Ozeki Lemon Sour Cocktail Shochu

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Muddled gently with citrus. Thai basil brings anise, Italian basil brings pepper.

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

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

The neutral sweetener. Use when you want to balance acid without adding a flavor.

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

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

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

Unsweetened juice. Sharp and a little tannic, useful for cutting sweetness.

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

One white, dry-shaken. Texture without flavor.

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

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.

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

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

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

A small piece steeped in the bottle overnight. Savory depth without salt.

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

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

A bar spoon, no more. Salt, and the savory note that comes with it.

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

Fresh orange juice for a sparkling sake mimosa; the peel for stirred drinks with aged bottles.

Cointreau or a dry curaçao. The sweet-and-citrus half of any sour.

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

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

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

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

A rim of shichimi, or a slice of fresh chili. Heat on fruit, not on rice.

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.

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

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

A rice-grain amount, dissolved. For the savory, cucumber glass, not the fruit one.

Fresh juice, strained. Add a pinch of salt.

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

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

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

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

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.