The wonderful world of Umeshu was introduced to me by Ulrich from Tanuki.
We had conversed over a few months about his Shochu endeavours in Cape Town and had long chats about Koji spores (an amazing fungus used in many Japanese culinary arts) and fermentation.
Ulrich brought me a small bottle to taste and I immediately fell in love with the wonderful tart, sweet and light liqueur.
We thought we could do something together that would showcase South African plums used in the Japanese technique to make something truly unique.
Soon enough we had 200kg of unripe plums from a wonderful small farm in Paarl and we got started.
The 6 month maturation gave us time to consider the brand and packaging.
I wanted to do something simple and iconic with this one. Something that highlighted the liquid and hero plum by remaining understated, yet an identity that would be immediately recognisable by year 2.
A beautiful rope and scroll design lended itself to Umeshu’s eastern origins while both illustrating the hand made nature of the product and leaving a lot of room to showcase the plum and liquid.
A simple black wax capped it off with a touch of elegance and a sense of ritual.
This product is a huge crowd favourite and something we just cant seem to keep in stock no matter how big the batches get.
The first month appears and
With the coming of spring
Thus
Beckoned by plum blossom
Will we exhaust ourselves with joy!
正月立ち春の来たらばかくしこそ梅
を招きつつ楽しき終へめ
Lord Ki (815 AD)
~
Umeshu is a traditional
Japanese liquor
made by steeping unripe, green plums
in a clear spirit with sugar.
It typically has a sweet and sour flavour
with an alcohol percentage of around 20%.
Two Cape Town based alcohol producers,
Tanuki and Pienaar & Son,
decided to harness the essence of this
Japanese classic by creating a unique
South African Plum Liqueur.
A balance of tartness and sweetness from
locally grown plums,
made to the traditional Umeshu style and
aged for a full 6 months in Cape Town.
With only 1000 bottles made yearly,
this South African Umeshu is truly a unique and
exclusive opportunity to experience something
new to us,
old to the world
and still incredibly relevant in its beautiful profile of complex simplicity.
