The Distiller Aiming to Make Okinawa a Major Rum Producer

Dragons decorate the Tenryū-kura, literally the “storehouse of heavenly dragons,” at Mizuho Shuzō, Shuri’s oldest distillery. (© Ukita Yasuyuki)

Nakazato Akira is renowned for his talent in creating rums and gins, in addition to his distillery’s staple awamori. (© Ukita Yasuyuki)

Oninoude, a bar in the city of Naha frequented by Okinawa’s top awamori artisans, is one place to sample Nakazato’s rum creations. (© Ukita Yasuyuki)

Nakazato takes a hatchet to a stand of sugarcane. He is currently researching ways to obtain the yeast needed for brewing from the cane itself. (© Ukita Yasuyuki)