Skip to content
← Shochumixer

Kougin no Sasayaki Ginjo Barley Shochu

Bungyo Meijyo · Oita · Mugi (barley)

  • white koji
  • honkaku
  • vacuum distilled

Pour this first

Sobacha (roasted buckwheat tea), tall over ice. Coffee (cold brew) with it.

Oolong-hai and green tea highballs are on every izakaya menu, and barley is clean enough to let the tea lead.

One part shochu to three or four parts mixer, over plenty of ice. If it tastes thin, go two to three next time.

What it tastes like

Mugi shochu from Bungyo Meijyo in Oita. Importer's tasting notes: vanilla, chocolate, nutty, earthy. Nobody here has tasted this one, so the profile below is estimated from what its importer publishes rather than from the glass.

  • barley
  • vanilla
  • chocolate
  • nutty
  • earthy
  • savory
  • spice
  • long finish
  • koji
Sweet
Body
Aroma
Fruit
Floral
Grain
Earth
Umami
Base
100% barley milled to 50%, with barley koji
Koji
white koji (barley)
Distillation
vacuum distillation
ABV
28%

What to mix with it

Tap a family to narrow it down. Every suggestion carries its reasoning, so if the reasoning does not convince you, ignore the suggestion.

Explore all 95 pairings

  • Sobacha (roasted buckwheat tea)

    Strong match

    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.

    • Oolong-hai and green tea highballs are on every izakaya menu, and barley is clean enough to let the tea lead.
    • Grain and roast are the same flavour arrived at twice, once by the still and once by the pan.
    • Roasted buckwheat and roasted barley are one idea arrived at from two grains
    • Toasty and faintly sweet, with no tannin to fight

  • Coffee (cold brew)

    Strong match

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

    • Oolong-hai and green tea highballs are on every izakaya menu, and barley is clean enough to let the tea lead.
    • Grain and roast are the same flavour arrived at twice, once by the still and once by the pan.
    • Coffee and chocolate

  • Genmaicha

    Strong match

    Green tea with popped, toasted rice. Cold-brew it.

    • Oolong-hai and green tea highballs are on every izakaya menu, and barley is clean enough to let the tea lead.
    • Grain and roast are the same flavour arrived at twice, once by the still and once by the pan.
    • Two toasted grains

  • Hojicha

    Strong match

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

    • Oolong-hai and green tea highballs are on every izakaya menu, and barley is clean enough to let the tea lead.
    • Grain and roast are the same flavour arrived at twice, once by the still and once by the pan.
    • Hojicha's toasted note meets nutty bottles

  • Mugicha (barley tea)

    Strong match

    Cold, unsweetened barley tea. Every Japanese fridge has a pitcher in summer. Mix one to three over ice.

    • Oolong-hai and green tea highballs are on every izakaya menu, and barley is clean enough to let the tea lead.
    • Grain and roast are the same flavour arrived at twice, once by the still and once by the pan.
    • Barley tea on barley shochu is the same grain, roasted, twice

  • Oolong tea

    Strong match

    Unsweetened, cold. One part shochu to three or four parts tea, over ice.

    • Oolong-hai and green tea highballs are on every izakaya menu, and barley is clean enough to let the tea lead.
    • Grain and roast are the same flavour arrived at twice, once by the still and once by the pan.
    • Oolong-hai is the second most common shochu drink in Japanese izakaya

  • Kuri (chestnut) liqueur

    Strong match

    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.
    • Chestnut and cocoa is a dessert that already exists
    • Nut on nut, and on a kuri shochu one of the two is the bottle's own raw material

  • Goya (bitter melon)

    Strong match

    Two slices from any Asian grocery, seeds out. The bitterness is water soluble, so at 25 percent it steeps in minutes and stops there, where a 40 percent spirit pulls it medicinal within the hour.

    • Cucumber and a clean barley highball is the most refreshing thing you can build out of this category.
    • Bitterness that answers earth without adding any sweetness to it
    • The Okinawa brewers' association publishes a goya cocktail of its own, so this is not an idea from outside

  • Hot water (oyuwari)

    Strong match

    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.

    • 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.
    • Heat pulls the earth and the sweetness out of a bottle
    • Mugi oyuwari in winter, with an umeboshi

  • Ginger ale

    Strong match

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

    • The barley highball is the default shochu drink in Japan. Clean spirit, cold soda, nothing in the way.
    • Barley shochu and ginger ale is an izakaya highball

  • Ginger beer

    Strong match

    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 the default shochu drink in Japan. Clean spirit, cold soda, nothing in the way.
    • Ginger heat gives earthy bottles a pulse

  • Grapefruit

    Strong match

    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.

