An article about mitosaya was published in Distiller Magazine , a magazine and website about craft distilling run by the American Distilling Institute, the largest trade association in the United States specializing in craft spirits.
The request began with an interest in SANSHA , but it has turned into a comprehensive article covering the global trends surrounding distilleries, the history of mitosaya, and future prospects.
With permission from the other party, we have prepared the Japanese text, so please take a look.
( Original here )
Mitosaya Botanical Distillery
Spinning Silkworm Droppings Into Spirits
By Matt Strickland -July 20, 2021
Two or three times a month, Bill Owens (American Distilling Institute) calls me to talk about my writing, which includes my contributions to trade publications like Distiller Magazine and my countless book projects, and he'll talk passionately about whatever topic is on his mind that day.
At that time, Bill told me that there is a distillery in Japan that makes spirits from silkworm feces. When I heard this story, I couldn't believe it and had to ask again. I still have a pain in my neck from shaking it at that time.
Silkworm droppings?
You’ve probably read countless “list articles” such as “The World’s Most Unique Spirits” or “The Weirdest Spirits You Should Know.”
Many of these articles feature vodkas made from milk or secret amaros crafted in isolated villages in the Alps. But the rapid expansion of the spirits world over the past decade has seen many distilling cowboys saddle up and get in. They're pushing the boundaries of not only flair and flavor, but what we thought was possible to ferment and distill in the first place.
My good friend Kirsty Black of Arbikie Distillery in Scotland, in her post-PhD research, has fermented and distilled peas to produce what is believed to be the world's first climate positive gin.
Copenhagen's Empirical Spirits creates spirits with a culinary approach to flavor and sci-fi technology. One of their most infamous spirits is called "Fuck Trump and His Stupid Fucking Wall," a "whisky"-based white spirit made from low-pressure distilled habanero peppers, barley malt, and pilsner malt. One of the founders worked at Noma (arguably one of the world's best and most experimental restaurants), so you can see the background to this business.
Or how about Air Vodka, made in New York by Air Company ? They've managed to make vodka from air. Air Company CEO Gregory Constantine and his team have developed a technology that converts CO2 emissions into ethanol and oxygen, reportedly removing one pound of greenhouse gases per bottle. Drink vodka and save the planet. I'm sure there are worse ways to spend your time.
Mavericks , mavens, misfits, all of them. But silkworm poop? I was intrigued. I wanted to know more.
The distillery is called Mitosaya Botanical Distillery ( www.mitosaya.com ). The name Mitosaya is derived from the Japanese words for "fruit" and "pod." This beautiful distillery, led by the inquisitive Hiroshi Eguchi, was established in Chiba Prefecture in 2016. I reached out to Eguchi hoping he would share his secrets with me. It turned out he was quite open-minded. He was happy to tell me anything I wanted to know.
Hiroshi began his journey as a distiller working for Christoph Keller in Germany. If this name sounds familiar, it's because it's the same Keller who co-founded Monkey 47 Gin. Though less known outside of Germany, prior to Monkey 47, Keller was known for producing an incredible array of brandies at his Stählemühle distillery. The distillery closed at the end of 2018 for Keller to focus on other opportunities, but he distilled over 600 different fruits during the distillery's 15-year lifespan, winning countless awards along the way.
Working with Christoph Keller was a magical fit for Hiroshi. Both men shared an irrepressible fascination and curiosity about what was possible in the realm of spirits. And Germany and Japan have an astonishingly diverse and vast fruit growing culture. Indeed, its western neighbour France is world-famous for its grape and apple brandies, but Germany is no slouch when it comes to distilled spirits. Germany operates more than 25,000 stills, many of which produce brandies from fruits such as cherries, apples, pears and quince. It was against this cultural backdrop that Hiroshi was able to develop the concept that would become the basis for his country's new distillery.
"I worked under Christoph Keller at the Stählemühle distillery in southern Germany and was impressed by his approach of making distilled spirits using a variety of natural ingredients, including those around us and those we grew ourselves. I wanted to apply what I learned there to Japan's natural environment, which has a greater variety of plants and fruit trees than Germany, and that was the beginning of the idea for mitosaya."
Returning to Japan after completing his apprenticeship, Hiroshi began searching for a place to open a distillery. He wanted to make use of the bounty of Japan's vast agricultural produce, so he needed to build a distillery near an area where fruits and vegetables grow in abundance. And as if by divine will, he found the perfect location. "A closed medicinal plant garden in Otaki Town, Chiba Prefecture. 500 types of medicinal plants were cultivated on a 15,000 square meter site. I took over the place and named it 'mitosaya botanical distillery' in 2018.
