In the bottle: Incredibly neutral at the start, which is a bit of a surprise for a kasutori shōchū—usually this type is brimming with sake notes. After a fair amount of swirling to get some oxygen in, only a bit of cherry and a slight sharpness start to emerge. There is something else there but it is really hard to place, so far not a typical kasutori shōchū. Even though Sumi remains a mystery, there is a lot of hope for what will be in the glass as what is here is clean and feels well made.

On the rocks: Completely different than most kasutori shōchū, Sumi is dry with a beautiful cacao / chocolate bar vibe that makes this the perfect nightcap shōchū. Normally with this type of shōchū you get a bit more syrupy fruits, licorice, along with a brighter mouthfeel; however, here what is in the glass is smooth, velvety and, to say again, chocolatey. While Sumi starts a bit dry at first, the sweetness develops a little at a time as the ice melts, what you get at the end is something truly amazing. These expanded chocolate nites gives this a nice drinkability and something that makes you want to go back for another sip to see which direction this will go.

Straight: Super smooth with an amazing chocolate vibe that is not overly sweet and has a touch of vanilla and milk caramel that binds the whole thing together. Sumi basically drinks almost like some type of chocolate liqueur instead of a kasutori shōchū; which is a first for me—you can often find a bit of chocolate but as a background flavor and not the star. The finish, interestingly, has more of the typical sake fruity notes like peach and lychee which adds a nice balance to this cacao-forward kasutori shōchū and is excellent neat in the glass.

Paired with dark chocolate: Cafe Tasse dark chocolate. Typically a good pairing will really expand the chocolate and add some nice character from the shōchū. In this case, the pairing is fine but since this is already very cacao-forward, it surprisingly does not add a whole lot to the party.