111 PUMPKIN NECTAR

Open Day Advance Sale on Sunday, April 17th
Sales start from 10:00 on Sunday, April 24th

We were at a loss as to what to do when faced with the 100kg of organically grown pumpkin that had arrived from Hokkaido.

I wanted to soften and sweeten a large amount of hard pumpkins at once. So I came up with the idea of steaming them over a bonfire. I steamed the pumpkins slowly over the embers, just like making roasted sweet potatoes.
While the heat is still high, the crushed pumpkin is placed in a tank and the sake koji provided by the Iinuma family is added. This is a high-temperature Yamahai brewing process. At 55℃, which is the optimum temperature for fermentation, the enzymes react with the starch in the pumpkin to promote saccharification.

After a few days, the natural lactic acid bacteria produced a sour taste. At this point, sake yeast was added and the fermentation proceeded. After a month, when the sugar had almost completely turned into alcohol, it was distilled. A pumpkin eau-de-vie was completed. However, something felt lacking.
What makes a pumpkin truly pumpkin-like is its sweetness, color, and flavor.

It reminded me of mead nectar, a drink popular in Lithuania. It has a good balance of sweetness and flavor, made by adding mead, a brewed honey drink, to distilled liquor infused with herbs.
Following this example, we added pumpkin wine back into the pumpkin eau-de-vie and a small amount of honey. After bottling, we pasteurized it and it was finished.

PUMPKIN NECTAR combines Japanese sake technology and Western manufacturing methods with a pumpkin at the center. Have you ever heard of a pumpkin that makes you drunk?

Item: Liqueur Contents: 100ml / 500ml
Ingredients: Pumpkin, Koji, Yeast Alcohol content: 23%

Artwork by Jason Logan

Limit two items per product (size) per person.

We were at our wit's end in front of 100 kg of organically grown pumpkins from Hokkaido.
We wanted to soften and sweeten the hard pumpkin all at once. We came up with the idea of roasting them over an open fire. We would steam the pumpkins slowly over a roasting fire, just as you would roast a sweet potato.
Before the heat cools, the crushed pumpkin is placed in a tank and sake malt, which was given to us by the Iinuma family, is added. At 55 degrees Celsius, the enzymes react with the starch in the pumpkin to promote saccharification.
After a few days, a sour taste caused by natural lactic acid bacteria appeared. Then, sake yeast is added to further promote fermentation. After one month, when the sugar content is almost completely converted to alcohol, it is distilled. Pumpkin eau-de-vie is now ready. But something was missing. The sweetness, the color, and the flavor of the pumpkin is what makes it pumpkin-like.
It reminded me of mead nectar, which is drunk in Lithuania. It is a well-balanced mixture of sweetness and flavor, made by adding distilled herbs and other ingredients to mead, a honey liquor.
Following this example, pumpkin eau-de-vie is made by adding back pumpkin wine and a small amount of honey. After bottling, it is finished by fire-roasting.
With pumpkin in the middle, PUMPKIN NECTAR combines sake techniques and Western manufacturing methods.
Have you ever heard of a pumpkin that can get you drunk?

Item: Liqueur
Contents: 100ml / 500ml
Ingredients: pumpkin, malted rice, yeast
Alcohol content: 23%.

Artwork by Jason Logan

Purchase quantity is limited to two items per product, per size.