Kuro Shiranami is an award winning shochu hailing from the Satsuma Peninsula, all the way at the far southern tip of Japan. It is an imo shochu, meaning that it’s distilled from sweet potatoes, giving it a light body and mild sweetness, balanced out with warm, earthy notes. This style of shochu is traditionally enjoyed mixed with a bit of hot water by locals in southern Japan, but more recently it’s been gaining attention in the craft cocktail world for its ability to add umami notes to classic cocktails like martinis or sours.