How an underrated Japanese spirit became a new cocktail staple in Hong Kong
Indian mixologist Devender Sehgal is dedicated to showcasing the flavours of shochu at Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong’s The Aubrey and elsewhere
On a recent afternoon, a curious picture of globalisation was emerging. Devender Sehgal, an Indian native, was clad in a kimono while vigorously shaking up shochu-based cocktails at The Aubrey in the Mandarin Oriental in Central. The occasion? A discreet ceremony recognising him as one of the world’s foremost advocates for the traditional Japanese spirit.
Just five years ago, nobody in their right mind would have pegged Sehgal, who was then the head mixologist at three-Michelin-starred Italian restaurant 8½ Otto e Mezzo Bombana, as a future Kagoshima shochu ambassador – the distinction that was granted to him by Koichi Shiota, the governor of Kagoshima prefecture, one of Japan’s centres of shochu production. But today, as the assistant general manager of The Aubrey, he has popularised shochu as a serious cocktail ingredient.
While widely consumed within Japan as a clear, cheap and flavourless spirit, shochu’s craft honkaku category has become the darling of globally minded cocktail bars in recent years, thanks to a single-distillation process that preserves the flavour of its base ingredients, ranging from barley and rice to sweet potato and black sugar. Valued at US$1 billion in 2023, the global shochu market is projected to reach US$1.6 billion by 2031.
At The Aubrey, Sehgal is celebrating his achievement with a seasonal menu titled “Kagoshima Shochu Journey”, which spotlights five shochus in four cocktails – including a black sugar shochu aged acoustically using the music of Mozart, Beethoven and Vivaldi.
Here he shares his journey of falling in love with the Japanese spirit.
The start of a passion
It was my trip to Japan in 2019 that opened up (the world of shochu). It was something I never thought I would do, because my life in Hong Kong has always been associated with Italian spirits. So all of a sudden changing my direction and finding my own passion and niche was a completely new discovery. It’s a whole new category that hasn’t really got the love it deserves. In Japan, it’s so popular, so why not outside it?
