Hakkaisan Honkaku Kasutori Shochu "Yoroshiku Senman Arubeshi"

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Angostura or a Japanese aromatic. Two dashes.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fresh figs muddled, or fig jam. For the aged and the brown-sugar bottles only.

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.

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

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

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

Dark, in small amounts, for the cask and sweet-potato bottles.

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

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

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

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

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

Bolder than white peach, closer to apricot. For bottles with more weight.

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.

The non-alcoholic koji drink, sweet from rice starch alone. Blend with the spirit and ice; it is a shochu smoothie.

Campari, Aperol, or a Japanese bitter like Kina. The aperitivo hour is where sake and shochu make the most sense as cocktails.

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

Half-and-half or heavy cream, in the after-dinner glass only.

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

One white, dry-shaken. Texture without flavor.

A quarter ounce. Menthol and bitterness, for the darkest bottles.

Suze or Salers. Bitter root, bright yellow. A little in a highball changes everything.

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.

Cold whole milk. Shochu milk-wari is a real order in Kyushu, not a dare.

The dairy-free milk that tastes of cereal, which is why it likes grain spirits.

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

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