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Fast Start for New Premium Shochu Haamonii Smooth Launch

In the ever-expanding beverage field where consumers seek the next new item, a 400-year-old 22% alcohol spirit -- shochu -- is leaving its ethnic base and becoming the next hot trend. And, the newest premium entry -- Haamonii Smooth (www.haamoniismooth.com) -- is Bay Area/San Jose produced and marketed in a very new way.

Shochu (www.haamoniismooth.com) began in Korea (called soju), moved to Japan and has become the beverage of choice (in 2003 overtaking sake) in homes, bars and restaurants. It is distilled like vodka from potatoes or grains, and Haamonii president James Key Lim believes that the market would respond to a premium shochu distilled from high quality wheat and barley. Working with the mixologist at Frank-Lin in San Jose (the producer and California distributor), he developed a product with a smooth, balanced mouth-feel; with harmony, which is haamonii in Japanese.

We moved the flavor profile from strong flavors and an alcohol bite to the sense of a quiet moment when you taste ours and say, 'swow,'s Lim explains. It'ss like moving from the high-fruit-and-alcohol impact of a California cabernet to the elegant Bordeaux grand crus.

Born in Sacramento, Lim grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from UCLA with a B.A. in Social Studies. He became an IT consultant specializing in viral marketing with companies like Ask Jeeves, Cisco and Zappos. Using the power of the internet to bring people together is what YouTube and Linked-In are all about; shochu is the beverage of hospitality: the custom is to pour your guest'ss glass before your own. Haamonii Smooth is a good example of combining a product with the harmonious moments we find with friends and family; now we'sll use social networks to share this brand experience.

Haamonii Smooth (www.haamoniismooth.com) and Haamonii Smooth Lemon (www.haamoniismooth.com) have won medals in competitions and the San Francisco Chronicle staff tasters picked them as favorites in a recent review. Recognizing the trend, two national companies are now distributing less expensive brands, but Lim believes the growth of interest in Japanese cuisine -- the new izakaya pub restaurants, for example -- and the current social climate of sharing with friends at home rather than dining out at expensive restaurants will make this a harmonious product launch.

For more information or images visit www.haamoniismooth.com.

To interview James Key Lim, contact Patricia Schneider (415) 717-7595.

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