Hot water (oyuwari), in a warm cup. Blackberry with it.
Oyuwari: hot water first, then shochu, six of shochu to four of water. Imo shochu opens up in warmth
Blackberry and imo shochu is a bramble with a Kyushu accent. Late summer fruit with a savory edge. For the deeper bottles.
Hot water in the cup first, then the shochu, six parts shochu to four of water. No ice. Then the accent on top. If it's too strong, a little more water next time.
What it tastes like
Shochu from Miyamoto Shuzoten in Ishikawa. Producer's tasting notes: sweet potato, rich. The profile below is built from the tasting notes the producer publishes.
sweet potato
rich
Sweet
2/5
Body
3/5
Aroma
4/5
Fruit
1/5
Floral
not described
Grain
2/5
Earth
2/5
Umami
1/5
Read from the words above rather than measured. Where it says not described, none of the sources behind this page mention it, which is not the same as it not being there.
Base
Kaga maru-imo (yama-no-imo, Japanese mountain yam)
What to mix with it
Tap a family to narrow it down. Every suggestion carries its reasoning, so if the reasoning does not convince you, ignore the suggestion.
A longer wedge is a family we'd reach for sooner with this bottle, worked out from its flavours rather than tasted. It isn't a score, or a comparison with other bottles.
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.
Oyuwari: hot water first, then shochu, six of shochu to four of water. Imo shochu opens up in warmth
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.
Carbonation carries aroma up out of the glass, so a highball shows an aromatic bottle off rather than diluting the point of it.
Barrow's Intense, made in Brooklyn, or Domaine de Canton, which is the easier one to find. Ginger and sugar arrive together either way, and both work hot as well as cold. Being spirits themselves they add alcohol along with the volume, which a juice or a syrup does not.
Ginger and sweet potato is a winter kitchen pairing before it is a bar one
Carpano Antica or Cocchi. A quarter of the shochu's volume, stirred cold, makes a manhattan-style drink: on a 25 percent shochu that is about 23 before the ice gets to it, where a 40 percent rye starts nearer 35.
There is enough weight here to carry vermouth without being flattened
The non-alcoholic koji drink, sweet from rice starch alone. Blend with the spirit and ice; it is a shochu smoothie.
Amazake softens imo shochu into a winter dessert
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.
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 is the citrus in ponzu, and ponzu is already on the table next to imo shochu
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 Miyazaki citrus eaten with the white pith left on, which is sweet rather than bitter. Gentler and more floral than lemon, so it flavours a drink without taking it over.
Hyuganatsu is Miyazaki's citrus and imo shochu is what Miyazaki pours it beside; the soft acid does the same work on a sweet potato bottle from anywhere
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
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 Japanese citrus that tastes like grapefruit, mandarin and lemon at once, with a floral peel. A little zest or juice goes a long way.
Kagoshima bartenders reach for yuzu with imo shochu first
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 Korean-style yuzu preserve sold in jars. A spoon in hot water with shochu, or shaken cold.
Yuzu tea and imo shochu oyuwari is a Kagoshima winter
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.
Ways to serve it
With soda
On the rocks
The bases with no family of their own: sake lees, chestnut, corn. There are no style rules on this page, which is deliberate. What each bottle is described as tasting of is doing the whole job, so the suggestions come from that rather than from anything the category is supposed to want.
Cocktails other people made
We haven't found a cocktail written for this exact bottle. These were written for other bottles, so each one says which, and what changes if you pour this instead.