Aka Kirishima Shochu

The Japanese citrus that tastes like grapefruit, mandarin and lemon at once, with a floral peel. A little zest or juice goes a long way.

A spicy one, not a sweet one. The mule format works for every dark shochu and most sake.

The shortcut to a sour when there is no fresh lemon. Less sweet is better.

The most useful tropical fruit for mixing: intensely aromatic and properly sour. Pulp with seeds, or a good puree.

Cold, and fizzy enough to matter. One part spirit to three or four parts soda for shochu; one to one for sake.

A dry tonic (Fever-Tree, Q). One part spirit, three parts tonic, a citrus wedge.

Orange with a raspberry edge. Winter fruit; worth waiting for.

Oita's citrus, softer than sudachi. Bartenders in Oita mix it with the local barley shochu and soda.

Fresh juice, never bottled. The building block of the lemon sour, and the fastest way to give sake the acidity it does not have on its own.

Sharper and greener than lemon. The citrus for anything built on brown sugar or tropical fruit.

A small green citrus from Tokushima, sharper and more herbal than lime. Sold frozen or as juice in Japanese markets.

Bitter, bright and forgiving. Ruby or white both work; white is drier. The grapefruit sour is a real bar order in Japan, not a novelty.

The gentle ginger. For bottles that a ginger beer would bully.

Muddled with the seeds. Green, sour and refreshing, and cheap year round.

A plain or ginger kombucha. It brings acid, bubbles and funk, all things sake is short of.

Fresh juice, or grilled wedges for a smokier drink. The awamori fruit.

Dry cava or crémant. Topping sake with it adds the acid and the bubbles sake lacks in one pour.

Umeboshi (salt-pickled), ume syrup, or the fruit's own liqueur. Sour, salty and savory at once.

Hot water in the glass first, spirit poured on top so it mixes itself. Around 40C in the glass is the sweet spot. This is not the only way, it is one way.

Unsweetened, cold. One part shochu to three or four parts tea, over ice. It is the drink half of Japan orders with dinner.

Soft water, cold, over ice or not. One to one is normal. Mix a day ahead (maewari) and the edges round off.

Cold-brewed hibiscus tea: sour, cranberry-red and floral. Acid and color in one pour.

A few grinds over the top. Aroma more than heat.

A stick in hot water with the spirit, or a light syrup. Winter.

Unsweetened juice. Sharp and a little tannic, useful for cutting sweetness.

Fresh juice, a syrup, or a good ginger beer. The spice that makes a low-proof drink feel like it has a backbone.

Sour enough to be useful. Muddle a handful, or use a good puree.

A pinch in the glass or a half rim. Salt does not make a drink salty in small amounts; it makes it taste more like itself.

One salted plum, crushed with a spoon in the glass. Salty, sour, savory.

Cold-brewed Earl Grey brings bergamot; plain black tea brings tannin. For the aged and brown-sugar bottles.

Cold-brewed. Floral without sugar. The jasmine highball is a real menu item in Japan.

Eaten whole, peel and all. Muddle a few in a glass; the peel gives bitterness, the flesh gives tartness.

Whisked into a slurry first, never dumped in dry. Bitter, umami and creamy at once.

Sweet, low-acid Japanese mandarin. Juice it or drop segments in a glass. It needs a squeeze of something sharper alongside.

Cold-brewed chamomile as a lengthener, or steeped in the spirit.

A syrup or a few dried blossoms steeped. See jasmine tea for the long drink.

Dried osmanthus flowers steeped, or the syrup. Apricot and honey, and the smell of October in Japan.

A drop of rose water, or a rose syrup. A drop; it takes over.

Cold-brewed sencha, unsweetened. The green tea highball is one of the most common ways shochu is actually drunk in Japan.

Muddled, or as a syrup. Mild; bring acid from elsewhere.

A few crushed pods, or a syrup. Floral, citrusy and warm at once; it bridges fruit and spice.

Coconut water for lengthening, coconut milk or cream for weight.

A small piece steeped in the bottle overnight. Savory depth without salt.

Fresh in early summer, canned in syrup the rest of the year (drain it). The signature aroma of a whole school of imo shochu.

Ripe pear, muddled or as nectar. Delicate, so it belongs with delicate bottles.

A spoon of the brine, and a slice as garnish. Sweet, sour and hot at once.

A pinch of ground sansho over the top, or a few peppercorns steeped. Numbing, citrusy, green.

A dried shiitake steeped in the spirit for a day. Savory and strange in the best way.

One star, steeped, for the dark bottles.

A sesame syrup, or a rim of ground sesame and salt. Toasty and rich.

A rim of shichimi, or a slice of fresh chili. Heat on fruit, not on rice.

Sweet, sour, almondy. A splash does the work of both syrup and citrus.

Cold-brewed or hot. Roasted green tea, low in bitterness, high in toast. The oyuwari of teas.

Cold, unsweetened barley tea. Every Japanese fridge has a pitcher in summer. Mix one to three over ice.

Montenegro, Nonino, Averna. Equal parts with a dark shochu over ice is a whole drink.

Angostura or a Japanese aromatic. Two dashes.

Fresh orange juice for a sparkling sake mimosa; the peel for stirred drinks with aged bottles.

Cordial or the liqueur. Muscat, lychee and honey in one flower.

Salt-pickled blossoms (rinsed) or sakura syrup. Floral, faintly almond, a touch of salt.