Maeda Riemon

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.

• Citrus acid cuts sweet potato's weight. That's why Kagoshima bars reach for grapefruit and yuzu before anything else.
• Grapefruit and imo shochu is a Kagoshima bar staple; the bitterness answers the earth
• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.

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

• Milder than sudachi, so it does not fight a delicate bottle
• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.
• Oita's citrus, softer than sudachi. Bartenders in Oita mix it with the local barley shochu and soda.

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.

• Sharper and more bitter than a lime, which is what keeps it from disappearing into a light bottle
• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.
• 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 small green citrus from Tokushima, sharper and more herbal than lime. Sold frozen or as juice in Japanese markets.

• Sudachi's green sharpness shows best on a clean bottle
• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.
• A small green citrus from Tokushima, sharper and more herbal than lime. Sold frozen or as juice in Japanese markets.

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.
• The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.
• Orange with a raspberry edge. Winter fruit; worth waiting for.

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.
• The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.
• Sharper and greener than lemon. The citrus for anything built on brown sugar or tropical fruit.

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

• Amaro and aged notes are a winter bar
• 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.

• Two dashes wake up an aged bottle
• 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.

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.

• 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.
• Oyuwari is what a roasted imo is built for: the heat puts the roast back in the air
• Oyuwari: hot water first, then shochu, six of shochu to four of water. Imo shochu opens up in warmth

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.
• Mizuwari shows a clean bottle as it is, just lighter
• Maewari: mix imo shochu and water a day ahead and it rounds out

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
• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.
• An earthy bottle has a savoury side already, and these meet it rather than trying to sweeten it away.

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

• This bottle's aroma is the reason to own it, and a roasted or smoky mixer covers exactly that.
• Roasting is the flavour both of these have, so the tea continues the bottle instead of interrupting it
• Hojicha and imo shochu: a roasted pair
• Roasted tea and aged notes are a fireside

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

• Perfumed tea on a clean bottle
• 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.

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.

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
• Honeyed flower on honeyed age
• The bottle already smells of honey, and this puts more of it in the glass.
• Only for the lychee-scented bottles. On a heavy, roasted imo the flowers simply disappear.

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.
• The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.
• Fresh juice, or grilled wedges for a smokier drink. The awamori fruit.

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.
• The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.
• Salt is the fastest way to make an earthy bottle taste like more of itself.

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.
• An aged bottle is the one you would not lengthen with a beer substitute
• One part shochu to five parts Hoppy drinks like a pint with none of beer's body. A 25 percent bottle lands just under 5; the figure follows the bottle, so a 40 percent one is nearer 7
• It was built around neutral shochu, and that is still where it fits best

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

• Chamomile is faint enough to be lost, and a smooth bottle leaves it the room it needs
• Chamomile tastes of apple, and apple-scented bottles meet it
• Chamomile and honey
• Only for the lychee-scented bottles. On a heavy, roasted imo the flowers simply disappear.

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 distilleries themselves now sell imo shochu as a highball. Soda lifts the aroma off the glass instead of burying it.
• Imo shochu mule: ginger beer, lime, over ice
• Carbonation carries aroma up out of the glass, so a highball shows an aromatic bottle off rather than diluting the point of it.
• This mixer is sweetened too, so it lengthens the drink without cutting the sweetness that is already there.

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

• Salt brings umami forward
• A clean bottle can take a splash of brine
• 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
• A long aged spirit and dried mushroom share a forest floor note
• An earthy bottle has a savoury side already, and these meet it rather than trying to sweeten it away.

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
• Umeboshi in hot shochu is a Kagoshima winter, and salt is the fastest way to make an earthy bottle taste like more of itself.

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

• Cinnamon and aged notes are a hot toddy
• Cinnamon on sweet potato is a pie
• Warm spice gives an earthy bottle a pulse without covering the earth itself.
• This mixer is sweetened too, so it lengthens the drink without cutting the sweetness that is already there.

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

• Pepper wakes up savory 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.

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.

• With a 25 percent bottle under it the bitterness reads as celery and walnut skin instead of being scorched off
• 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 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.

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

• Spice on aged, nutty notes
• 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.

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.

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

• A clean bottle and gentian is a white negroni
• 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.

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

• Ginger and sweet potato is a Japanese autumn kitchen
• Ginger and sweet potato are the same autumn kitchen. Heat gives an earthy bottle a pulse.
• 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.

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.

