iichiko Shinwa

Roasted buckwheat, in any Japanese grocery, hot or cold. In a soba restaurant the same serve is made with soba-yu, the starchy water the noodles were boiled in, which is thicker and cannot be bought.

• Roasted buckwheat and roasted barley are one idea arrived at from two grains
• The bottle carries the grain and the mixer carries it roasted, so it is one ingredient reaching the glass two ways.
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
• Roasted buckwheat, in any Japanese grocery, hot or cold. In a soba restaurant the same serve is made with soba-yu, the starchy water the noodles were boiled in, which is thicker and cannot be bought.

Cold-brewed, unsweetened. The floral top note sits above a dry spirit without adding weight to it.

• Jasmine is perfumed without being sweet, so it gives barley shochu an aromatic top without touching its dryness
• Perfumed tea on a clean bottle
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
• Cold-brewed, unsweetened. The floral top note sits above a dry spirit without adding weight to it.

Cold brew, unsweetened. For barley, brown-sugar, cask-aged and awamori bottles; it will bury a delicate, perfumed one.

• The bottle carries the grain and the mixer carries it roasted, so it is one ingredient reaching the glass two ways.
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
• Cold brew, unsweetened. For barley, brown-sugar, cask-aged and awamori bottles; it will bury a delicate, perfumed one.

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

• The bottle carries the grain and the mixer carries it roasted, so it is one ingredient reaching the glass two ways.
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
• Cold-brewed or hot. Roasted green tea, low in bitterness, high in toast. The oyuwari of teas.

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

• A creamy bottle is already doing what milk does in a matcha latte
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
• Whisked into a slurry first, never dumped in dry. Bitter, umami and creamy at once.

Cold-brewed sencha, unsweetened. Ocha-wari is one of the everyday ways shochu is drunk in Japan, alongside the oolong version.

• Oolong-hai and green tea highballs are izakaya staples, and barley is clean enough to let the tea lead.
• Bitter tea and a sweet bottle argue
• Green tea brings grassy bitterness and a little tannin, which gives a soft barley shochu an edge to push against
• Cold-brewed sencha on a clean bottle is quiet and grown-up

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

• Shiso on a clean bottle is the most Japanese drink you can build
• Shiso and barley shochu is an izakaya sour
• A clean barley spirit takes herbs the way vodka does, but with a cereal sweetness underneath that gives them something to sit on.

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

• Mizuwari shows a clean bottle as it is, just lighter
• Six parts shochu to four parts water, the classic
• Barley has less to open up than sweet potato, so water shows you exactly what is there. That is a fair test and not always a flattering one: a thin mugi has nowhere to hide in it.

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

• A clean bottle and gentian is a white negroni
• Barley shochu, gentian, tonic: a bitter highball
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

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

• The barley highball is one of the most common ways shochu gets drunk in Japan. Clean spirit, cold soda, nothing in the way.
• Barley shochu and ginger ale is an izakaya highball

Hoppy Beverage Co. has made it in Tokyo since 1948; at 0.8 percent it is legally a soft drink, and it is hard to find outside Japan. Chill the bottle, the shochu and the mug and no ice is needed.

• The barley highball is one of the most common ways shochu gets drunk in Japan. Clean spirit, cold soda, nothing in the way.
• It was built around neutral shochu, and that is still where it fits best

Juice and peel are two different tools. Fresh juice, never bottled, is the whole basis of the lemon sour and the quickest way to put acid into a distilled base. The peel expressed over the top gives the oil and no acid at all, which is what a sweet or roasted bottle usually wants instead.

• The lemon sour is an izakaya staple. Bars usually build it on a neutral shochu, and a clean mugi does the same job with a little more grain behind it.
• The lemon sour is the drink most izakaya sell more of than anything else on the list

Dry cava or crémant. Acid and bubbles in one pour.

• The barley highball is one of the most common ways shochu gets drunk in Japan. Clean spirit, cold soda, nothing in the way.
• An apple-scented rice shochu and champagne-style acid are one orchard

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

• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
• Cold-brewed Earl Grey brings bergamot; plain black tea brings tannin. For the aged and brown-sugar bottles.

