Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Awamori Shochu from Okinawa is the Devils Drink


I have never been one of those `sake expert` types. For me, a good drink is a good drink(if it is cheap it may become a great drink LOL). Despite my habit of trying to get drunk in the most inexpensive way possible, I have found an odd drink which is worth shelling out some extra yen. A few months back my Japanese sword dancing teacher took me out in Kita-Senju for drinking and introduced me to Awamori.

I am not big on drinking sake but this stuff is something different. This fire water from Okinawa will fuck you up good and proper. It reminds me of moonshine and tastes about the same. After my first drink I felt like I had just swallowed a million African fire ants. After the second drink I realized this stuff is a real man`s drink. The more I drank the more my sword teacher kept laughing and encouraging me to drink more.

He kept saying in Japanese, `Drink the Zanpa! Be a man! Awamori shochu is good for blue eye Samurai.` Yeah, blue eye Samurai is his nickname for me. After drinking a whole bottle of Awamori, the izakaya  manager finally politely informed us that it was time for our drunk loud asses to leave.  Well, the old man had not had enough. He takes me to a karaoke place for more drinking. Being a crazed drunk old man, as soon as we get settled into the karaoke he orders a damn bottle of Awamori and starts singing Japanese folk music! I am not big on Japanese folk music. I have always though it sounds like a dying cow begging to be shot in the head. Yet, the old man loves the music of old Japan.

We finish off half the bottle of Awamori in about 30 minutes. In that time span, he had already sang three songs and being a right proper drunk bastard. He drags me into the fun and I end up singing those damn folk songs with him. Get this picture in your head, an old Japanese guy with a greaser gaijin drunk off their asses singing(poorly) traditional Japanese folk music in a karaoke booth. It was like a scene right out of lost in translation. Hell, I don`t even remember exactly how I got home. I think his son, and my good buddy, Akio helped us to get back to our respected places of living.

After that night I have been hooked on Awamori. It gets you drunk as fuck and stupid as a ho in Texas. When I roll up into a bar and want to get retarded drunk I skip the beer and go right for the Awamori shots. It is a bad habit I know but at the regular price of around 360 yen  a pop I cannot resist. My love of Awamori has become so infamous among my Japanese friends that I was given a big ass bottle of it at our end of the year party!

So if you want to get a proper falling over drunk going on grab a bottle of Awamori!