The beauty of Kimi Kurasu Machi carrot shochu is that it combines three Japanese crazes — that of regional delicacies, alcohol, and limited edition products — and wraps them all in a label illustrated with nostalgic cars.
See, the city of Kiyose is known for its carrots. And yet, if any of these taproots are less than picture perfect, no Tokyo supermarket will even attempt to sell them. The answer then, is to distill them into a robust shochu. Obviously, this would have to be limited edition.
2007 appears to have been the inagural year for this novel brew and a Daihatsu Midget graced the label then. A supply of 3000 bottles sold out in 20 days, apparently.
Last year’s label included both a Subaru Sambar and Isuzu 117 Coupe, which caught the attention of JNCer JT191 and prompted him to dig up more information than you could ever want about a carrot-based libation. Various products, including carrot jam, carried different versions of the original label.
This year’s label features a Subaru 360. Kimi Kurasu Machi translates to “the town where my dear lives.” Some English information can be found here. Kampai!
This is cool. Thanks for posting it. I lost track of the thread it was in, and probably never would have seen it otherwise.
So what happens when a Toyota Label comes out? 🙂
The 2007 bottle is a Daihatsu three wheeler? OK, your eyes are better than mine. The silhouette looks very pickup truck.
I think they stumbled on something with the 2007 bottle, and though I can’t tell from the small pictures found, that one might be a picture of the carrot harvest with one of the farm vehicles in the background. Daihatsu fans probably deluged them with orders, and they decided to expand on the automotive theme.
If they do a Toyota, and they have limited production capacity, they might manage to get that product up into the $100 per bottle range.
They got a real winner with their marketing. A popular automotive illustrator makes the label, they go with an automotive theme, they also go heavy on the nostalgic theme, and they produce limited quantities.
I don’t suppose I can buy this at my local Uwajimaya grocery store in Seattle, can I?
If you can, let us know how it tastes 😛
Ladies and Gentlemen, anouncing the new spokesperson for Japanese Nostalgic Car, Kimi Karasu Machi, and Alcoholics Anonymous…………………..Bugs Bunny!