Selephant Kokuto Shochu

Fresh juice, a syrup, or a good ginger beer. The spice that makes a low-proof drink feel like it has a backbone.

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.

The non-alcoholic koji drink, sweet from rice starch alone. Blend with the spirit and ice; it is a shochu smoothie.

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

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

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

White miso whisked into a syrup, a small spoon per drink. Salty, sweet and savory at once.

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

A few grinds over the top. Aroma more than heat.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

One star, steeped, for the dark bottles.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

Angostura or a Japanese aromatic. Two dashes.

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

The concentrate, diluted with soda. Yogurt-sweet and sour. The Calpis sour is a national drink in Japan.

Cold brew, unsweetened. For barley, brown-sugar, cask-aged and awamori bottles; it will bury a daiginjo.

Half-and-half or heavy cream, in the after-dinner glass only.

Warm kombu-and-bonito stock, lightly seasoned, mixed with the spirit. It sounds strange and tastes like an oden counter.

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

One white, dry-shaken. Texture without flavor.

A quarter ounce. Menthol and bitterness, for the darkest bottles.

Fino or manzanilla. Savory, salty, bone dry.

Green tea with popped, toasted rice. Cold-brew it. Comfort in a glass.

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

Cold-brewed or hot. Roasted green tea, low in bitterness, high in toast. The oyuwari of teas.

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

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

Cold whole milk. Shochu milk-wari is a real order in Kyushu, not a dare.

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

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.

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

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.

Cold, and fizzy enough to matter. One part spirit to three or four parts soda for shochu; one to one for sake.

A drop. Think of it as salt with depth, for the savory glass only.

Dry cava or crémant. Topping sake with it adds the acid and the bubbles sake lacks in one pour.

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.

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.

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

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

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

Okinawan or Amami kokuto dissolved one to one in water. Molasses, minerals, a little salt.

Almond syrup with a touch of orange blossom. The tiki sweetener, and kokuto shochu is a tiki spirit waiting to happen.

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

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

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

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.

A bar spoon. Cassis-oolong is one of the most common izakaya orders in Japan.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Cold, unsweetened barley tea. Every Japanese fridge has a pitcher in summer. Mix one to three over ice.

The dairy-free milk that tastes of cereal, which is why it likes grain spirits.

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 sprig, lightly toasted with a lighter, as garnish or stirred. Strong; a little.

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

A dried shiitake steeped in the spirit for a day. Savory and strange in the best way.

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

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

A sesame syrup, or a rim of ground sesame and salt. Toasty and rich.

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

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

Fresh juice, strained. Add a pinch of salt.

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

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

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

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