Kuro Kirishima Shochu

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

• Imo shochu, hot water, umeboshi: a Kagoshima winter
• Salt and sour pull umami forward
• Salt does not make a drink salty in small amounts. It makes a savoury bottle taste more like itself. The pairing reads as strange and drinks as obvious.
• Umeboshi in hot shochu is a Kagoshima winter, and salt is the fastest way to make an earthy bottle taste like more of itself.

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

• The bottle is already savoury, and this puts more of that in the glass.
• 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.

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.

• A vinegar with savour under it rather than only sharpness, so beside a savoury bottle it reads as family instead of contrast
• Acid with a savoury depth behind it, which suits the koji side better than a lemon does
• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• An earthy bottle has a savoury side already, and these meet it rather than trying to sweeten it away.

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

• Mugicha softens imo shochu's earth into something you drink all evening
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
• Cold, unsweetened barley tea. Every Japanese fridge has a pitcher in summer. Mix one to three over ice.

Unsweetened, cold. One part shochu to three or four parts tea, over ice. Drinks with food better than almost anything else here.

• Green tea and oolong are how shochu is drunk with dinner across Kyushu. Tea's tannin meets the earth without covering it.
• Oolong's toast meets sweet potato's roast
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

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.

• Daidai is the citrus in ponzu, and ponzu is already on the table next to imo shochu
• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• 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.
• 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.

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.

• Hyuganatsu is Miyazaki's citrus and imo shochu is what Miyazaki pours it beside; the soft acid does the same work on a sweet potato bottle from anywhere
• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• 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.
• 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.

• Citrus acid cuts sweet potato's weight. That's why Kagoshima bars reach for grapefruit and yuzu before anything else.
• Kagoshima bartenders reach for yuzu with imo shochu first
• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• 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.

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.

• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• Salt does not make a drink salty in small amounts. It makes a savoury bottle taste more like itself. The pairing reads as strange and drinks as obvious.
• Salt is the fastest way to make an earthy bottle taste like more of itself.

The most useful tropical fruit for mixing: intensely aromatic and properly sour. Pulp with seeds, or a good puree.

• Tropical acid against sweet-potato depth is a modern Kagoshima cocktail
• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• The most useful tropical fruit for mixing: intensely aromatic and properly sour. Pulp with seeds, or a good puree.

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

• Salt-plum and imo shochu in hot water is a Kagoshima winter
• Ume's salt and sourness pull umami forward
• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.

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

• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• Orange with a raspberry edge. Winter fruit; worth waiting for.

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

• Kombu pushes the glass further toward the savoury side a bottle with umami is already on
• Salt does not make a drink salty in small amounts. It makes a savoury bottle taste more like itself. The pairing reads as strange and drinks as obvious.
• Salt is the fastest way to make an earthy bottle taste like more of itself.

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.

• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• 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.

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

• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• Sharper and greener than lemon. The citrus for anything built on brown sugar or tropical fruit.

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

• Salt brings umami forward
• Salt does not make a drink salty in small amounts. It makes a savoury bottle taste more like itself. The pairing reads as strange and drinks as obvious.
• Salt is the fastest way to make an earthy bottle taste like more of itself.

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

• A drop of soy in a savoury glass is seasoning rather than flavouring
• Salt does not make a drink salty in small amounts. It makes a savoury bottle taste more like itself. The pairing reads as strange and drinks as obvious.
• Salt is the fastest way to make an earthy bottle taste like more of itself.

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

• Dried shiitake is the umami bomb of the Japanese pantry
• Earth on earth
• An earthy bottle has a savoury side already, and these meet it rather than trying to sweeten it away.

Montenegro, Nonino, Averna. Equal parts with a dark shochu over ice is a whole drink.

• Amaro's herbs answer imo shochu's earth
• A bitter answers the earth with more earth, amaro and gentian most of all. A split-base imo drink then reads as intentional rather than odd.
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

Angostura or a Japanese aromatic. Two dashes.

• Bitters give imo shochu a stirred-drink shape
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
• Angostura or a Japanese aromatic. Two dashes.

Scrappy's leads with the seed, Fee Brothers has garlic and ginger behind it, The Bitter Truth reads more astringent than bitter. Two dashes.

• Celery seed and salt make a savoury note louder, and a bottle described as having umami has one to work on
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
• Scrappy's leads with the seed, Fee Brothers has garlic and ginger behind it, The Bitter Truth reads more astringent than bitter. Two dashes.

A stick in hot water with the spirit, or a light syrup. Winter.

• Cinnamon on sweet potato is a pie
• Warm spice gives an earthy bottle a pulse without covering the earth itself.
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

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

• Gentian is earth in a bottle; earthy shochu meets it
• A bitter answers the earth with more earth, amaro and gentian most of all. A split-base imo drink then reads as intentional rather than odd.
• 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.

• The Umami expression is kelp, shiitake and bonito, aimed at the savoury side the bottle is described with
• 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.

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

• The distilleries themselves now sell imo shochu as a highball. Soda lifts the aroma off the glass instead of burying it.
• A lemon soda softens imo shochu for the unconvinced

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 distilleries themselves now sell imo shochu as a highball. Soda lifts the aroma off the glass instead of burying it.
• Daiyame and other new-wave imo shochu are marketed as highballs by the distilleries themselves

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

• Hot water is the Kagoshima serve and it earns its reputation: heat pulls the earth and the sweetness up out of the glass. Cold water does the opposite and lengthens it without changing its shape.
• Maewari: mix imo shochu and water a day ahead and it rounds out

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

• The distilleries themselves now sell imo shochu as a highball. Soda lifts the aroma off the glass instead of burying it.
• Imo shochu and tonic is what Kagoshima distilleries now recommend to first-timers

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.

