Awamori

Awamori (泡盛, Okinawan: アームイ, āmui) is an alcoholic beverage indigenous and unique to Okinawa, Japan.

It is made from long grain indica rice,[1] and is not a direct product of brewing (like sake) but of distillation (like shōchū).

The majority of awamori made today uses indica rice imported from Thailand, as the local production is largely insufficient to meet domestic demand, which has risen considerably in recent years.

Kōrēgusu is a type of hot sauce made of chillis infused in awamori and is a popular condiment to Okinawan dishes such as Okinawa soba.

Furthermore, awamori uses Thai-style, long-grained Indica crushed rice rather than the short-grained Japonica usually used in shochu production.

This pronunciation, which derives from Okinawan, is unique to awamori; elsewhere in Japan, the word is pronounced "koshu" and refers to aged sake.

Awamori is aged underground in constant cool temperatures in clay pots or vases.

The earliest known use of the term awamori (泡盛) is in a 1671 record of a gift from King Shō Tei of the Ryukyu Kingdom to the fourth shōgun, Tokugawa Ietsuna.

The Okinawan historian Iha Fuyū believed that the name derives from the word for millet (粟, awa), compounded with a verb-derived noun meaning "heaped amount; serving" (盛り, mori).

The desired result was for a large number of small bubbles (泡, awa) to rise and swell (盛, mori) in the lower bowl as the liquor is poured into it.