noun
shōchū made from sake lees
A type of shōchū distilled from the lees left over from sake production. A traditional, legitimate product.
粕取りは、酒粕を蒸留して作られる焼酎の一種です。
Kasutori is a type of shōchū made by distilling sake lees.
noun
low-quality moonshine; hooch
Refers to cheap, often illicitly produced spirits, especially common in the post-WWII period. Carries a strong nuance of poor quality and rough taste.
戦後、質の悪い粕取りが出回り、多くの人が健康を害した。
After the war, low-quality moonshine circulated and harmed many people's health.
焼酎 is the general term for Japanese distilled spirits, while 粕取り specifically refers to shōchū made from sake lees or, in its extended sense, low-quality moonshine.
密造酒 means illegally produced alcohol in general. 粕取り in sense 2 is a specific type of such moonshine, often associated with the post-war era.
From 粕 (kasu, 'lees, dregs') + 取り (tori, 'taking, extracting'). Literally 'lees-taking', referring to the process of distilling alcohol from sake lees.