Japan · Food Craft / Distilled Spirit Aging
泡盛古酒・仕次ぎ (Awamori Kūsu / Shitsugi)
Kusu (古酒) is aged awamori, and shitsugi (仕次ぎ) is the Ryukyu-era method that lets a household keep one alive for a century or more. Several jars are numbered by age, traditionally one through five or six. When liquor is drawn from the oldest, the parent liquor (oya-zake), the loss is replaced from the second-oldest, the second from the third, and so on down the line. The old jar is refreshed without being diluted by new spirit, and each family kept its own rules on how much and how often. Unglazed arayachi jars are preferred over glazed ones: glaze is glassy and keeps the jar's minerals from touching the liquor, and those minerals are thought to catalyze its maturation. A well-fired jar is dark and rings with a high metallic note when tapped. Before the war, 100- and 200-year kusu existed in Okinawa. Nearly all were lost in the 1945 ground battle. The oldest now known, about 150 years old, belongs to Shikina Distillery in Shuri; its jars had been buried underground and were recovered after the war. Since 1 August 2015, only awamori aged in full for three years or more may be labeled 'kusu'.
Risk level: Vulnerable · Not inscribed. Labeling standard: 'kusu' only for awamori aged entirely 3+ years (from 1 August 2015)
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