Kura Kasutori Shochu, long, with Ginger ale, and Black pepper.
The botanical is the whole point of the bottle, so the job of the mixer is to carry it, not to add to it.
One part shochu to three or four parts mixer, plenty of ice. If it tastes thin, go two to three next time. That is the whole method.
What it tastes like
Honkaku shochu from Brooklyn Kura. Importer's tasting notes: umami, smooth, light bodied. Nobody here has tasted this one, so the profile below is estimated from what its importer publishes rather than from the glass.
umami
smooth
light-bodied
koji
Sweet
Body
Aroma
Fruit
Floral
Grain
Earth
Umami
Base
Yamada Nishiki sake lees
Koji
white koji
Distillation
single distillation
ABV
40%
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.
Ginger ale
Strong match
The gentle ginger. For bottles that a ginger beer would bully.
Ginger beer
Strong match
A spicy one, not a sweet one. The mule format works for every dark shochu and most sake.
Kombucha
Strong match
A plain or ginger kombucha. It brings acid, bubbles and funk, all things sake is short of.
Lemon soda (ramune, Sanpellegrino)
Strong match
The shortcut to a sour when there is no fresh lemon. Less sweet is better.
Soda water
Strong match
Cold, and fizzy enough to matter. One part spirit to three or four parts soda for shochu; one to one for sake.
Sparkling wine (brut)
Strong match
Dry cava or crémant. Topping sake with it adds the acid and the bubbles sake lacks in one pour.
Tonic water
Strong match
A dry tonic (Fever-Tree, Q). One part spirit, three parts tonic, a citrus wedge.
Hot water (oyuwari)
Good 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.
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.
Black pepper
Worth trying
A few grinds over the top. Aroma more than heat.
Blood orange
Worth trying
Orange with a raspberry edge. Winter fruit; worth waiting for.
Celery
Worth trying
Juiced, or a stalk as the stirrer. Savory, salty and cold.
Fino sherry
Worth trying
Fino or manzanilla. Savory, salty, bone dry.
Grapefruit
Worth trying
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.
Green tea (sencha)
Worth trying
Cold-brewed sencha, unsweetened. The green tea highball is one of the most common ways shochu is actually drunk in Japan.
Kabosu
Worth trying
Oita's citrus, softer than sudachi. Bartenders in Oita mix it with the local barley shochu and soda.
Kombu
Worth trying
A small piece steeped in the bottle overnight. Savory depth without salt.
Kumquat
Worth trying
Eaten whole, peel and all. Muddle a few in a glass; the peel gives bitterness, the flesh gives tartness.
Lemon
Worth trying
Fresh juice, never bottled. The building block of the lemon sour, and the fastest way to give sake the acidity it does not have on its own.
Lime
Worth trying
Sharper and greener than lemon. The citrus for anything built on brown sugar or tropical fruit.
Mikan (satsuma)
Worth trying
Sweet, low-acid Japanese mandarin. Juice it or drop segments in a glass. It needs a squeeze of something sharper alongside.
Olive brine
Worth trying
A bar spoon, no more. Salt, and the savory note that comes with it.
Orange
Worth trying
Fresh orange juice for a sparkling sake mimosa; the peel for stirred drinks with aged bottles.
Sake (in a shochu drink)
Worth trying
A dry junmai as the lengthener for rice shochu, one to two. Low proof, all rice.
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.
Shiitake
Worth trying
A dried shiitake steeped in the spirit for a day. Savory and strange in the best way.
Sudachi
Worth trying
A small green citrus from Tokushima, sharper and more herbal than lime. Sold frozen or as juice in Japanese markets.
Tomato
Worth trying
Good tomato juice, or a ripe tomato muddled and strained. Sake's umami and tomato's are chemically the same thing.
Ume (Japanese plum)
Worth trying
Umeboshi (salt-pickled), ume syrup, or the fruit's own liqueur. Sour, salty and savory at once.
Umeboshi
Worth trying
One salted plum, crushed with a spoon in the glass. Salty, sour, savory.
Yuzu
Worth trying
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.
Basil
Worth trying
Muddled gently with citrus. Thai basil brings anise, Italian basil brings pepper.
Dill
Worth trying
Fronds, gently muddled. For the savory, saline glass.
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.
Lemongrass
Worth trying
Bruised stalks steeped in the spirit, or a syrup. Citrus without acid, which is useful when you want aroma but not sourness.
Makrut lime leaf
Worth trying
Torn leaves steeped briefly. Perfumed citrus without juice.
Mint
Worth trying
Slapped, not muddled to bits. Mint reads as cold, which makes any low-proof drink feel more refreshing.
Shiso
Worth trying
Green shiso leaves, slapped or muddled gently. Red shiso as a syrup. Japan already makes shiso shochu, which tells you it works.
Thyme
Worth trying
Gentler than rosemary. Steep a sprig, or use a thyme syrup.
Ways to serve it
With soda
On the rocks
These are shochu with one loud idea in them, shiso or sesame or green tea. Treat the botanical as the drink's flavour and everything else as its frame, and do not try to add a second loud idea.
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 Mizu Lemongrass Shochu, a different bottle. This bottle is stronger, 40% against 35%, so it will take more mixer than the original asks for.
·1 dash orange flower water
·2 kumquats, halved
·1/2 ounce cane syrup (1:1 evaporated cane sugar to water)