Does shochu rice go though the same milling process as sake rice? I have no formal or informal education in shochu. Just was introduced to it while working in Japan and came away with the impression that imo shochus were the tops from both imbibing and speaking with others.
There is a level of nuance and structure (the beverage has a beginning, middle and end) to imo shochus that was absent from any rice shochus I drank. Barley and sesame additions to primarily rice shochus were an interesting note, but that ‘structure’ as defined above always seemed absent.
If I’m missing out on quality rice shochu, where’s a good place to start?