    • The lemon sour is the single most ordered shochu drink in Japan, and barley is what it is usually built on.
    • Barley shochu and grapefruit is the Kyushu sour after the lemon one

  • Green tea (sencha)

    Good match

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

    • Oolong-hai and green tea highballs are on every izakaya menu, and barley is clean enough to let the tea lead.
    • Barley shochu and green tea is on every izakaya menu in Japan

  • Jasmine tea

    Good match

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

    • Oolong-hai and green tea highballs are on every izakaya menu, and barley is clean enough to let the tea lead.
    • Jasmine-hai is on izakaya menus next to oolong-hai

  • Kabosu

    Good match

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

    • The lemon sour is the single most ordered shochu drink in Japan, and barley is what it is usually built on.
    • Oita grows the kabosu and distills the barley shochu; they were made for each other

  • Lemon

    Good match

    Fresh juice, never bottled. It is the whole basis of the lemon sour, and the quickest way to put acid into a spirit that has almost none of its own.

    • The lemon sour is the single most ordered shochu drink in Japan, and barley is what it is usually built on.
    • The lemon sour is Japan's most-ordered shochu drink for a reason

  • Lemon soda (ramune, Sanpellegrino)

    Good match

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

    • The barley highball is the default shochu drink in Japan. Clean spirit, cold soda, nothing in the way.
    • Lemon sour in one pour

  • Pu-erh tea

    Good match

    Loose or bagged, brewed weak: at full strength it takes the glass over. Takara's own guide to tea-wari lists it alongside mugicha and sobacha.

    • Oolong-hai and green tea highballs are on every izakaya menu, and barley is clean enough to let the tea lead.
    • Fermented and dark where oolong is astringent and light, so it meets earth instead of covering it

  • Soda water

    Good match

    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.

    • The barley highball is the default shochu drink in Japan. Clean spirit, cold soda, nothing in the way.
    • The shochu highball: ice, shochu, cold soda, nothing else

  • Sudachi

    Good match

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

    • The lemon sour is the single most ordered shochu drink in Japan, and barley is what it is usually built on.
    • Tokushima's citrus on a Kyushu spirit, sharper and greener than the lemon a barley sour usually gets

  • Tonic water

    Good match

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

    • The barley highball is the default shochu drink in Japan. Clean spirit, cold soda, nothing in the way.
    • Shochu tonic is the drink US bars pour most when they list shochu

  • Toasted sesame

    Good match

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

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

  • Kurozu (Kagoshima black vinegar)

    Good match

    Sakamoto's, fermented outdoors in earthenware jars in Fukuyama and aged at least a year; Toiro and Japanese Taste ship it in the US. A teaspoon in a mizuwari is the whole intervention, and a second one is usually a mistake.

    • Black vinegar is rice fermented with koji and then soured, so it is the same mould arriving a second time
    • Acid with an amino depth behind it, which suits the koji side better than a lemon does
    • 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.

  • Amaretto

    Good match

    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.
    • It lands on a nutty note the bottle already has

  • Amontillado sherry

    Good match

    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.
    • Hazelnut and dried orange peel land straight on a nutty bottle

  • Coffee liqueur

    Good match

    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.
    • Coffee finds the cocoa note and makes it obvious

  • Fino sherry

    Good match

    Fino or manzanilla. Savory, salty, bone dry.

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

  • Genever

    Good match

    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.
    • Malt wine and barley shochu are the same grain distilled two different ways

  • Maraschino

    Good match

    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.
    • The stone in the distillate reads as almond, which meets a nutty bottle

  • Orgeat (almond syrup)

    Good match

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

    • Grain and roast are the same flavour arrived at twice, once by the still and once by the pan.
    • Almond syrup on a nutty bottle

  • Shaoxing wine (drinking grade)

    Good match

    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.
    • Walnut on nut, and at about 15 percent it lengthens as it flavours

  • Allspice dram

    Good match

    St. Elizabeth, in 375ml. A bar spoon is the whole dose: concentrated enough to flavour a low-proof drink without diluting it or raising it.

