ICHIKIKUSHIKINO, Kagoshima Prefecture--For Stephen Lyman, it was love at first sip.

The life-changing introduction occurred in 2008 when Lyman, who is originally from Buffalo, New York, walked into an "izakaya" Japanese-style pub in the state.

There he tasted shochu for the first time and was surprised that the distilled Japanese spirit, unlike beer and wine, did not bloat his stomach but gave him a healthy appetite.

It paired well with food, too, he said.

“The encounter with shochu changed my life,” said Lyman, 49, an associate professor at Cornell University School of Medicine, who lives in Fukuoka.

Lyman studies athletic injuries of the joints. But his real passion is making shochu.

TRYING THEM ALL

The first encounter made Lyman feel good enough to want to try “awamori,” or Okinawan liquor made from rice and black rice malt mold and “imo-jochu,” a spirit distilled from satsumaimo, Japanese sweet potatoes.

At first, Lyman couldn’t finish these specialty drinks because of their strong odor. But he gradually acquired a taste for shochu and started going bar-hopping in New York in search of the tipple.

Since he could not find an English website about shochu, Lyman created a website called “Kampai US” with his friend to provide information about the spirit. Using charts and graphics, Lyman introduced various types of shochu and described the sweetness and smoothness of each.

After spending seven years learning how to make shochu at Yamatozakura Shuzo distilling company in Ichikikushikino, Kagoshima Prefecture, Lyman has made original shochu using a traditional method.

Now, the New Yorker is looking forward to the day when his shochu hits the market in Japan and the United States.

DAYS OF RICE AND POTATOES

Lyman's second fateful encounter came in 2012 when he was visiting the Kyushu region and Okinawa Prefecture to tour sake breweries and distilleries and learn the production process of shochu.

Yamatozakura Shuzo was one of the destinations on his list.

Lyman was particularly impressed by the fact that the company is family run and the staff check the condition of the malted rice every day during the brewing season without taking a day off.

The following year, Lyman contacted the company’s master brewer, Tekkan Wakamatsu, 43, and asked for an internship.

“Not until you master the Japanese language,” Wakamatsu told the American in turning down the request.

But Lyman couldn’t wait.

A few months later, he visited Yamatozakura Shuzo again and this time was accepted.

Every year, when brewing season begins, Lyman would visit the city, which faces the East China Sea in western Kagoshima Prefecture. The annual pilgrimage continued until he started teaching at a university in Japan in 2018.

For Lyman, the more he learned about shochu production, the more questions he had.

Why do they wash rice by hand and not by a machine, he asked Wakamatsu one day.

“If you cut corners on washing the rice, you cut corners on washing the potatoes as well,” the master replied. “Then, you will cut corners more and on other things at some stage.”

The teaching made Lyman realize that he should not slack off in any stage of the shochu-making process, he recalled.

When the final day of his first internship arrived, Wakamatsu suggested that Lyman make his own shochu.

But Wakamatsu never broached the subject when Lyman returned to the company for another internship the following year.

Lyman thought the master was testing him.

When he completed his third internship in 2015, Wakamatsu promoted him, saying, “You are no longer an intern. From now on, you are an assistant.”

Then he let Lyman make his own shochu starting from the following year.

MELLOW AND SMOOTH

Lyman became the first foreigner to take up the challenge to make original shochu at the company, which has been in the business since the Edo Period (1603-1867).

Wakamatsu praised Lyman: “There’s an old saying that goes, ‘God is in the details.’ And (Lyman) does clean up the right way. He also thinks about the meaning of each task. So I knew he was cut out for making (shochu).”

Making shochu is hard physical labor. The operation of rinsing and steaming rice to make malted rice, and washing and steaming potatoes, runs from early morning until midnight.

It has been seven years since Lyman became involved in shochu making, and he has mastered all the steps in the process.

He sleeps in an office adjacent to the brewery. He is often seen slicing potatoes in silence.

Manual labor doesn’t bother him because his teaching and research jobs at universities are nothing but “brain work,” Lyman said. Working in the distillery relaxes him and gives him clarity of mind.

For his original shochu, Lyman did not choose white malted rice, which is generally used in the liquor. Instead, he selected black malted rice, a traditional ingredient used in awamori.

What Lyman had in mind as customers of his shochu were New Yorkers who are health and environmentally conscious and fond of organic foods. Lyman decided to use organically grown satsumaimo and rice.

He used a distillation still and a vessel called “kame,” to let the spirit mature.

He set the alcohol content at 24 proof--one proof lower than typical shochu made in Kagoshima Prefecture.

Because 24 was the jersey number of Lyman’s favorite major league baseball player, Dwight Evans. Evans was a popular Gold Glove right fielder and slugger who played for the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles from 1972 to 1991.

Lyman’s shochu is aged for about three years. Wakamatsu last year tasted the spirit and praised it, saying, “I sensed mellowness and smoothness in the taste and liked it.”

HONORING THE SAMURAI ‘WINE KING’

Lyman sees a bit of himself in feudal samurai Kanae Nagasawa (1852-1934), who became a wine-making pioneer in California.

Nagasawa was a member of the Satsuma (today’s Kagoshima) clan during the end of the Edo Period. He went to the United States and studied wine making at Cornell University, where Lyman works at.

Nagasawa later became a successful winemaker in Northern California, earning him the nickname “Wine King.”

The Japanese immigrant has been a role model for Lyman who himself is a pioneer in making shochu in a foreign land.

It was therefore natural for him to decide to name his original shochu “Kanae.”

But he was recently forced to alter the brand name after learning it had already been trademarked by a sake brewing company.

Ｗakamatsu is thinking that “Yamatozakura Kanae” or "Yamatozakura Lyman” would be suitable alternatives.

Since Lyman joined Yamatozakura, increasing numbers of foreign visitors have flocked to the company each year.

“We have hardly done any advertising. Yet, people come here through word of mouth from overseas,” Wakamatsu said.

The chief brewer likened Lyman’s presence to the arrival of the so-called “black ships” of Commodore Perry in the late Edo Period, which eventually forced Japan to end its long seclusion policy.

“Stephen (Lyman) came like those black ships, and he made us rediscover the goodness of shochu,” Wakamatsu said.

SMALL CORNER, BIG DREAMS

Lyman dreams of the day when all bars throughout the United States serve shochu.

“Shochu has a good aroma and the alcohol content is low. I’m sure Americans will love it, too,” he said.

Lyman made a joint investment with acquaintances to open a corner bar inside a liquor store in Fukuoka’s Chuo Ward where customers can buy and drink sake. He named the bar, “Yokaban NY.”

Lyman is planning to make his original shochu available there.