Mizu Saga Barley Shochu

Green tea with popped, toasted rice. Cold-brew it. Comfort in a glass.

A dry tonic (Fever-Tree, Q). One part spirit, three parts tonic, a citrus wedge.

Ribbons or muddled slices. Cucumber is what turns a glass of sake into something you would drink on a porch.

The gentle ginger. For bottles that a ginger beer would bully.

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.

Cold-brewed sencha, unsweetened. The green tea highball is one of the most common ways shochu is actually drunk in Japan.

Cold-brewed. Floral without sugar. The jasmine highball is a real menu item in Japan.

Fresh juice, never bottled. The building block of the lemon sour, and the fastest way to give sake the acidity it does not have on its own.

The shortcut to a sour when there is no fresh lemon. Less sweet is better.

Cold, and fizzy enough to matter. One part spirit to three or four parts soda for shochu; one to one for sake.

Dry cava or crémant. Topping sake with it adds the acid and the bubbles sake lacks in one pour.

Soft water, cold, over ice or not. One to one is normal. Mix a day ahead (maewari) and the edges round off.

A small green citrus from Tokushima, sharper and more herbal than lime. Sold frozen or as juice in Japanese markets.

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.

Unsweetened, cold. One part shochu to three or four parts tea, over ice. It is the drink half of Japan orders with dinner.

Dolin dry or Noilly Prat. A quarter of the sake's volume, stirred.

Green shiso leaves, slapped or muddled gently. Red shiso as a syrup. Japan already makes shiso shochu, which tells you it works.

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

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

A plain or ginger kombucha. It brings acid, bubbles and funk, all things sake is short of.

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

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

A spoon of the brine, and a slice as garnish. Sweet, sour and hot at once.

A spicy one, not a sweet one. The mule format works for every dark shochu and most sake.

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.

Coconut water for lengthening, coconut milk or cream for weight.

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

St-Germain or similar. A half ounce is enough.

Diluted one to one with warm water so it mixes cold. A little goes far; taste before adding more.

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

Bruised stalks steeped in the spirit, or a syrup. Citrus without acid, which is useful when you want aroma but not sourness.

Ripe pear, muddled or as nectar. Delicate, so it belongs with delicate bottles.

Sour enough to be useful. Muddle a handful, or use a good puree.

Gentler than rosemary. Steep a sprig, or use a thyme syrup.

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

Fresh juice, strained. Add a pinch of salt.

The bellini fruit. Nectar from a Japanese market, or a ripe peach muddled through a strainer.

The Korean-style yuzu preserve sold in jars. A spoon in hot water with shochu, or shaken cold.

Sweet yuzu liqueur, usually on a sake or shochu base. A shortcut to yuzu when the fruit is out of season.

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

Good tomato juice, or a ripe tomato muddled and strained. Sake's umami and tomato's are chemically the same thing.

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

A pinch in the glass or a half rim. Salt does not make a drink salty in small amounts; it makes it taste more like itself.

Whisked into a slurry first, never dumped in dry. Bitter, umami and creamy at once.

Almond syrup with a touch of orange blossom. The tiki sweetener, and kokuto shochu is a tiki spirit waiting to happen.

Cold-pressed juice or thin slices. Green apple is the aroma many ginjo sake already carry, so this is amplification rather than addition.

Fresh in season, dried the rest of the year. Apricot and umeshu share a family, which is why they get along.

Ripe banana, muddled or as a syrup. The banana note in ginjo sake is real chemistry, not a metaphor.

Dolin blanc or Lillet. Sweeter and more floral than dry; for the aromatic bottles.

The concentrate, diluted with soda. Yogurt-sweet and sour. The Calpis sour is a national drink in Japan.

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

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

Fresh in early summer; morello or amarena in syrup otherwise. Dark cherry for aged bottles, bright cherry for sparkling.

Fronds, gently muddled. For the savory, saline glass.

One white, dry-shaken. Texture without flavor.

Cordial or the liqueur. Muscat, lychee and honey in one flower.

Cold-brewed hibiscus tea: sour, cranberry-red and floral. Acid and color in one pour.

A syrup or a few dried blossoms steeped. See jasmine tea for the long drink.

Fresh in early summer, canned in syrup the rest of the year (drain it). The signature aroma of a whole school of imo shochu.

Torn leaves steeped briefly. Perfumed citrus without juice.

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

Dried osmanthus flowers steeped, or the syrup. Apricot and honey, and the smell of October in Japan.

The most useful tropical fruit for mixing: intensely aromatic and properly sour. Pulp with seeds, or a good puree.

A good one (Giffard, Merlet). A shortcut to the bellini when peaches are out of season.

A dry junmai as the lengthener for rice shochu, one to two. Low proof, all rice.

A pinch of ground sansho over the top, or a few peppercorns steeped. Numbing, citrusy, green.

A split bean in a syrup, or a good extract, in small amounts.

Campari, Aperol, or a Japanese bitter like Kina. The aperitivo hour is where sake and shochu make the most sense as cocktails.

Sweeter and muskier than honeydew. Prosciutto logic: it likes salt nearby.

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

One salted plum, crushed with a spoon in the glass. Salty, sour, savory.

Fino or manzanilla. Savory, salty, bone dry.

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

Ripe honeydew, juiced or in cubes. If a bottle says melon on the label, this is the proof.

Green muscat grapes, halved or juiced. Shine Muscat if you can find it.

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