• A moscato base, so the grape in the bottle and the grape in the glass say the same thing
• 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.

One star, steeped, for the dark bottles.

• Anise and aged notes are a winter cabinet
• 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.

• A tiny amount on a clean bottle reads as a green, savory heat
• 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.
• The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.
• Only for the lychee-scented bottles. On a heavy, roasted imo the flowers simply disappear.

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

• This bottle's aroma is the reason to own it, and a roasted or smoky mixer covers exactly that.
• Mugicha softens imo shochu's earth into something you drink all evening
• Unsweetened, cold, and a summer staple in Japan
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

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.

• Fresh lemon reads harsh against aged, caramel notes
• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.
• 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.

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.
• The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.

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.
• Sweet soda and aged notes argue
• Sweet citrus bubbles on a clean bottle
• A lemon soda softens imo shochu for the unconvinced

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.
• The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.

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.
• Tonic's sweetness fights aged notes
• Clean bottle and tonic is a gin and tonic without the juniper
• Imo shochu and tonic is what Kagoshima distilleries now recommend to first-timers

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

• Fig meets the dried fruit that kusu awamori and long aged shochu already carry
• The bottle already smells of honey, and this puts more of it in the glass.

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.

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.
• Carbonation carries aroma up out of the glass, so a highball shows an aromatic bottle off rather than diluting the point of it.
• This mixer is sweetened too, so it lengthens the drink without cutting the sweetness that is already there.

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
• Flor leaves a savoury edge behind it, and koji leaves the same one

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

• Celery's salt and green note pull umami forward
• Celery on a clean bottle reads as a savory highball

Warm kombu-and-bonito stock, lightly seasoned, mixed with the spirit. It sounds strange and tastes like an oden counter.

• This bottle's aroma is the reason to own it, and a roasted or smoky mixer covers exactly that.
• Roast and dashi are both savoury rather than sweet, which is the half of an imo most drinks ignore
• Warm dashi carries a spirit's savoury side forward the way hot water carries its aroma
• Oden broth and imo shochu in one cup: a Kagoshima winter

Fino or manzanilla. Savory, salty, bone dry.

• Fino's salt and yeast meet the savour koji leaves behind
• Oxidative on oxidative

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 is the fastest way to make an earthy bottle taste like more of itself.

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.

• Earth and age bury a bottle whose whole quality is that it is clean
• One of the few mixers that can go under a heavy bottle hot without the drink turning bitter
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
• 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.

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

• Kumquat's bitter peel stands up to aged, nutty notes
• This mixer is sweetened too, so it lengthens the drink without cutting the sweetness that is already there.
• Eaten whole, peel and all. Muddle a few in a glass; the peel gives bitterness, the flesh gives tartness.

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

• Two soft fruit notes that read like a fruit bowl
• Kagoshima bartenders pair imo shochu with mikan when it is in season
• This bottle already reads sweet, on aroma rather than on sugar. Adding real sugar to it is the most common way a drink built on it goes wrong.
• Sweet, low-acid Japanese mandarin. Juice it or drop segments in a glass. It needs a squeeze of something sharper alongside.

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.

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.

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.

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.

• With no juice in the glass a light bottle can end up tasting thin; a fuller one carries it
• A clean bottle has nowhere to hide, so acid reads as brightness rather than as a correction
• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.

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

• Bright fruit on bright fruit
• This bottle already reads sweet, on aroma rather than on sugar. Adding real sugar to it is the most common way a drink built on it goes wrong.
• Fresh juice when you want it long and easy; the peel when the bottle is aged and the drink is stirred.

The cordial, sweet and alcohol-free, poured like a syrup. Muscat, lychee and honey in one flower. The liqueur has its own entry below: a different product rather than a stronger or weaker version of this one, and it brings alcohol along with the flower.

• Nothing here is sharp enough to cut the elderflower down, so it survives at the strength it was poured
• Elderflower tastes of muscat and lychee already
• This mixer is sweetened too, so it lengthens the drink without cutting the sweetness that is already there.
• Only for the lychee-scented bottles. On a heavy, roasted imo the flowers simply disappear.

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.
• No
• Carbonation carries aroma up out of the glass, so a highball shows an aromatic bottle off rather than diluting the point of it.

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.

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.

Salt-pickled blossoms (rinsed) or sakura syrup. Floral, faintly almond, a touch of salt.

• Cherry blossom is the first thing a rough bottle destroys, and this one has no rough edge to do it with
• 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.