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

• 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.

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

• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
• Green tea with popped, toasted rice. Cold-brew it.

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

• 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.

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.

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

• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• Oita's citrus, softer than sudachi. Bartenders in Oita mix it with the local barley shochu and soda.
• 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.

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

• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• A small green citrus from Tokushima, sharper and more herbal than lime. Sold frozen or as juice in Japanese markets.
• 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.

Muddled with the seeds. Green, sour and refreshing, and cheap year round.

• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• Muddled with the seeds. Green, sour and refreshing, and cheap year round.

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

• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• Fresh juice, or grilled wedges for a smokier drink. The awamori fruit.

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

• Kagoshima bartenders pair imo shochu with mikan when it is in season
• Sweet, low-acid Japanese mandarin. Juice it or drop segments in a glass. It needs a squeeze of something sharper alongside.
• 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 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 salt in it raises the perceived sweetness of koji
• Warm spice gives an earthy bottle a pulse without covering the earth itself.
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under 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.

Late summer fruit with a savory edge. For the deeper bottles.

• Dark fruit meets earthy depth without either backing down
• Blackberry and imo shochu is a bramble with a Kyushu accent

A quarter ounce as a rinse or a split base. Smoke for the earthy bottles.

• Smoke and earth: a split-base drink with imo shochu is a real bar idea
• Roasted agave and roasted sweet potato are one flavor

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

• Resinous herb against earthy depth
• Rosemary and roasted sweet potato is a dinner plate

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.

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.

• A bitter answers the earth with more earth, amaro and gentian most of all. A split-base imo drink then reads as intentional rather than odd.
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

A few crushed pods, or a syrup. Floral, citrusy and warm at once; it bridges fruit and spice.

• Warm spice gives an earthy bottle a pulse without covering the earth itself.
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

A quarter ounce. Menthol and bitterness, for the darkest bottles.

• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
• A quarter ounce. Menthol and bitterness, for the darkest bottles.

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

• The distilleries themselves now sell imo shochu as a highball. Soda lifts the aroma off the glass instead of burying it.

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 distilleries themselves now sell imo shochu as a highball. Soda lifts the aroma off the glass instead of burying it.

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

• The distilleries themselves now sell imo shochu as a highball. Soda lifts the aroma off the glass instead of burying it.

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.

Cocchi Americano: moscato steeped with cinchona bark, gentian and bitter orange. The bark is the point of it, and it carries a quinine bitterness no citrus will give you.

• 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. The bark is the point of it, and it carries a quinine bitterness no citrus will give you.

Cappelletti Sfumato, where sfumato means smoked and the smoke is the point, or the sweeter Zucca. At 20 percent it can take a third of the glass and still leave the drink weaker than the bottle it started from.

• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
• Cappelletti Sfumato, where sfumato means smoked and the smoke is the point, or the sweeter Zucca. At 20 percent it can take a third of the glass and still leave the drink weaker than the bottle it started from.

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

• The distilleries themselves now sell imo shochu as a highball. Soda lifts the aroma off the glass instead of burying it.

One star, steeped, for the dark bottles.

• Warm spice gives an earthy bottle a pulse without covering the earth itself.
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

A rim of shichimi, or a slice of fresh chili. Heat on fruit, not on rice.

• Warm spice gives an earthy bottle a pulse without covering the earth itself.
• 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.

• 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.

A split bean in a syrup, or a good extract, in small amounts.

• Warm spice gives an earthy bottle a pulse without covering the earth itself.
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

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

• Warm spice gives an earthy bottle a pulse without covering the earth itself.
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

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

• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• Only for the lychee-scented bottles. On a heavy, roasted imo the flowers simply disappear.

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.

• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.

Unsweetened juice. Sharp and a little tannic, useful for cutting sweetness.

• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.

Sour enough to be useful. Muddle a handful, or use a good puree.

• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.

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

• The bottle is already savoury, and this puts more of that in the glass.

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

• Calpis softens imo shochu for people who think they do not like it
• The concentrate, diluted with soda. Yogurt-sweet and sour. The Calpis sour is a familiar order in Japan.

A syrup or a few dried blossoms steeped. See jasmine tea for the long drink.

• Jasmine against imo shochu's floral side is a real Kagoshima cocktail idea
• Only for the lychee-scented bottles. On a heavy, roasted imo the flowers simply disappear.

Dried osmanthus flowers steeped, or the syrup. Apricot and honey, and the smell of October in Japan.

• Kinmokusei blooms when the new imo shochu is released, same season
• Only for the lychee-scented bottles. On a heavy, roasted imo the flowers simply disappear.

A pinch of ground sansho over the top, or a few peppercorns steeped. Numbing, citrusy, green.

• Warm spice gives an earthy bottle a pulse without covering the earth itself.
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under 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.

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 heavy earthy bottle swallows it, and the fruit is too good to waste that way
• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• 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.
• 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 non-alcoholic koji drink, sweet from rice starch alone. Blend with the spirit and ice; it is a shochu smoothie.

• Amazake softens imo shochu into a winter dessert
• The non-alcoholic koji drink, sweet from rice starch alone. Blend with the spirit and ice; it is a shochu smoothie.
• 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.