Fresh off a high as one of Asia's 50 Best Bars of 2022, The Aubrey at Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong is continuing its streak of Japanese cocktail innovation with a new cocktail programme centred around Japanese most widely consumed spirit - shochu.  

The Aubrey is a modern Japanese izakaya known for delicious cocktails that features Japanese spirits like Japanese whiskies, awamoris, and shochu. The bar is led by Devender Seghal, a long-time shochu fan and the creator of the Aubrey's latest cocktail programme.

Devender Seghal and the team at the Aubrey (Image source: World's 50 Best Bars)

Despite shochu's domestic popularity and its centuries-old legacy, the spirit has thus far been a largely overlooked ingredient in many cocktail recipes. For those more familiar with shochu, Seghal included, this would seem like a shame. 

Unlike many other spirits, shochu can be distilled from a wide range of over 50 base ingredients - including sweet potato, barley, rice and even brown sugar. What does unite each of the distillates is the use of koji mould during fermentation. Yet even the type of koji moulds used can vary, with white, black and yellow koji tending yield different degrees of sweetness, sharpness and fruitiness. As a result, the final shochu product can yield a wide diversity of flavour profiles, making it extra versatile to be used in cocktails! 

More widely consumed in Japan than sake or whisky, Shochu is a cornerstone of The Aubrey's inspiration. It can be made with 50 different ingredients and generally has low ABV, making it versatile in cocktails and a great companion with food. (Image: Katsushika Hokusai, circa 1795)

Perhaps one concern for bartenders when it comes to shochu's usage is the spirit's low ABV content, raising the perception that the spirit is hard to work with. Yet, Seghal has shared that shochu not only makes for great low alcohol tipples, but can be a supportive ingredient when paired with other high-proof spirits to raise the ABV. It is worth noting however, that some shochu brands are recognising the burgeoning international demand for shochu in cocktails, and have released high-ABV shochu variations like the DAIYAME 40 and the iichiko Saiten.

Similar to wines or whisky, shochu has its own form of geographical indications (GI). You can think of GI as a classification that recognises the special qualities of a shochu depending on the region it was produced in.

Clockwise from left: Harmony, Two Row Barley, Mizu No Kuni, Worship. (Images courtesy of The Aubrey)

In order to showcase the spectrum of shochu's flavours, the Aubrey's new shochu cocktail programme will feature a total of eight cocktails, with two drinks each dedicated to shochus from the GIs of four different prefectures in southern Japan. These are:

• Satsuma shochu: Made using sweet potato (called imo) on the island of Kyushu in Kagashima prefecture, this premium shochu carries luscious fruit and sweet potato characters. It's featured in a chuhai-inspired Harmony cocktail, mixed with sauvignon blanc juice.
• Iki shochu: Made from barley from Iki island in Nagasaki prefecture, this mugi-based shochu carries a rich, earhy flavour. Used in a cocktail called Two Row Barley, it's layered onto scotch for strength, elevated with mild sweetness of Vermouth rosso, and infused with a herbal note from Benedictine liqueur.
• Kuma shochu: Made from kome (rice) from Hitoyoshi in Kumamoto prefecture, this shochu sports fragrant, floral aromas reminiscent of sake. You'll find it in the Mizu No Kuni cocktail, designed to evoke the purity and clarity of the Kuma River.
• Ryukyu awamori: Thought to be the oldest spirit in JApan, awamori from Okinawa island is a shochu made with Thai long-grain rice. It's used in the cocktail Worship, mixed with floral lillet blance, white creme de cacao and lemon juice, before being rounded out with an umama kick of mirin.

Friends in Hong Kong, if you're keen to try these cocktails for yourself, the Aubrey's all new shochu cocktail programme is available from 3rd August 2022 onwards! For those residing elsewhere, do keep a look out on Devender Sehgal's socials for announcements of potential guest shifts coming to bars near you!

@lotusroot518

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The Aubrey

An eccentric Japanese Izakaya experience

25/F, Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong

Monday - Sunday: 12 pm - 12 am

IG: @theaubreyhk

Bookings here: link