Ryukyu Ohcho Awamori

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cold-brewed Earl Grey brings bergamot; plain black tea brings tannin. For the aged and brown-sugar bottles.

A stick in hot water with the spirit, or a light syrup. Winter.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ripe mango puree. Needs lime beside it or it goes flat.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fresh figs muddled, or fig jam. For the aged and the brown-sugar bottles only.

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

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.

Torn leaves steeped briefly. Perfumed citrus without juice.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bolder than white peach, closer to apricot. For bottles with more weight.

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

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

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

Angostura or a Japanese aromatic. Two dashes.

One star, steeped, for the dark bottles.

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