Sengetsu Rice Shochu

Fino or manzanilla. Savory, salty, bone dry.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

Umeboshi (salt-pickled), ume syrup, or the fruit's own liqueur. Sour, salty and savory at once.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

Cold-brewed chamomile as a lengthener, or steeped in the spirit.

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

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

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

Ripe honeydew, juiced or in cubes. If a bottle says melon on the label, this is the proof.

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

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

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

A good one (Giffard, Merlet). A shortcut to the bellini when peaches are out of season.

Ripe pear, muddled or as nectar. Delicate, so it belongs with delicate bottles.

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

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

One star, steeped, for the dark bottles.

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

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

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

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

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

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

One white, dry-shaken. Texture without flavor.

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.

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

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

Good tomato juice, or a ripe tomato muddled and strained. Sake's umami and tomato's are chemically the same thing.

Fresh juice, strained. Add a pinch of salt.