Kome Shochu Eenamo

Ribbons or muddled slices. Cucumber is what turns a serious glass into something you drink outside without thinking about it.

• Melon and cucumber sit in the same aroma family as a ginjo-scented rice spirit.
• Cucumber on a clean bottle is the most refreshing thing on this list
• Cucumber and rice is the flavor of a Japanese summer lunch

Sweeter and rounder than brewing your own matcha, and it dissolves properly, which matcha powder in a cold drink does not.

• Rice and green tea is an ordinary Japanese meal, not a novelty
• A clean bottle lets the tea bitterness read as bitterness rather than mud
• Sweeter and rounder than brewing your own matcha, and it dissolves properly, which matcha powder in a cold drink does not.

Midori, or a drier Japanese one if you can find it. Half an ounce is plenty; this is a flavour, not a base.

• Ginjo-scented rice shochu and melon are the same aroma family
• Sweet enough to need a clean base under it
• Midori, or a drier Japanese one if you can find it. Half an ounce is plenty; this is a flavour, not a base.

Usually red shiso, so it comes out pink. Sharper and more herbal than it looks, and a little goes a long way.

• The herb needs a quiet base or it just tastes like the herb
• Shiso and rice is an onigiri flavour
• Usually red shiso, so it comes out pink. Sharper and more herbal than it looks, and a little goes a long way.

Fresh juice, strained. Add a pinch of salt.

• Watermelon and a clean bottle is a summer festival
• Rice shochu and watermelon juice is a Kumamoto summer
• Fresh juice, strained. Add a pinch of salt.

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

• Grain and roast are the same flavour arrived at twice, once by the still and once by the pan.
• Cold brew, unsweetened. For barley, brown-sugar, cask-aged and awamori bottles; it will bury a daiginjo.

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

• Grain and roast are the same flavour arrived at twice, once by the still and once by the pan.
• Cold-brewed or hot. Roasted green tea, low in bitterness, high in toast. The oyuwari of teas.

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.

• Grain and roast are the same flavour arrived at twice, once by the still and once by the pan.
• 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. Floral without sugar. The jasmine highball is a real menu item in Japan.

• Perfumed tea on a clean bottle
• Cold-brewed. Floral without sugar. The jasmine highball is a real menu item in Japan.

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

• Milder than sudachi, so it does not fight a delicate bottle
• Oita's citrus, softer than sudachi. Bartenders in Oita mix it with the local barley shochu and soda.

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

• Rice and matcha agree, which is why the pairing turns up on menus at all
• 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.

• Mikan juice over rice sweetness is gentle and familiar
• Sweet, low-acid Japanese mandarin. Juice it or drop segments in a glass. It needs a squeeze of something sharper alongside.

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.

• Sharper and more bitter than a lime, which is what keeps it from disappearing into a light bottle
• 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.

Mikawa Mirin from Sumiya Bunjiro Shoten, made from glutinous rice, koji and shochu since 1911 with no added sugar. Not the sweetened seasoning sold as mirin-fu chomiryo, which is a different product.

• The bottle already smells of rice, and this puts more of it in the glass.
• Mikawa Mirin from Sumiya Bunjiro Shoten, made from glutinous rice, koji and shochu since 1911 with no added sugar. Not the sweetened seasoning sold as mirin-fu chomiryo, which is a different product.

A bar spoon, not an ounce. It is very sweet, and its job here is the almond smell rather than the sugar.

• Grain and roast are the same flavour arrived at twice, once by the still and once by the pan.
• A bar spoon, not an ounce. It is very sweet, and its job here is the almond smell rather than the sugar.

Lustau or González Byass. Fino is salt and living flor; this is what is left after the flor dies, and at 18 percent an ounce lengthens the glass rather than strengthening it.

• Grain and roast are the same flavour arrived at twice, once by the still and once by the pan.
• Lustau or González Byass. Fino is salt and living flor; this is what is left after the flor dies, and at 18 percent an ounce lengthens the glass rather than strengthening it.

Mr Black or a good Japanese one. Awamori and shochu makers bottle their own, so this is not a foreign idea imposed on the spirit.

• Grain and roast are the same flavour arrived at twice, once by the still and once by the pan.
• Mr Black or a good Japanese one. Awamori and shochu makers bottle their own, so this is not a foreign idea imposed on the spirit.

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.

• Grain and roast are the same flavour arrived at twice, once by the still and once by the pan.
• 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.

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

• Grain and roast are the same flavour arrived at twice, once by the still and once by the pan.
• Bols Genever, around thirty-five dollars. The split base for a grain shochu, in a way plain gin is not.

Zuiyo's Kuririn, from Japanese chestnuts at 11 percent, or Dover's wa-shu kuri, which is on a rum base. A dessert direction, and not the same thing as kuri shochu, which is a base spirit.

• Grain and roast are the same flavour arrived at twice, once by the still and once by the pan.
• Zuiyo's Kuririn, from Japanese chestnuts at 11 percent, or Dover's wa-shu kuri, which is on a rum base. A dessert direction, and not the same thing as kuri shochu, which is a base spirit.

Blandy's or Barbeito, ten year. It is the one fortified wine that brings real acid, so it can do the lemon's job on a bottle where fresh citrus reads harsh.

• Grain and roast are the same flavour arrived at twice, once by the still and once by the pan.
• Blandy's or Barbeito, ten year. It is the one fortified wine that brings real acid, so it can do the lemon's job on a bottle where fresh citrus reads harsh.

