Tokyo –

Whiskey, nihonshu (sake) and beer produced in Japan are popular around the world.

But a Tokyo bar is trying to reintroduce locals and visitors to the taste of doburoku, one of the oldest and most controversial drinks in Japanese history.

Heiwa Doburoku Kabutocho Brewery is located in the Nihombashi district in eastern Tokyo. During the Edo period (1603 – 1868), this region prospered thanks to the activity of boats carrying cargoes of sake.

It is with this in mind that Heiwa Shuzou (brewery), which has been producing sake since 1928 in Wakayama prefecture, chose to open this rare doburoku specialty bar in one of the city’s upscale neighborhoods.

Before you venture into the bar for a drink, here’s what you need to know about this historic and controversial drink.

What exactly is doburoku?

The history of doburoku is as murky as the drink itself.

Often considered the ancestor of today’s sake; It is no coincidence that the characters making up the word 濁酒 mean “cloudy” or unrefined liquor. To distinguish this type of cloudy Japanese alcohol from the ubiquitous, clear sake, there are two distinct if slightly misleading categories: seishu (清酒), or clear sake, and doburoku (濁酒).

Therefore, sake and doburoku have an essential difference in their respective productions.

Typical sake requires a leaven, called shoboand adding three main ingredients: steamed rice, kouji (moldy rice fungus) and water – over a period of several days.

However, when making doburoku, they are all placed simultaneously with the yeast, causing the resulting mixture to be relatively overflowing with sugars. The sugars then begin to break down the yeast, which stops fermentation much sooner. Ultimately, what’s left is a sweeter liquid with a much lower alcohol content, formerly known as doburoku.

Whiskey, nihonshu (sake) and beer produced in Japan are popular around the world. But a Tokyo bar is trying to reintroduce locals and visitors to the taste of doburoku, one of the oldest and most controversial drinks in Japanese history. (KPS/iStockphoto/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

Why is doburoku considered controversial?

For almost as long as rice has been grown in Japan, doburoku has been around. It was the beverage of choice for farmers and Shinto priests. With a relatively simple recipe – that is, throwing everything into the proverbial melting pot at once – doburoku was common throughout the countryside.

The open practice of homebrewing continued unabated for centuries.

According to Utsunomiya Hitoshi, director of the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association (JSS), in 1855 there were 459 doburoku producers in Edo (now Tokyo) alone.

However, by the end of the Edo period (1603 – 1868), all feudal lords were forced to abandon their regional domains in the name of the centralized Meiji government, based in the new capital Tokyo. This 180-degree change in governance has given rise to highly structured institutions, including an empowered and regulated tax collection agency.

Realizing that licensed breweries and distilleries were a vital source of income for the new government, measures to limit craft brewing began to take effect.

Utsunomiya says that it was from 1880 that the amount of home-brewed alcohol began to be restricted, while in 1882 a licensing system was introduced. Then, in 1896, a liquor tax was imposed on all home brewers, leading to a total ban on home-brewed liquor in 1899.

Essentially all doburoku made from that point on were called mitsuzoushu (密造酒), “secretly produced alcohol” or moonshine.

However, even during this ban, doburoku could still be found in Japan. Tellingly, Shinto shrines were able to continue using this drink for their rituals. After World War II, due to a shortage of sake, the Korean drink makgeollian unfiltered cousin of doburoku made from rice, wheat, malt and water, was a popular alternative.

Although home brewing is still illegal, the Japanese government has allowed inns and restaurants to be established in the country. special deregulation zonesmainly in regions where economic growth had stagnated, to sell doburoku commercially in 2003.

As of 2021, there are 193 establishments nationwide licensed to sell doburoku.

The state of doburoku today

Opened in 2015, Sake Hotaru in Tokyo was the first legal place to offer doburoku in the Japanese capital. But bar owners only started selling it to the public in late 2016.

Since then, other options have emerged. More importantly, in June 2022, the previously mentioned Heiwa Doburoku Kabutocho Brewery opened a taproom near Nihombashi.

Norimasa Yamamoto, president of Heiwa Shuzo, estimates that half of the bar’s visitors come from abroad.

“We often get questions about the difference between sake and doburoku, how many days it takes to make it and how it is produced,” he says of the bar’s customers.

In addition to doburoku, sake and beer labels from the brewery are available. Keep in mind, however, that if you want to order something, the brewery does not accept cash.

The flavor is intense, with samplers comparing it to both cheddar and noni, a uniquely flavored Polynesian fruit.

And travelers who can’t make it to Japan can try doboruku closer to home. In Brooklyn, Kato Sake Works sells small batches of the drink.

However, owner Shinobu Kato says “context doesn’t exist here” because Americans are less likely to have heard of doboruku.

“With the exception of a few sake shops that are very familiar with and interested in our doburoku,” says Kato, “most sales are at the taproom for both bottles to take home and drink by the glass.”