6th Generation Brewer Sato Jumpei's Resume
A Desire to Recreate That Thickness: Development of YOGHURT LIQUEUR.
Thank you for reading my resume.
In 2007, plum wine marked the start of production of the “KODAKARA” liqueur range. Please take a look at the previous issue for details.
In the space of just half a year since the plum wine first went on sale, we had developed a range of all sorts of flavours: red grape, La France, apple etc. That was when I unexpectedly stumbled across the raw ingredient of the “KODAKARA” liqueur that is now the central pillar of the entire series.
In a place (Old Yawata Town) located just a 10 minute drive from the brewery, there is a bottega, with roots in the region, that produces yoghurt. For some reason or other, I had the chance to try said yoghurt and it blew me away, with its viscosity that clearly draws a line between the kinds of yoghurt you find in supermarkets and a thickness that is no longer a liquid.
I thought that it would be interesting if we could show off that consistency in an alcohol beverage and so went straight into production trials of a liqueur using said yoghurt. At the heart was a desire to recreate that thickness and viscosity. We took great care to create a flavour that would work with other fruit based liqueurs and fruit, while maintaining all that is good about regional yoghurt. The viscosity made the sterilisation process a bit of a head-scratcher, but through ingenuity we prevailed to complete Japan’s first yoghurt liqueur to be made with regional yoghurt. A number of other yoghurt liqueurs have since popped up across the country, but back then I think that the whole concept of turning yoghurt into a form of alcohol must have been exceedingly rare. “KODAKARA” YOGHURT LIQUEUR WHITE LABEL has since become the driving force behind the company’s liqueur business.
Photograph Top: Mt. Chokai. The spark was yoghurt made with milk from cows reared at the base of Mt. Chokai.
6th Generation Brewer Sato Jumpei