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

• Sweet-sour ginger on a clean bottle
• Barley shochu and gari brine is a bartender's shortcut to a ginger sour
• A spoon of the brine, and a slice as garnish. Sweet, sour and hot at once.

A Miyazaki citrus eaten with the white pith left on, which is sweet rather than bitter. Gentler and more floral than lemon, so it flavours a drink without taking it over.

• A clean mugi does under citrus what a neutral shochu does, with a little more grain left behind it.
• Mild enough that a light bottle is still the thing you taste
• Harder to find outside Japan than most of this list. Worth ordering or a trip to a Japanese grocery, and where something easier works as well, that comes first.

Okinawa's own citrus, picked green and sharp, more bitter than lime and more floral than sudachi. Squeezed over awamori and soda it is what the islands actually drink.

• A clean mugi does under citrus what a neutral shochu does, with a little more grain left behind it.
• Sharper and more bitter than a lime, which is what keeps it from disappearing into a light bottle
• Harder to find outside Japan than most of this list. Worth ordering or a trip to a Japanese grocery, and where something easier works as well, that comes first.

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 clean mugi does under citrus what a neutral shochu does, with a little more grain left behind it.
• A clean bottle gives yuzu a blank page
• Harder to find outside Japan than most of this list. Worth ordering or a trip to a Japanese grocery, and where something easier works as well, that comes first.

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

• Pineapple and coconut is a pina colada, and the bottle is already the pineapple half
• The bottle carries the grain and the mixer carries it roasted, so it is one ingredient reaching the glass two ways.

John D. Taylor's Velvet Falernum, about twenty dollars. At 11 percent it behaves like a syrup, so it sweetens and thickens without raising the drink.

• Clove and pineapple is the tiki instinct, and one of the two is already in the bottle
• The bottle carries the grain and the mixer carries it roasted, so it is one ingredient reaching the glass two ways.

Bols Genever, around thirty-five dollars. The split base for a grain shochu, in a way plain gin is not.

• Malt wine and barley shochu are the same grain distilled two different ways
• The bottle carries the grain and the mixer carries it roasted, so it is one ingredient reaching the glass two ways.

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

• Orgeat and pineapple is tiki
• The bottle carries the grain and the mixer carries it roasted, so it is one ingredient reaching the glass two ways.

Cold-pressed juice or thin slices. Green apple is already in the aroma of a lot of rice shochu, so this amplifies what is there rather than adding something new.

• The bottle is already described as apple, and the fruit repeats it
• Barley's light sweetness reads as orchard fruit already, so apple and pear extend the bottle rather than decorate it.

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

• Basil on a clean bottle reads like a gin smash
• A clean barley spirit takes herbs the way vodka does, but with a cereal sweetness underneath that gives them something to sit on.

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

• Mint on a clean bottle is a mojito with the rum swapped out
• A clean barley spirit takes herbs the way vodka does, but with a cereal sweetness underneath that gives them something to sit on.

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

• Barley shochu and thyme is an unexpected, clean match
• A clean barley spirit takes herbs the way vodka does, but with a cereal sweetness underneath that gives them something to sit on.

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

• Barley shochu with an umeboshi dropped in is a real izakaya order
• Umeboshi (salt-pickled), ume syrup, or the fruit's own liqueur. Sour, salty and savory at once.

Fresh juice, strained. Add a pinch of salt.

• Watermelon and a clean bottle is a summer festival
• A clean barley highball takes a garden note without losing its own grain under it.

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

• A richer peach for a richer bottle
• Bolder than white peach, closer to apricot. For bottles with more weight.

Campari, Aperol, or a Japanese bitter like Kina. Bitter and sweet at once, and it wants a base with something of its own to answer back.

• Shochu and Campari with soda is an Americano with a Kyushu accent
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

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

• A clean mugi does under citrus what a neutral shochu does, with a little more grain left behind it.

