Lemongrass

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

• Acid frames a single strong flavour and keeps it from turning syrupy.

A bar spoon. Dark fruit over roasted tea, with the shochu keeping it from reading as squash.

• Cassis puts dark fruit over the tea's roast, and the shochu keeps it dry underneath

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

• Chamomile softens barley shochu into an evening drink

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

• Barley shochu, cucumber, soda: a highball that tastes like a cool room

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

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

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

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

• Jasmine is perfumed without being sweet, so it gives barley shochu an aromatic top without touching its dryness

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

• Acid frames a single strong flavour and keeps it from turning syrupy.

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

• Acid frames a single strong flavour and keeps it from turning syrupy.

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

• Roasted oolong meets barley on its own ground: the tea is toasty where the shochu is toasty, so neither has to win

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

• Acid frames a single strong flavour and keeps it from turning syrupy.

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

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

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

• Barley shochu with an umeboshi dropped in is a real izakaya order

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

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

• Barley shochu with a float of umeshu and soda

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

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.

• Acid frames a single strong flavour and keeps it from turning syrupy.
• 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.

• Acid frames a single strong flavour and keeps it from turning syrupy.
• 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.

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

• Acid frames a single strong flavour and keeps it from turning syrupy.
• 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.

• Acid frames a single strong flavour and keeps it from turning syrupy.
• 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.

• Acid frames a single strong flavour and keeps it from turning syrupy.
• 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 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
• 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.

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.

• On an already sweet bottle it turns to grapefruit candy
• Barley shochu and grapefruit is the Kyushu sour after the lemon one
• Acid frames a single strong flavour and keeps it from turning syrupy.

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.

• 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.

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

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

Angostura or a Japanese aromatic. Two dashes.

• Angostura or a Japanese aromatic. Two dashes.

Muddled gently with citrus. Thai basil brings anise, Italian basil brings pepper.

• Muddled gently with citrus. Thai basil brings anise, Italian basil brings pepper.

Cynar, 16.5 percent, which is weaker than most shochu, so equal parts with a 25 percent bottle lands near 20 and the drink stays long. Soda or a grapefruit soda over the top is the producer's own serve.

• Cynar, 16.5 percent, which is weaker than most shochu, so equal parts with a 25 percent bottle lands near 20 and the drink stays long. Soda or a grapefruit soda over the top is the producer's own serve.

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

Half-and-half or heavy cream, in the after-dinner glass only.

• Works for the sweet and nutty bottles, sesame especially. Not for the sharp herbal ones.

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

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

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 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.

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

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

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.

• 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.

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.

• Works for the sweet and nutty bottles, sesame especially. Not for the sharp herbal ones.

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.

• 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 non-alcoholic koji drink, sweet from rice starch alone. Blend with the spirit and ice; it is a shochu smoothie.

• Works for the sweet and nutty bottles, sesame especially. Not for the sharp herbal ones.
• 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.

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

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

Torn leaves steeped briefly. Perfumed citrus without juice.

• Torn leaves steeped briefly. Perfumed citrus without juice.
• 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.