    • It joins the pepper already in the glass instead of introducing a new one
    • Clove and cinnamon give an earthy bottle the warmth hot water usually provides, in a cold glass

  • Celery

    Good match

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

    • Cucumber and a clean barley highball is the most refreshing thing you can build out of this category.
    • Barley shochu and celery is an unlikely, real pair

  • Cucumber

    Good match

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

    • Cucumber and a clean barley highball is the most refreshing thing you can build out of this category.
    • Barley shochu, cucumber, soda: a highball that tastes like a cool room

  • Lemongrass

    Good match

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

    • A clean barley spirit takes herbs the way vodka does, but with a cereal sweetness underneath that gives them something to sit on.
    • A US barley shochu is literally made with lemongrass; the pairing is proven

  • Shiso

    Good match

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

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

  • Cold water (mizuwari)

    Good match

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

    • 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.
    • Six parts shochu to four parts water, the classic

  • Thyme

    Good match

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

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

  • Tomato

    Good match

    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.

    • Cucumber and a clean barley highball is the most refreshing thing you can build out of this category.
    • Barley shochu and tomato juice is an izakaya standard order

  • Ume (Japanese plum)

    Good match

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

    • Barley's light sweetness reads as orchard fruit already, so apple and pear extend the bottle rather than decorate it.
    • Barley shochu with an umeboshi dropped in is a real izakaya order

  • Black tea (Earl Grey)

    Good match

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

    • Oolong-hai and green tea highballs are on every izakaya menu, and barley is clean enough to let the tea lead.

  • Blood orange

    Good match

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

    • The lemon sour is the single most ordered shochu drink in Japan, and barley is what it is usually built on.

  • Daidai (bitter orange)

    Good match

    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.

    • The lemon sour is the single most ordered shochu drink in Japan, and barley is what it is usually built on.

  • Hoppy (beer-taste mixer)

    Good match

    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 the default shochu drink in Japan. Clean spirit, cold soda, nothing in the way.

  • Hyuganatsu

    Good match

    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.

    • The lemon sour is the single most ordered shochu drink in Japan, and barley is what it is usually built on.

  • Kombucha

    Good match

    A plain or ginger kombucha. Acid, bubbles and a little funk, none of which survive a still.

    • The barley highball is the default shochu drink in Japan. Clean spirit, cold soda, nothing in the way.

  • Kumquat

    Good match

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

    • The lemon sour is the single most ordered shochu drink in Japan, and barley is what it is usually built on.

  • Lime

    Good match

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

    • The lemon sour is the single most ordered shochu drink in Japan, and barley is what it is usually built on.

  • Matcha

    Good match

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

    • Oolong-hai and green tea highballs are on every izakaya menu, and barley is clean enough to let the tea lead.

  • Mikan (satsuma)

    Good match

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

    • The lemon sour is the single most ordered shochu drink in Japan, and barley is what it is usually built on.

  • Sparkling wine (brut)

    Good match

    Dry cava or crémant. Acid and bubbles in one pour, which is exactly what a distilled spirit has none of.

    • The barley highball is the default shochu drink in Japan. Clean spirit, cold soda, nothing in the way.

  • Yuzu

    Good match

    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 lemon sour is the single most ordered shochu drink in Japan, and barley is what it is usually built on.

  • Miso

    Good match

    White miso whisked into a syrup, a small spoon per drink. Salty, sweet and savory at once.

    • Miso is koji too; the bottle and the paste share a mold
    • 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.

  • Pickled ginger (gari)

    Good match

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

    • Barley shochu and gari brine is a bartender's shortcut to a ginger sour
    • 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.

  • Shiitake

    Good match

    A dried shiitake steeped in the spirit for a day. Savory and strange in the best way.

    • Earth on earth
    • 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.

  • Umeboshi

    Good match

    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.

  • Coconut

    Worth trying

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

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

  • Falernum

    Worth trying

    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.

  • Madeira (dry, Sercial or Verdelho)

    Worth trying

    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.

  • Soy milk (tonyu)

    Worth trying

    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.

    • This is a light bottle and this is a heavy ingredient. It will not taste bad, it will taste like the ingredient.
    • Grain and roast are the same flavour arrived at twice, once by the still and once by the pan.
    • Body and a bean sweetness without dairy fat, so the bottle stays legible
    • Calpis sour is a national drink in Japan and it is usually barley underneath. Cream is a different and much narrower idea.

  • Apple

    Worth trying

    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.

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

  • Apricot

    Worth trying

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

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

  • Aquavit

    Worth trying

    Linie, around thirty-five dollars, rested in oloroso casks at sea so it brings a little wood as well. A quarter ounce as a split base.

