Shochu that goes with gum syrup (gomme)
Sweeteners
Small Hand Foods', or sugar, water and gum arabic from the baking aisle at home. Worth knowing that most Japanese gum syrup on a shelf today has no arabic gum in it at all.
Best bottles for gum syrup (gomme)
The strongest matches in the catalogue, across every style. Everything below is the same ranking opened out by what the shochu is made from.
A 25 percent spirit brings far less viscosity than a 40 percent one, so a shaken sour goes thin
barley, smooth, light-bodied, clean
rice, light-bodied, dry, aged
sweet potato, light-bodied, dry, sweet
rice, steamed rice, citrus, pineapple
rice, citrus, apple, pineapple
sweet potato, rice, lychee, white peach
It puts the body back without adding more sugar, which is the other way to fix it
The sweetener for a bottle you do not actually want to sweeten
kokuto, umami, smooth, light-bodied
kokuto, light-bodied, clean, aged
citrus, bright, bitter, crisp
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.
Mugi shochu
17 more, all of them in Mugi shochu
Imo shochu
15 more, all of them in Imo shochu
Kokuto shochu
The bottle already brings sugar. Add more only to balance a sharp acid, never to sweeten.
9 more, all of them in Kokuto shochu
Kome shochu
2 more, all of them in Kome shochu
Shiso, sesame, tea and other single-botanical shochu
4 more, all of them in Shiso, sesame, tea and other single-botanical shochu
Awamori
4 more, all of them in Awamori
Soba shochu
Honey and buckwheat is a known pair, and buckwheat honey is the proof of it.
3 more, all of them in Soba shochu