When Hiroshi took over, the gardens and facilities were not in perfect condition and required some repairs and restoration, but in November 2018, the establishment received a liquor production license.
Having access to such a diverse range of botanicals allowed Hiroshi to follow his whims and wander down previously uncharted paths of distillery in incredibly original ways.
The aim is to "create through small discoveries from nature." To that end, Hiroshi uses many plants from the vegetation on his property that are used in traditional Eastern medicines. He also sources fruits and other ingredients from the surrounding area. This unique ingredient strategy will result in some truly extraordinary spirits coming to market.
Hiroshi is a born experimentalist. Never satisfied with the status quo of spirits taste and tradition, he has always used ingredients with a spirit of inquiry. The result was truly a revelation. The first release was "ALL MIKAN", a blend of rice spirits and mandarin brandy. Mandarin brandy is made by first fermenting mandarins. The fermented liquid is distilled and the distillate is blended with rice spirits containing mandarin peel.
Another, called "Marinara," is a liquid concept album. He fermented local cherry tomatoes, which are quite sugary for tomatoes, and then distilled the fermentation liquid to create a tomato eau-de-vie. He wondered what a pizza sauce would taste like, so he mixed oregano and cinnamon basil in rice spirits and blended it with the tomato eau-de-vie. Marinara, he says, goes well with pizza.
Let's go back to the topic of "silkworm droppings," which was the catalyst for creating this profile. He answered: "The idea for "SANSHA - Mulberry and Silkworm droppings" was born from a collaboration with ANTCICADA , a Tokyo restaurant that pursues the appeal of insect food. Silkworm droppings have been used as a traditional Chinese medicine since ancient times. "Silkworm droppings" is written as "蚕沙" and is said to improve blood flow and be effective against neuralgia, joint pain, and stomach pain. Silkworm larvae also like to eat mulberry leaves, and their droppings are undigested mulberry leaves. When brewed, it has an elegant aroma reminiscent of mulberry leaf tea. Silkworm droppings were not fermented, but we blended and distilled mulberry fruit, which is the undigested part of the mulberry leaves eaten by silkworms, mulberry fruit, and brandy made by fermenting and distilling silkworm spirits. "
My mind was blown.
To pull off such alchemical magic, you'd think Hiroshi's distillery would be the stuff of science fiction -- a technobunker equipped with countless evaporators, computer monitors, and an ocean's worth of borosilicate beakers and flasks.
Hiroshi has a simple setup consisting of a 30-year-old KOTHE still with a few plates attached. He chose to work with a variety of steel and glass tanks, ranging from a few liters to 800 gallons. These tanks allow him great flexibility in his creations, allowing him to carry out small and large fermentations and extractions.
Mitosaya simplifies the distillery process to make it easier to produce single, small-batch products. In 2020, they produced and shipped about 40 types of distilled spirits to the market. They are available in two bottle sizes: 100ml and 500ml.
"At most distilleries, the 100ml size might be considered a sample size, but for mitosaya it's a significant product," he says.
The average price for 100ml is 2,200 yen (20 dollars), and for 500ml it is around 9,680 yen (86 dollars).
Setting a direction for a distillery focused on pushing boundaries and breaking norms can be tricky, but interest from consumers is growing.
He has also received positive reviews from other distillers, and seems to be humble enough to understand that he is quietly paving the way for new distilleries. I hope that other distillers will try to take his methods even further in the future.
Of course, when talking to Hiroshi, you don't get the impression that he's a big egoist. His interests and concerns seem to be centered on distilling pure flavors and aromas using botanicals that not many people have known about until now. His genre-crossing distillations seem to be the result of his ever-curious mind, not the source of misplaced pride or arrogant marketing copy.
He simply seeks out the flavors and sensations of the produce around him and translates it all into intoxicating liquid form.
The mitosaya business keeps Hiroshi busy. He is considering new types of distilled spirits with the help of local farmers. Sake is made from rice, rum from sugarcane, and whiskey from rye, but it's clear that there are ideas in these traditional forms as well. Also, when the topic of aging comes up, Hiroshi tells me that he is considering an aging method using wood from the local mountains as a raw material. He also has plans to set up a bottling plant in Tokyo to bottle mitosaya products and cocktails from producers and bartenders.
In spite of the uncertainty of the world, the future of mitosaya is bright. Fueled by a spirit of inquiry, this distillery is quietly paving the way to uncharted waters. That is the purpose of Hiroshi and mitosaya's journey. And best of all, his liquid is something we can all enjoy together.
