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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

St-Germain or similar. A half ounce is enough.

A dry junmai as the lengthener for rice shochu, one to two. Low proof, all rice.

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

Fresh juice, strained. Add a pinch of salt.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

Cold-pressed juice or thin slices. Green apple is the aroma many ginjo sake already carry, so this is amplification rather than addition.

Dolin blanc or Lillet. Sweeter and more floral than dry; for the aromatic bottles.

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

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

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

Ripe honeydew, juiced or in cubes. If a bottle says melon on the label, this is the proof.

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

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

Green muscat grapes, halved or juiced. Shine Muscat if you can find it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The bellini fruit. Nectar from a Japanese market, or a ripe peach muddled through a strainer.

Sweet yuzu liqueur, usually on a sake or shochu base. A shortcut to yuzu when the fruit is out of season.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fresh in season, dried the rest of the year. Apricot and umeshu share a family, which is why they get along.

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

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

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

Fresh in early summer; morello or amarena in syrup otherwise. Dark cherry for aged bottles, bright cherry for sparkling.

Diluted one to one with warm water so it mixes cold. A little goes far; taste before adding more.

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

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

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

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.

Cointreau or a dry curaçao. The sweet-and-citrus half of any sour.

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

A good one (Giffard, Merlet). A shortcut to the bellini when peaches are out of season.

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

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

The Korean-style yuzu preserve sold in jars. A spoon in hot water with shochu, or shaken cold.

Green tea with popped, toasted rice. Cold-brew it. Comfort in a glass.

A bar spoon. Cassis-oolong is one of the most common izakaya orders in Japan.

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

Fino or manzanilla. Savory, salty, bone dry.

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

Good tomato juice, or a ripe tomato muddled and strained. Sake's umami and tomato's are chemically the same thing.

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

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