Natsu no Mannen 'Summer Penguin' Sweet Potato Shochu

Sharper and greener than lemon. The citrus for anything built on brown sugar or tropical fruit.

• Lime frames tropical fruit so it does not go flat
• 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.

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.
• On an already sweet bottle it turns to grapefruit candy
• Grapefruit and imo shochu is a Kagoshima bar staple; the bitterness answers the earth
• Its bitter peel gives floral bottles a spine

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

• Autumn blossom on a floral bottle
• Kinmokusei blooms when the new imo shochu is released, same season
• Honeyed flower on honeyed age
• Only for the lychee-scented bottles. On a heavy, roasted imo the flowers simply disappear.

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

• Amaro bullies perfume
• The bitterness lands on the caramel rather than on the alcohol, which is what makes it read as depth
• Amaro and aged notes are a winter bar
• Amaro's herbs answer imo shochu's earth

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.

• The bottle already smells of caramel, and this puts more of it in the glass.
• 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.

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.

• The bottle is already floral, and this puts more of that in the glass.
• 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.

Fresh juice, or grilled wedges for a smokier drink. The awamori fruit.

• Amplifies the tropical fruit already there
• 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.

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.

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.
• Maewari: mix imo shochu and water a day ahead and it rounds out

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.

• 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.

Bitter orange: sour and aromatic rather than sweet, the citrus that goes into ponzu. Bottled juice is sold for cooking and works straight in a glass. Use the peel too, it carries most of the smell.

• Daidai's bitterness sits on top of a delicate floral bottle rather than beside it
• Daidai is the citrus in ponzu, and ponzu is already on the table next to imo shochu
• The peel is doing what the orange twist on an old fashioned does
• 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
• Tonic's quinine lets floral bottles show
• Imo shochu and tonic is what Kagoshima distilleries now recommend to first-timers

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

• 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.
• 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.

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.

• 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.
• 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.

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

• 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.
• 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.

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

• Jasmine amplifies whatever floral note the bottle has
• 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.

Angostura or a Japanese aromatic. Two dashes.

• Bitters stomp on perfume
• 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.

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.
• Heat blows off delicate perfume
• Warmth opens caramel; the same bottle cold keeps most of it below the rim
• Oyuwari: hot water first, then shochu, six of shochu to four of water. Imo shochu opens up in warmth

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.

• Sourness with nothing attached to it, so the bottle's own perfume stays in front
• 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 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.

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

• Raspberry has a rose note that floral bottles meet
• 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.

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.

• 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.

Cold-brewed sencha, unsweetened. Ocha-wari is one of the everyday ways shochu is drunk in Japan, alongside the oolong version.

• Green tea and oolong are how shochu is drunk with dinner across Kyushu. Tea's tannin meets the earth without covering it.
• Bitter tea and a sweet bottle argue
• Green tea softens the earth in imo shochu without hiding it
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

Dark, in small amounts, for the cask and sweet-potato bottles.

• Maple on sweet potato
• Maple and aged, caramel notes
• The bottle already smells of caramel, and this puts more of it in the glass.
• 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.

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.

• A salt rim on an imo shochu drink is a Kagoshima bar trick
• Salt is the fastest way to make an earthy bottle taste like more of itself.

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.

Jack Rudy's Extra Bitter, made with real cinchona bark, or Small Hand Foods'. Half a teaspoon and soda, set to the bottle in front of you rather than to a tonic maker's idea of a spirit.

• Bottled tonic's sugar is set for a 40 percent spirit, which is why shochu tonics can taste like lemonade
• This mixer is sweetened too, so it lengthens the drink without cutting the sweetness that is already there.
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
• Jack Rudy's Extra Bitter, made with real cinchona bark, or Small Hand Foods'. Half a teaspoon and soda, set to the bottle in front of you rather than to a tonic maker's idea of a spirit.

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.

Scrappy's leads with the seed, Fee Brothers has garlic and ginger behind it, The Bitter Truth reads more astringent than bitter. Two dashes.

• 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 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.

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.

• 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.

Torn leaves steeped briefly. Perfumed citrus without juice.

• Lime leaf and tropical fruit are one cuisine
• The bottle is already floral, and this puts more of that in the glass.
• 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.

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

• The bottle is already floral, and this puts more of that in the glass.
• Only for the lychee-scented bottles. On a heavy, roasted imo the flowers simply disappear.

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

• Caramel needs a bitter edge or it reads as syrup, and peel gives that without adding acid
• 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.

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

• The bottle already smells of tropical fruit, and this puts more of it in the glass.
• This mixer is sweetened too, so it lengthens the drink without cutting the sweetness that is already there.
• Coconut water for lengthening, coconut milk or cream for weight.

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.
• Ginger beer covers delicate perfume
• 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.

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
• A lemon soda softens imo shochu for the unconvinced
• Carbonation carries aroma up out of the glass, so a highball shows an aromatic bottle off rather than diluting the point of it.

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
• Carbonation carries aroma up out of the glass, so a highball shows an aromatic bottle off rather than diluting the point of it.

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.

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

• The bottle is already floral, and this puts more of that in the glass.

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

• The bottle is already floral, and this puts more of that in the glass.

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
• 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.

A drop of rose water, or a rose syrup. A drop; it takes over.

• Rose on a floral bottle is a perfume counter
• 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.

• Blossom on blossom
• 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.

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.

• 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.

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

• 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.
• 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.