Rokushu Regular

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

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

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.

• 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.

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

Dry cava or crémant. Acid and bubbles in one pour.

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

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

• A neutral sweetener that does not add flavor of its own

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

• Basil on a clean bottle reads like a gin smash

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

• Celery on a clean bottle reads as a savory highball

Ribbons or muddled slices. Cucumber is what turns a serious glass into something you drink outside without thinking about it.

• Cucumber on a clean bottle is the most refreshing thing on this list

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

• Two clean, dry things

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

• Cold-brewed sencha on a clean bottle is quiet and grown-up

Sweeter and rounder than brewing your own matcha, and it dissolves properly, which matcha powder in a cold drink does not.

• A clean bottle lets the tea bitterness read as bitterness rather than mud

Small Hand Foods', or sugar, water and gum arabic from the baking aisle at home. Worth knowing that most Japanese gum syrup on a shelf today has no arabic gum in it at all.

• A 25 percent spirit brings far less viscosity than a 40 percent one, so a shaken sour goes thin

Cold-brewed, unsweetened. The floral top note sits above a dry spirit without adding weight to it.

• Perfumed tea on a clean bottle

Muddled with the seeds. Green, sour and refreshing, and cheap year round.

• Kiwi's tartness shows on a clean bottle

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

• Lemongrass perfume shows on a clean bottle

Kwai Feh or Dita. Perfumed and quite sweet, so treat it as the aroma and let the shochu stay the drink.

• A clean bottle is the right blank page for something this perfumed

Hana Makgeolli is brewed in Greenpoint, Brooklyn; Makku sells a canned one. Strength varies widely across the category, from around 6 percent in a can to the mid teens for an unfiltered takju, so read the label before deciding how much to pour.

• The yeasty haze gives back the body distillation took out

Midori, or a drier Japanese one if you can find it. Half an ounce is plenty; this is a flavour, not a base.

• Sweet enough to need a clean base under it

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

• Mint on a clean bottle is a mojito with the rum swapped out

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

• A clean bottle can take a splash of brine

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

• Sweet-sour ginger on a clean bottle

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

• Shiso on a clean bottle is the most Japanese drink you can build

Usually red shiso, so it comes out pink. Sharper and more herbal than it looks, and a little goes a long way.

• The herb needs a quiet base or it just tastes like the herb

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

• Mizuwari shows a clean bottle as it is, just lighter

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

• A tiny amount on a clean bottle reads as a green, savory heat

Fresh juice, strained. Add a pinch of salt.

• Watermelon and a clean bottle is a summer festival

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.

• Mild enough that a light bottle is still the thing you taste
• 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.

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

• Milder than sudachi, so it does not fight a delicate bottle
• 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.

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

• A single leaf on a clean bottle changes the whole 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.

Torn leaves steeped briefly. Perfumed citrus without juice.

• Intense citrus perfume on a clean bottle
• 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.

• Sharper and more bitter than a lime, which is what keeps it from disappearing into a light bottle
• 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.

• Sudachi's green sharpness shows best on a clean bottle
• 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.

• A clean bottle gives yuzu a blank page
• 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.