Some of the brands below are, in fact, so famous that they can even be found in international bars. It has 13% alcohol content and pairs very well with any kind of food. You can drink this during meals and use them to marinade veggies and meat for grilling and cooking. 4. Fu-ki Plum Wine While the brands below are generally a safe choice when you’re just discovering umeshu , we do recommend asking for the bartender’s recommendations when visiting a specialty bar. Choya After a year, you can finally get to enjoy your plum wine. The flavor and fragrance of the plum wine ripen as itages, so make sure to store in a cool, dark place for years to come! You might want to start making two batches if you can’t stop drinking it. 😉

When you enter the restaurant, you get a 2-hour timer. Within this time, you can consume all the food you want. But the best part is you can add the Umeshu to your buffet and you will get to drink all the Umeshu you want for 2 hours. This is not very expensive and can be added to the soft drink plan for only 500 Yen. Another big-name Japanese alcohol brewer, Kubota Shuzo is also sold internationally, mostly in specialty liquor stores and fine bars. Kubota Shuzo is actually a sake producer, at its origin, and one of the largest in the country. However, it’s not uncommon for sake brewers to also dabble in the occasional glass of plum wine , and Kubota Shuzo has managed to do this wonderfully. After 12 months of making delicious plum wine, the plums are ready to retire. Your plums did a tremendous job making your delicious plum wine for a year. Now that their job is done, it doesn’t mean it’s time to toss them away. This amazing stone fruit is the fruit that never stops giving. Choya is perhaps one of the most well-loved umeshu brewers in Japan. Not only that, but it is officially recognized as the largest brewer in the entire world. The Yonezawa family commenced sake production in 1886 in Akashi - one of the major fishing towns in the west part of Japan. They combine tradition, uncompromising quality, and particularly since present president Kimio Yonezawa took over, innovation.

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Now that we have a better understanding of what umeshu is, exactly, let’s take a dive into the tipple’s fascinating history. I'm talking of course about Akashi-Tai Shiraume Ginjo Umeshu. That's a pretty impenetrable title, but if we break it down, the tale of this wonderful elixir is revealed. As it's Japanese, we'll go right to left!

If you think shochu or vodka is not giving you the right results, you should try to find what is known as ‘white liquor’ in Japan. This is used widely in Umeshu making and will give you the best flavor of the plums. Shochu will also give you great results, as it has a very high alcohol percentage at 45%. In a few weeks, we’ll be seeing our friends steep fresh, unripe Japanese plum (or is it apricot?) in liquor in big glass jars that will sit for six months or longer to convert into umeshu; but for those of us who don’t have access to ume, we can enjoy premium umeshu by three wonderful sake breweries through the Plum Sake Set. Plum Sake Set All three plum sake are distinct. Notice the differences in color and viscosity. | Photo by @thesakemom.

If you have bought a bottle already, and don’t know what to do with it, here are a few recipes you can try. The Umeshu differs from normal wines because they can be taken drunk at different temperatures. More than a sake, this drink is an Umeshu, meaning a plum liqueur made by preserving Japanese Ume plums in sake. Traditionally Umeshu is made using distilled spirit (Shochu) but Akashi-Tai use sake for a more subtle character.