Luxardo. Dry rather than sweet despite the name, and a bar spoon changes a stirred drink completely.

• Grain and roast are the same flavour arrived at twice, once by the still and once by the pan.
• Luxardo. Dry rather than sweet despite the name, and a bar spoon changes a stirred drink completely.

Buy the drinking grade from a shop with a liquor licence, not the salted cooking bottle, which will wreck the drink. A bar spoon is enough.

• Grain and roast are the same flavour arrived at twice, once by the still and once by the pan.
• Buy the drinking grade from a shop with a liquor licence, not the salted cooking bottle, which will wreck the drink. A bar spoon is enough.

Food-grade citric and malic powder from the canning aisle, 10 grams whisked into 100 grams of cold water; two parts citric to one malic is close to lime. Some bartenders find a drink with no juice in it thin, so it is worth trying both ways.

• A clean bottle has nowhere to hide, so acid reads as brightness rather than as a correction
• Food-grade citric and malic powder from the canning aisle, 10 grams whisked into 100 grams of cold water; two parts citric to one malic is close to lime. Some bartenders find a drink with no juice in it thin, so it is worth trying both 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.

• Rice shochu distilled with ginjo yeast carries apple and melon esters already, so orchard fruit is amplification.
• Apple juice and a crisp bottle stay refreshing

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

• A kir at half the proof: rice shochu and a spoon of cassis
• A bar spoon. Cassis-oolong is one of the most common izakaya orders in Japan.

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

• Celery on a clean bottle reads as a savory highball
• Juiced, or a stalk as the stirrer. Savory, salty and cold.

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

• Shochu, elderflower liqueur, lemon: a sour that tastes like spring
• St-Germain or similar. A half ounce is enough.

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

• The cleanest of the shochu bases, so a flower actually reads instead of being swallowed.
• Its acid is what rice bottles need

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

• The classic spring garnish for rice dishes; it belongs on rice wine too
• A single leaf on a clean bottle changes the whole glass

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

• Rice shochu and lemon soda
• Sweet citrus bubbles on a clean bottle

Kwai Feh or Dita. Perfumed and quite sweet, so treat it as the aroma and let the shochu stay the drink.

• A clean bottle is the right blank page for something this perfumed
• Kwai Feh or Dita. Perfumed and quite sweet, so treat it as the aroma and let the shochu stay the drink.

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

• Dirty, on a rice base: the sweetness and the brine argue in a good way
• A clean bottle can take a splash of brine

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

• Gari sits next to sushi rice; it sits next to a rice spirit for the same reason
• Sweet-sour ginger on a clean bottle

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

• Rice shochu lengthened with a junmai: the same grain, fermented and distilled, in one glass
• 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.

• The cleanest of the shochu bases, so a flower actually reads instead of being swallowed.
• Salt-pickled blossoms in a rice drink is a Japanese spring

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

• Shiso and rice is an onigiri flavour, and rice shochu is rice
• Shiso on a clean bottle is the most Japanese drink you can build

Cold, and fizzy enough to matter. One part shochu to three or four parts soda; if it tastes thin, go one to two next time.

• Bubbles on a clean bottle: the simplest refreshing drink on this list
• Shochu and soda over ice is the most ordinary drink in Japan

Good tomato juice, or a ripe tomato muddled and strained. The savour koji leaves behind and the savour in a tomato are the same glutamate.

• Tomato juice and a savory junmai is a Japanese bloody mary
• Good tomato juice, or a ripe tomato muddled and strained. The savour koji leaves behind and the savour in a tomato are the same glutamate.

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

• Clean bottle and tonic is a gin and tonic without the juniper
• Shochu tonic: bitter, sweet, low proof, and better than it sounds

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

• Ume sour: the second most ordered shochu drink in Japan after lemon
• Umeboshi (salt-pickled), ume syrup, or the fruit's own liqueur. Sour, salty and savory at once.

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

• Umeshu is usually built on shochu in the first place, so adding it back is coherent
• Sweet, sour, almondy. A splash does the work of both syrup and citrus.

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

• Wasabi and rice is sushi
• A tiny amount on a clean bottle reads as a green, savory heat

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

• 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.

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

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.

• 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.

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.

• 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.

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.

• Rice sweetness comes forward in warmth rather than being washed out by it, which is why the hot serve is the traditional one in Kuma, where rice shochu has been distilled for around five hundred years. source

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

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

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

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

Okinawan or Amami kokuto dissolved one to one in water. Molasses, minerals, a little salt.

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

Campari, Aperol, or a Japanese bitter like Kina. Shochu is low enough in proof to make an aperitivo you can actually have two of.

• A negroni built on shochu is a real drink on real menus
• A light rice spirit can be bullied by amaro. Keep the bitter under a quarter ounce or pick a heavier bottle.

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

• A clean bottle and gentian is a white negroni
• Suze or Salers. Bitter root, bright yellow. A little in a highball changes everything.

Jack Rudy's Extra Bitter, made with real cinchona bark, or Small Hand Foods'. Half a teaspoon and soda, set to the bottle in front of you rather than to a tonic maker's idea of a spirit.

• It is the only way to make a bitter highball that is genuinely dry
• Jack Rudy's Extra Bitter, made with real cinchona bark, or Small Hand Foods'. Half a teaspoon and soda, set to the bottle in front of you rather than to a tonic maker's idea of a spirit.