    • Caraway and dill point at the dashi and miso end of the table, where juniper does not go

  • Black pepper

    Worth trying

    A few grinds over the top. Aroma more than heat.

    • Pepper and earth

  • Chamomile

    Worth trying

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

    • Chamomile softens barley shochu into an evening drink

  • Cherry

    Worth trying

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

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

  • White crème de cacao

    Worth trying

    Tempus Fugit or Giffard. Clear, so the drink stays pale, and at about the shochu's own strength, so an ounce lengthens rather than fortifies.

    • The cocoa note is already in the tasting notes; this makes it the point of the drink

  • Dill

    Worth trying

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

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

  • Dry vermouth

    Worth trying

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

    • Shochu and dry vermouth is a Japanese martini at half the proof

  • Ginger

    Worth trying

    Fresh juice, a syrup, or a good ginger beer. The spice that makes a low-proof drink feel like it has a backbone.

    • Ginger heat gives earthy bottles a pulse

  • Ginger liqueur

    Worth trying

    Domaine de Canton or similar. The mule flavour without the sugar load of a ginger beer, and it works hot as well as cold.

    • It joins the pepper already in the glass rather than arguing with it

  • Hon-mirin

    Worth trying

    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.

    • Sweet and savoury at once is what mirin is for in a kitchen, and the glass is no different

  • Honey

    Worth trying

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

    • Honey and barley shochu in hot water is a Kyushu cold remedy

  • Kinome (sansho leaf)

    Worth trying

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

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

  • Makrut lime leaf

    Worth trying

    Torn leaves steeped briefly. Perfumed citrus without juice.

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

  • Mint

    Worth trying

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

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

  • Peach liqueur

    Worth trying

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

    • Barley shochu, peach liqueur, oolong: a Japanese izakaya order

  • Pear

    Worth trying

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

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

  • Pedro Ximénez sherry (PX)

    Worth trying

    Lustau San Emilio. Effectively a raisin syrup that happens to be wine, so a bar spoon sweetens and adds body where sugar syrup would only add sugar.

    • Raisin and cocoa come off the same shelf, and PX brings both

  • Sake (in a shochu drink)

    Worth trying

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

    • Koji meets koji

  • Umeshu

    Worth trying

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

    • Barley shochu with a float of umeshu and soda

  • Watermelon

    Worth trying

    Fresh juice, strained. Add a pinch of salt.

    • Cucumber and a clean barley highball is the most refreshing thing you can build out of this category.

  • White peach

    Worth trying

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

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

  • Yuzu kosho

    Worth trying

    The Kyushu condiment, in a tube in any Japanese grocer: fermented yuzu peel, green chili and salt. A quarter teaspoon stirred into an oyuwari, which is the serve Asahi publishes.

    • The chili leaves warmth at the back rather than heat on the tongue

  • Yuzu marmalade (yuja-cha)

    Worth trying

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

    • Yuzu tea and barley shochu in hot water is a winter izakaya drink

  • Yuzu liqueur (yuzushu)

    Worth trying

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

    • Barley shochu, yuzushu, soda: a yuzu sour without a yuzu

  • Carciofo amaro (Cynar-style)

    Worth trying

    Cynar, 16.5 percent, which is weaker than the shochu itself, so equal parts lands near 20 percent and the drink stays long. Soda or a grapefruit soda over the top is the producer's own serve.

    • This is a light bottle and this is a heavy ingredient. It will not taste bad, it will taste like the ingredient.
    • Vegetal bitterness against earth, which is a closer match than a caramel amaro makes
    • Both halves of the glass are savoury, which is unusual for a bitter drink

  • Fig

    Worth trying

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

    • This is a light bottle and this is a heavy ingredient. It will not taste bad, it will taste like the ingredient.
    • Barley's light sweetness reads as orchard fruit already, so apple and pear extend the bottle rather than decorate it.
    • Fig and nut is a natural pair

  • Gentian (Suze-style)

    Worth trying

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

    • This is a light bottle and this is a heavy ingredient. It will not taste bad, it will taste like the ingredient.
    • Gentian is earth in a bottle; earthy shochu meets it
    • Barley shochu, gentian, tonic: a bitter highball

  • Rosemary

    Worth trying

    A sprig, lightly toasted with a lighter, as garnish or stirred. Strong; a little.