A spicy one, not a sweet one. The mule format works for every dark shochu, and it is the most forgiving way to serve one.

• The barley highball is one of the most common ways shochu gets drunk in Japan. Clean spirit, cold soda, nothing in the way.

A plain or ginger kombucha. Acid, bubbles and a little funk, all three in one pour.

• The barley highball is one of the most common ways shochu gets drunk in Japan. Clean spirit, cold soda, nothing in the way.

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

• A clean mugi does under citrus what a neutral shochu does, with a little more grain left behind it.

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

• A clean mugi does under citrus what a neutral shochu does, with a little more grain left behind it.

Fresh juice when you want it long and easy; the peel when the bottle is aged and the drink is stirred.

• A clean mugi does under citrus what a neutral shochu does, with a little more grain left behind it.

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

• A single leaf on a clean bottle changes the whole glass
• A clean barley spirit takes herbs the way vodka does, but with a cereal sweetness underneath that gives them something to sit on.
• Harder to find outside Japan than most of this list. Worth ordering or a trip to a Japanese grocery, and where something easier works as well, that comes first.

Torn leaves steeped briefly. Perfumed citrus without juice.

• Intense citrus perfume on a clean bottle
• A clean barley spirit takes herbs the way vodka does, but with a cereal sweetness underneath that gives them something to sit on.
• Harder to find outside Japan than most of this list. Worth ordering or a trip to a Japanese grocery, and where something easier works as well, that comes first.

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

• Celery fights sweetness
• Celery on a clean bottle reads as a savory highball
• Barley shochu and celery is an unlikely, real pair
• A clean barley highball takes a garden note without losing its own grain under it.

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

• The bottle already smells of pineapple, and this puts more of it in the glass.

Unsweetened, four parts shochu to six parts soy milk, which is how the Japanese recipes write it. Stronger than it tastes, so pour it knowing that.

• The bottle carries the grain and the mixer carries it roasted, so it is one ingredient reaching the glass two ways.
• Unsweetened, four parts shochu to six parts soy milk, which is how the Japanese recipes write it. Stronger than it tastes, so pour it knowing that.

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

• The bottle carries the grain and the mixer carries it roasted, so it is one ingredient reaching the glass two ways.
• A sesame syrup, or a rim of ground sesame and salt. Toasty and rich.

The concentrate, diluted with soda. Yogurt-sweet and sour. The Calpis sour is a familiar order in Japan.

• Calpis is lactic rather than merely sweet, so it rounds a spirit off without flattening it the way syrup does
• The concentrate, diluted with soda. Yogurt-sweet and sour. The Calpis sour is a familiar order in Japan.

One white, dry-shaken. Texture without flavor.

• Barley shochu sour, dry shake, egg white: a real bar drink
• One white, dry-shaken. Texture without flavor.

Cold whole milk. Fat rounds a spirit off the way it does in coffee, and it is not a dare.

• Milk and barley shochu is a Kyushu grandmother's drink
• Cold whole milk. Fat rounds a spirit off the way it does in coffee, and it is not a dare.

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

• Oat and barley: two cereals in one glass
• The dairy-free milk that tastes of cereal, which is why it likes grain spirits.

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

• One umeboshi in a glass of barley shochu and hot water is the oldest shochu drink there is
• Dashi-wari and an umeboshi in hot barley shochu are real izakaya orders, but they belong to a winter counter rather than a summer glass.

Bitter orange: sour and aromatic rather than sweet, the citrus that goes into ponzu. Bottled juice is sold for cooking and works straight in a glass. Use the peel too, it carries most of the smell.

• A clean mugi does under citrus what a neutral shochu does, with a little more grain left behind it.
• Harder to find outside Japan than most of this list. Worth ordering or a trip to a Japanese grocery, and where something easier works as well, that comes first.

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

• A clean mugi does under citrus what a neutral shochu does, with a little more grain left behind it.
• Harder to find outside Japan than most of this list. Worth ordering or a trip to a Japanese grocery, and where something easier works as well, that comes first.