Iki Shochu

Around the 16th century, distilled liquor believed to have been brought over to Iki from China was adapted with the island’s own distilling methods to create barley shochu. For this reason, Iki is said to be the birthplace of barley shochu. In 1995, Iki Shochu was given protection as a geographical indication by the World Trade Organization (WTO), joining the ranks of the world’s most famous brands of alcoholic beverages. Iki has seven shochu distilleries, all of which produce their own, unique shochu, while upholding the ratio of 2 parts barley to 1 part rice koji (koji is made by mixing steamed rice with mold used for fermentation).