Recipe: Ichigo-shu (strawberry wine)

Stemming from my days as an apprentice brewer at Otter Creek Brewing, and even before that when I was homebrewing, I have a longheld fascination with making tasty beverages.

I’d therefore like to share with you a recipe for making ichigo-shu which can be loosely translated as ‘strawberry wine’.

This liquid treat takes only a couple of weeks to become drinkable, and it if you make a batch today it should be ready to drink by the end of hanami (cherry blossom viewing) season here in Tokyo.

Here’s how it works:

You’ll need a glass jar. My local Seiyu supermarket sells 22cm jars that are adequate for one batch of ichigo-shu (pronounced /ee-chee-go shoe/) .  A 22cm jar holds about 1,500 ml (48 oz.) of liquid.

You’ll also need 300 g of strawberries, one whole lemon, 50 g of rock sugar, and 600 ml of 35% alcohol white liquor.

1. Wash and then halve the strawberries. Remove the stems.

2. Peel and then thinly slice the lemon.

3. Put the halved strawberries, lemon slices, and rock sugar in the jar.

4. Pour the white liquor over the top.

5. Wait two weeks (the jar should be kept in a cool, dark place).

6. Strain the liquid into a bottle (a clean, empty wine/shochu/nihonshu bottle works just fine).

* Don’t eat too much of the leftover fruit at once. Think jello shots only slightly healthier. You will lose this battle.

7. Sip and enjoy! This delicious drink can be enjoyed ‘neat’, on the rocks, with a bit of water, or splashed over ice cream or yogurt. Store the bottle in a sun-free area. No need to refrigerate it as ichigo-shu is a distilled beverage.

A quick word to the wise: don’t underestimate the power of this cute little drink. Keep in mind that you dumped more than half of a liter of 35% alcohol in there. Even though it’s very sweet when watered down a little bit, it will go to your head in a real hurry.

Also, make sure to write down what you did and when. That way you’ll be able to adjust things slightly to your liking over a series of batches. For example, you may want to add a little bit of red wine at the beginning of the process to see how that affects the resulting flavor. Just how much you add and when is crucial for recreating that magical batch that you made last time.

Enjoy!