Shochu that goes with alpine amaro (braulio-style)
Bitter and aperitivo
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.
Best bottles for alpine amaro (braulio-style)
The strongest matches in the catalogue, across every style. Everything below is the same ranking opened out by what the shochu is made from.
Alpine amaro (Braulio-style): Amaro and gentian answer the earth with more earth, which is why a split-base imo drink reads as intentional rather than odd.
sweet potato, whisky-like, cask
Alpine amaro (Braulio-style): Oak rested and 21 percent, so half and half with a cask-aged bottle is one drink at about 23
Alpine amaro (Braulio-style): Brown sugar carries bitterness the way a boulevardier carries whiskey. Amaro and red bitter both land.
Alpine amaro (Braulio-style): Aged kusu is intense enough to meet amaro without either one winning.
sweet potato, rice, vanilla, rich
rice, sweet, cask, aged
sweet potato, rice, chocolate, sweet
rice, umami, rich, sherry-like
Alpine amaro (Braulio-style): The bottle is already reaching for that shelf, and this is the amaro that meets it there
rice, banana, vanilla, chocolate
kokuto, vanilla, spice, cask
Grouped by what the shochu is made from, because that is the level the reasoning works at: what this does to an imo shochu is a fact about imo shochu rather than about one bottle. Within each style, the strongest matches and anything poured at our bar come first. The ranking is the same engine that recommends a mixer from a bottle, run the other way round.
Imo shochu
Amaro and gentian answer the earth with more earth, which is why a split-base imo drink reads as intentional rather than odd.
50 more, all of them in Imo shochu
Awamori
Aged kusu is intense enough to meet amaro without either one winning.
23 more, all of them in Awamori
Kome shochu
A light rice spirit can be bullied by amaro. Keep the bitter under a quarter ounce or pick a heavier bottle.
22 more, all of them in Kome shochu
Kokuto shochu
Brown sugar carries bitterness the way a boulevardier carries whiskey. Amaro and red bitter both land.
8 more, all of them in Kokuto shochu
Shiso, sesame, tea and other single-botanical shochu
A strong bitter will argue with the botanical rather than support it. Keep it to a dash.
5 more, all of them in Shiso, sesame, tea and other single-botanical shochu