The awamori highball is how Okinawa drinks through a summer, and it is the easiest introduction to the category.
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
Awamori from Kumejima no Kumesen in Okinawa. Published tasting notes: clean, bright. The profile below is built from the tasting notes published for it.
rice
clean
bright
aged
Sweet
2/5
Body
4/5
Aroma
3/5
Fruit
1/5
Floral
2/5
Grain
2/5
Earth
2/5
Umami
2/5
Distillation
atmospheric distillation
ABV
43%
Aging
aged
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.
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.
Black koji leaves citric acid in the mash, so awamori already leans citrus before anything is added.
Mild enough that a light bottle is still the thing you taste
Softer acid than lemon, so the rice sweetness stays in the 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.
Black koji leaves citric acid in the mash, so awamori already leans citrus before anything is added.
The peel is doing what the orange twist on an old fashioned does
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.
Black koji leaves citric acid in the mash, so awamori already leans citrus before anything is added.
Sharper and more bitter than a lime, which is what keeps it from disappearing into a light bottle
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.
Hana Makgeolli is brewed in Greenpoint, Brooklyn; Makku sells a canned one. Strength varies widely across the category, from around 6 percent in a can to the mid teens for an unfiltered takju, so read the label before deciding how much to pour.
The bottle already smells of rice, and this puts more of it in the glass.
Hana Makgeolli is brewed in Greenpoint, Brooklyn; Makku sells a canned one. Strength varies widely across the category, from around 6 percent in a can to the mid teens for an unfiltered takju, so read the label before deciding how much to pour.
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.
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.
Both have spent years going quietly brown, and they meet in the middle
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.
Cointreau or a dry curaçao. The sweet-and-citrus half of any sour.
Awamori has enough of its own character to be the base of a cocktail rather than the neutral part of one, which is why an orange liqueur or a mezcal sits beside it instead of covering it.
Dewazakura's from Yamagata plums, or Machida Shuzo's on Amami kokuto shochu. It does umeshu's job and leaves the glass drier, which matters when the bottle is already sweet.
Acid and colour at once, and the drink stays drier than it would with umeshu
Dewazakura's from Yamagata plums, or Machida Shuzo's on Amami kokuto shochu. It does umeshu's job and leaves the glass drier, which matters when the bottle is already sweet.
Braulio, made in Bormio from gentian, juniper, peppermint and yarrow, around forty-five dollars. A summer drink on shochu and a winter one on whisky, which is one bottle behaving two ways.
There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
Braulio, made in Bormio from gentian, juniper, peppermint and yarrow, around forty-five dollars. A summer drink on shochu and a winter one on whisky, which is one bottle behaving two ways.
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.
There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
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.
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.
Water and ice is how awamori is drunk in Okinawa, and with an aged kusu it is the serve that lets the age show instead of burying it under a mixer.
The Japanese Bitters, five 100ml expressions, sold at Astor Wines in New York. Angostura at nearly 45 percent is a small spike in a 25 percent drink in a way these are not.
There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
The Japanese Bitters, five 100ml expressions, sold at Astor Wines in New York. Angostura at nearly 45 percent is a small spike in a 25 percent drink in a way these are not.
Cocchi Americano: moscato steeped with cinchona bark, gentian and bitter orange. Lillet dropped its quinine in 1985, so only the Americano side of the category still tastes of the bark, and equal parts with a shochu is about 21 percent.
There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
Cocchi Americano: moscato steeped with cinchona bark, gentian and bitter orange. Lillet dropped its quinine in 1985, so only the Americano side of the category still tastes of the bark, and equal parts with a shochu is about 21 percent.
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.
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.
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.
There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
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.
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.
There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
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.
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 awamori highball is how Okinawa drinks through a summer, and it is the easiest introduction to the category.
An aged bottle is the one you would not lengthen with a beer substitute
It was built around neutral shochu, and that is still where it fits best
D.O.M. Bénédictine, on most back bars. Rounder and much sweeter than the alpine liqueurs, so it suits bottles that already lean sweet rather than clean.
D.O.M. Bénédictine, on most back bars. Rounder and much sweeter than the alpine liqueurs, so it suits bottles that already lean sweet rather than clean.
Ayagiku's, on a shochu base, or Kikusui's. Raw quince is inedible and gives up its scent only in alcohol, so the liqueur is the only practical form; it opens up in hot water.
Ayagiku's, on a shochu base, or Kikusui's. Raw quince is inedible and gives up its scent only in alcohol, so the liqueur is the only practical form; it opens up in hot water.
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.
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.
A quarter ounce as a rinse or a split base. Smoke for the earthy bottles.
Awamori has enough of its own character to be the base of a cocktail rather than the neutral part of one, which is why an orange liqueur or a mezcal sits beside it instead of covering it.
Barrow's Intense, made in Brooklyn, is the one to look for: much more ginger and much less sugar than most, so it works as the spice in a drink rather than as the sweetener. Domaine de Canton is the easier one to find and the sweeter one. Either gets you the mule flavour without the sugar load of a ginger beer, and both work hot as well as cold. They carry their own alcohol, so they lengthen a shochu less than a juice or a syrup would.
Sugar and heat on a bottle whose whole quality is that it is clean
Warm spice against caramel, without the sugar a ginger beer brings
Barrow's Intense, made in Brooklyn, is the one to look for: much more ginger and much less sugar than most, so it works as the spice in a drink rather than as the sweetener. Domaine de Canton is the easier one to find and the sweeter one. Either gets you the mule flavour without the sugar load of a ginger beer, and both work hot as well as cold. They carry their own alcohol, so they lengthen a shochu less than a juice or a syrup would.
Watermelon and a clean bottle is a summer festival
Rice shochu and watermelon juice is a Kumamoto summer
Ways to serve it
On the rocks
Mizuwari (with water)
Awamori is older than mainland shochu, and what defines it is black koji and an all-koji mash rather than the Thai rice nearly every distillery happens to use. The black koji leaves citric acid behind, which is why it wants citrus and tropical fruit and why it will split milk.
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.
Written for iichiko Saiten, which is a barley shochu, not awamori. We have this one as the fuller of the two, which is what will move most in the glass.
·3 ounces buckwheat tea concentrate (see editor's note)
Written for iichiko Saiten, which is a barley shochu, not awamori. We have this one as the fuller of the two, which is what will move most in the glass.
·1 ounce plus 5 teaspoons shochu, preferably iichiko saiten
·1/2 teaspoon mezcal, preferably fidencio joven
·3/4 ounce citrus blend (equal parts lemon and lime juice)