Shochu that goes with yuzu kosho
Spice and warmth
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.
Best bottles for yuzu kosho
The strongest matches in the catalogue, across every style. Everything below is the same ranking opened out by what the shochu is made from.
Star anise, chilli and ginger all read as native rather than imported on this base.
caramel, smoky, rich, earthy
Ginger and sweet potato are the same autumn kitchen. Heat gives an earthy bottle a pulse.
rich, full-bodied, aged, umami
sweet potato, umami, rich, sweet
Ginger and brown sugar is a dark and stormy. Kokuto shochu makes it at half the alcohol.
rice, citrus, cereal, aged
sweet potato, rice, umami, rich
kokuto, umami, smooth, light-bodied
rice, citrus, vanilla, aged
rice, umami, smooth, soft
dried fruit, chocolate, honey, kokuto
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.
Awamori
Star anise, chilli and ginger all read as native rather than imported on this base.
25 more, all of them in Awamori
Imo shochu
Ginger and sweet potato are the same autumn kitchen. Heat gives an earthy bottle a pulse.
54 more, all of them in Imo shochu
Kokuto shochu
Ginger and brown sugar is a dark and stormy. Kokuto shochu makes it at half the alcohol.
6 more, all of them in Kokuto shochu
Kome shochu
6 more, all of them in Kome shochu
Shiso, sesame, tea and other single-botanical shochu
7 more, all of them in Shiso, sesame, tea and other single-botanical shochu