SEARA: The Story Behind Okinawa's First Craft Vodka
Stand on any beach in Okinawa and look straight out. Somewhere out there the sea stops and the sky begins, though it's hard to say exactly where. That line is where SEARA got its name. "Sea" in English, "sora" (sky) in Japanese, joined into one word for Okinawa's first craft vodka.
The name is only the start, though. The story behind the bottle goes back to a royal kitchen and a distillery that opened in 1883.
A royal kitchen, 1883
Shozoku Higa was master chef to the Ryukyu Kingdom, and his cooking earned him such a reputation at court that he was granted a licence to produce awamori, Okinawa's signature spirit. In 1883 his son, Shobun Higa, founded a distillery. He called it Masahiro Distillery.
For well over a century Masahiro has been making awamori the Okinawan way. Then it tried something nobody on the island had ever done, and made a craft vodka.
A distillery that never stopped tinkering
Masahiro is not Suntory. It's not Nikka. It's a local outfit on a southern island, and over the years it's earned a name for the way it makes things, for quality, and for a stubborn streak of wanting to try new stuff. Shozoku's love of food, so the story goes, never really left the building.
When they turned to vodka they didn't start over. They drew on the traditional awamori techniques used in Okinawa for more than 130 years and applied them to a different spirit. Old process, new bottle. That's about as honest a definition of craft vodka as you'll find.
What goes in, and what you taste
White rice and wheat.
The rice is the interesting part, because you can actually taste it. Put your nose in the glass, and there's a soft, sweet, mellow rice smell, with something fresh and fruity drifting over it. Then you sip, and you brace a little, because, well, vodka. Nothing much happens. No burn to speak of and nothing bitter. There's a bit of body to it too, closer to creamy than watery. The bit we like best comes right at the end: a soft sweetness that they put down to filtering it through birch.
Most vodka goes out of its way to taste of nothing. This doesn't. That gentle sweetness is what puts SEARA in its own corner, a little apart from other Japanese craft vodkas.
Discover more about SEARA Japanese Craft Vodka and its Okinawan origins.
More than a clever name
There's a detail in the Japanese version that's easy to miss. SEARA is written 氵空, which merges the characters for sea and sky into a single character. Even people in Japan won't have come across it before, which is kind of the point: a new character for something that hadn't existed until now.
The island in the bottle
If you've never been to Okinawa, picture it like this. Hot sun. A sea that's emerald and so clear you can see your feet. Forest that stays green all year. And people who are famous across Japan for their warmth and good cheer.
"Chill & Fun" is how the brand puts it. Two words, and they clearly took them seriously, right down to the label. Look at the bottle for a second and you'll spot the island in pieces. Sky blue. That turquoise the water turns in the shallows. A sunrise yellow, a sandy white, and a splash of red borrowed from the bougainvillea. They kept the glass clear like the sea. If you could bottle Okinawa, they reckon it'd look a lot like this.
They call the flavour "a southern taste that makes you feel Okinawa in the mouth." Bit of a strange sentence. We get it though.
Okinawa's distilling heritage also lives on in Kujira Okinawa Whisky, another expression of the island's distinctive spirit-making traditions.
The numbers
40% ABV, 700 ml, made in Okinawa by Masahiro Distillery. It's also priced below other Japanese craft vodkas. That was deliberate. It's meant for people who like knowing the story behind a bottle and still don't want to pay over the odds, and the brand pictures it at house parties more than anywhere else.
Pour it four ways
Every one of these goes over a chilled glass packed with ice. None needs a shaker.
SEARA Soda
Lime first. Squeeze a wedge over the ice, then chuck the squeezed bit in as well. 45 ml of SEARA goes on top, then soda till it's nearly full. One last stir and you're done. Simple, and it's the drink where you'll notice that rice sweetness most.
Yellow Fellow
Squeeze in a cut lemon and leave it in the glass. Then 30 ml of SEARA, 15 ml of white curaçao, and pineapple juice to fill. Stir well. Very tropical. Dangerously easy.
Screwdriver
45 ml of SEARA and orange juice. Stir.
Bloody Mary
A squeezed lemon in the glass, 45 ml of SEARA, then tomato juice, and stir it thoroughly. The tomato's sourness and the vodka's sweetness pull against each other in a way that works.
From a royal kitchen to your glass
It's a long way from the royal court of old Okinawa to a glass of ice at a house party. SEARA makes the trip surprisingly well. You get a distillery founded in 1883, awamori know-how passed down for more than 130 years, and a vodka that tastes softly of rice and of one very particular island. And it costs less than most Japanese craft vodkas.
Open one with friends. Enjoy your life, as the people who make it like to say.
SEARA craft vodka FAQ
Is SEARA really the first craft vodka from Okinawa?
Yes. It's the first craft vodka made there.
Who makes it?
Masahiro Distillery, an Okinawan distiller founded in 1883 by Shobun Higa. His father, Shozoku Higa, was master chef for the Ryukyu Kingdom and held a licence to produce awamori. It's a local producer, not one of the big names like Suntory or Nikka.
What's it made from?
White rice and wheat.
How is it made?
With traditional awamori techniques that have been used in Okinawa for more than 130 years, and it's filtered through birch.
Okay, but what does it actually taste like?
Softer than you'd guess. Rice on the nose, a little fruit, and a sweet-ish finish. Not bitter at all.
How strong is it?
40% ABV, in a 700 ml bottle.
Easiest thing to make with it?
Honestly? SEARA and soda. Ice, 45 ml, a squeeze of lime, fill it up with soda. Takes about thirty seconds.