My father-in-law loves to drink. The last time I visited he was proud to give me a taste of this Shochu called 百年の孤独 (hyakunen no kodoku).

Hyakunen no kodoku is a shochu from Miyazaki prefecture and is made from wheat (麦). I’m no shochu expert, but wikipedia says that this shochu has a fragrance more like a western whisky than a typical Japanese shochu. From what I remember, it was pretty strong. (It’s 40%) We had it on the rocks.

The name Hyakunen no kodoku comes from the famous novel of the same name, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

The in-laws said that back in the day it was inexpensive and easy to get your hands on, but one day Emperor Hirohito visited the production location, gave it a taste, and said he liked it. From then on the shochu became extremely popular. Now you can only get it in shops in Japan that have put in specific orders for it. You won’t find it in a regular supermarket or corner sake store – apparently. It seems that one bottle will cost between 6,000 and 10,000 yen. Here you can get it for 6,800 yen (Japan Only).

Anyway, that’s the extent of my shochu knowledge on 百年の孤独!

Related Links:
百年の孤独 on Wikipedia

- Harvey

Note about the author:

Harvey runs a popular website called the JapanNewbie.com

He also has series of Japanese learning iPhone apps available here