September 4th is the “Ku-su Day”, with September = ‘9’ which is pronounced ‘kyu’ or ‘ku’ in Japanese, and ‘4’ being pronounced ‘shi’, but sounds nearly ‘su’. So ‘9-4’ is ‘ku-su’ Day! That’s what they made it.

Being widely known for Awamori, ‘Ku-su ’ means matured Awamori. Ku-su is currently defined to be only alcohol that contains at least three-year-old or more Awamori in order to be called Ku-su. Generally, more older, more smooth and tasty, a committed person can track down Ku-su up to 40 years old Awamori at select places on the island, but older that 40’s, it is not easy to find, and very expensive even if you do find it. If the searcher is lucky to find it, he’s even luckier because the Ku-su is very very smooth and kind of sweet.

kinawa’s finest Awamori, aged a minimum of three years to earn the title ‘Ku-su’.

Why isn’t there much older Awamori? It is because of World War II, when many awamori distillers in Okinawa had their production facilities demolished.  The chief of the Okinawa Awamori Distillers Association Youth Group says, “It tastes milder and has a deeper flavor as it matures. We would be glad for many people to make a toast with Ku-su and enjoy it.”

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