Beniotome Sesame Shochu

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Almond syrup with a touch of orange blossom. The tiki sweetener, and kokuto shochu is a tiki spirit waiting to happen.

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

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

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.

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.

Muddled gently with citrus. Thai basil brings anise, Italian basil brings pepper.

Young sansho leaves, clapped between the palms and floated. Hard to find outside Japanese markets in spring, worth the hunt.

Bruised stalks steeped in the spirit, or a syrup. Citrus without acid, which is useful when you want aroma but not sourness.

Torn leaves steeped briefly. Perfumed citrus without juice.

Slapped, not muddled to bits. Mint reads as cold, which makes any low-proof drink feel more refreshing.

Green shiso leaves, slapped or muddled gently. Red shiso as a syrup. Japan already makes shiso shochu, which tells you it works.

The neutral sweetener. Use when you want to balance acid without adding a flavor.

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

Juiced, or a stalk as the stirrer. Savory, salty and cold.

Ribbons or muddled slices. Cucumber is what turns a glass of sake into something you would drink on a porch.

Dolin dry or Noilly Prat. A quarter of the sake's volume, stirred.

Fino or manzanilla. Savory, salty, bone dry.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

A bar spoon, no more. Salt, and the savory note that comes with it.

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

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

A rice-grain amount, dissolved. For the savory, cucumber glass, not the fruit one.

Fresh juice, strained. Add a pinch of salt.

Fronds, gently muddled. For the savory, saline glass.

Gentler than rosemary. Steep a sprig, or use a thyme syrup.