    • This is a light bottle and this is a heavy ingredient. It will not taste bad, it will taste like the ingredient.
    • A clean barley spirit takes herbs the way vodka does, but with a cereal sweetness underneath that gives them something to sit on.
    • Resinous herb against earthy depth

  • Umezu (ume plum vinegar)

    Worth trying

    Eden Foods sells it as Ume Plum Vinegar in most US supermarkets, and it is one of the cheapest things on this list. A bar spoon, and unlike a crushed umeboshi it can go into a shaken drink.

    • Salt and sour cut across a vanilla note rather than joining it
    • Salt and lactic acid land on the sweetness koji leaves behind
    • Salt and acid arrive together, which is what a salted rim does for a margarita
    • 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.

  • Kombu

    Worth trying

    A small piece steeped in the bottle overnight. Savory depth without salt.

    • 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.

  • Olive brine

    Worth trying

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

    • 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.

  • Sea salt

    Worth trying

    A pinch in the glass or a half rim. Salt does not make a drink salty in small amounts; it makes it taste more like itself.

    • 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.

  • Soy sauce

    Worth trying

    A drop. Think of it as salt with depth, for the savory glass only.

    • 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.

Ways to serve it

  • Mizuwari (with water)
  • On the rocks

Barley is the easiest shochu to hand to someone who has never had any. It behaves like a clean grain spirit with a little cereal sweetness, so a highball with lemon needs no explaining and no apology.

Cocktails other people made

Nobody has published a cocktail written for this exact bottle. These were written for other bottles, so each one says which, and what changes if you pour this instead.

Show 8 more

  • thesgshochu.com

    Espresso Martini

    Written for a similar bottle

    Written for SG Shochu MUGI, also a barley shochu. This bottle is lighter, 28% against 40%, so cut the mixer back or it will disappear.

    • the sg shochu mugi 40ml
    • espresso 30ml
    • maple syrup 7ml
    • fresh rosemary

    Shaken.

    Full method at thesgshochu.com →

  • Pickled Plum

    Umeboshi Sour (Pickled Plum Cocktail)

    Written for shochu generally

    • ice cubes
    • 1/4 cup shōchū (such as iichiko)
    • 3/4 cup sparkling water
    • 1 1/2 tablespoon umezu (plum vinegar)
    • 1/2 teaspoon plain rice vinegar
    • 1/2 teaspoon honey (optional)
    • 1 large soft umeboshi (japanese pickled plum)
    • 1 shiso leaf, whole or shredded, for garnish (optional)

    Built in the glass.

    Full method at Pickled Plum →

  • Just One Cookbook

    Japanese Yuzu Cocktail (Yuzu Chuhai)

    Written for shochu generally

    • ½ cup club soda (soda water)
    • ¼ cup shochu (any brand or type)
    • 1 tbsp homemade simple syrup
    • 1 tsp yuzu juice (extract)
    • ice cubes
    • 1, 2 tsp korean citron tea (yuja cha) (optional)
    • lime (optional; can use lemon)

    Built in the glass, topped with soda.

    Full method at Just One Cookbook →

  • punchdrink.com · Brian Evans and George Padilla, Brooklyn, New York

    The Rule of Thirds Chu-Hai

    Written for shochu generally

    • 1 1/2 ounces shochu
    • 1 1/4 ounce grapefruit juice
    • 3/4 ounce sweetened hojicha tea (see editor's note)
    • club soda, to top

    Built in the glass, topped with soda.

    Full method at punchdrink.com →

  • Umami Mart blog

    Oolong-Hai (Shochu Iced Tea)

    Written for barley shochu

    • 6 parts oolong tea (substitute with sencha (green tea) for a sencha-hai)
    • 4 parts shochu (i recommend satsuma imo (sweet potato) or mugi (barley))
    • ice

    Built in the glass, topped with soda.

    Full method at Umami Mart blog →

  • Umami Mart blog

    Yuzu Chuhai

    Written for iichiko

    iichiko is a range rather than one bottle, so the strength and the style vary across it. Treat this as a starting point.

    • 2.5 oz iichiko bar yuzu liqueur
    • 1 oz iichiko barley shochu
    • 0.5 oz fresh lemon juice
    • ice
    • club soda

    Built in the glass, topped with soda.

    Full method at Umami Mart blog →

Bottles like this one

Closest on the flavour profile within the same style family, so the mixers above tend to carry across.

Sources and verification

Filed under mugi shochu.