged 18 or over.
Aokage Fortyone is the high-strength version of Yanagita Distillery's flagship barley shochu. Same recipe, two-row barley with white kōji, distilled at atmospheric pressure and lightly hand-filtered, but bottled at 41% ABV, so the roasted, oily character comes through at full weight. 700ml.
Why Chefs Choose This
- Full strength: 41% ABV carries far more flavour than a standard 25% shochu
- Built for mixing: the maker notes it brings a distinct sesame or barley note to cocktails
- Atmospheric distilled: for toasted, savoury depth rather than a neutral spirit
- Lightly filtered: hand filtering keeps the oils and texture
How to Use
- Neat or on the rocks: a small measure over a large ice cube
- Stirred drinks: in place of whisky in an Old Fashioned or a Manhattan-style drink
- Highball: long with soda for a fuller highball than 25% shochu gives
- With hot water: diluted well down for a warming winter serve
Yanagita Distillery (柳田酒造) was founded in 1902 in Miyakonojo, Miyazaki Prefecture, and is the oldest distillery in the city. It is still family-run, now by fifth-generation president Tadashi Yanagita, an engineer by training who adjusts the stills himself, and it makes around 65,000 bottles a year from barley and sweet potato, with labels still pasted on by hand. Water comes from the distillery's own wells, 100 to 150 metres deep, fed by the Kirishima mountains. Honkaku shōchū (本格焼酎) is Japan's single-distilled spirit, made with kōji like sake but distilled, and it is usually drunk with water, hot water, soda or ice. Yanagita names its core range after the colours of horses' coats, a nod to Miyazaki's horse-breeding history: aokage (青鹿毛) is the Japanese word for a pitch-black horse.
What does Aokage Fortyone taste like?
Yanagita describes it as dense, flavourful and aromatic, yet drinking surprisingly light: toasted sesame and cereal grains on the nose, then rich flavours of bitter dark chocolate and red fruit. At 41% the texture is fuller and oilier than the 25% Aokage.
Product Details
| Type | Honkaku barley shochu (本格麦焼酎) |
| Maker | Yanagita Distillery (柳田酒造), founded 1902 |
| Origin | Miyakonojo, Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan |
| Alcohol | 41% vol |
| Volume | 700ml bottle (per our order; confirm on the label) |
| Base | Two-row barley |
| Kōji | White kōji |
| Distillation | Atmospheric pressure |
| Maturation | Porcelain enamel tank; blend including 3-year aged shochu (maker's tech sheet) |
| Age Restriction | Sold only to customers aged 18 or over |
How is Fortyone different from the standard Aokage?
It is the same barley shochu bottled at a higher strength: 41% rather than 25%. That makes it richer and more intense, better for sipping and for cocktails where it needs to stand up to other ingredients.
How strong is 41% compared with other spirits?
About the same as most gin and whisky, and much stronger than standard 25% shochu. Treat it like a whisky: a small measure, over ice or with water or soda.
When will my pre-order arrive?
This line is due to arrive in the UK in late October 2026. Pre-orders are dispatched once the stock has landed and been checked in at our warehouse. Anything still marked "To follow" on this page will be added when the stock is in.
SKU : X5002