Shoro Interlude Chestnut Barrel Aged Sweet Potato Shochu

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

• Citrus acid is what cuts sweet potato's weight, which is why Kagoshima bars pour imo shochu with grapefruit and yuzu before anything else.
• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• There is real sugar in this bottle already, and acid is what keeps it from reading as syrup.

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.

• The distilleries themselves now sell imo shochu as a highball. Soda lifts the aroma off the glass instead of burying it.
• Carbonation carries aroma up out of the glass, so a highball shows an aromatic bottle off rather than diluting the point of it.
• Imo shochu mule: ginger beer, lime, over ice

Cold, and fizzy enough to matter. One part shochu to three or four parts soda; if it tastes thin, go one to two next time.

• The distilleries themselves now sell imo shochu as a highball. Soda lifts the aroma off the glass instead of burying it.
• Carbonation carries aroma up out of the glass, so a highball shows an aromatic bottle off rather than diluting the point of it.
• Daiyame and other new-wave imo shochu are marketed as highballs by the distilleries themselves

Unsweetened, cold. One part shochu to three or four parts tea, over ice.

• Green tea and oolong are how shochu is drunk with dinner across Kyushu. Tea's tannin meets the earth without covering it.
• Oolong's toast meets sweet potato's roast
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

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.

• Citrus acid is what cuts sweet potato's weight, which is why Kagoshima bars pour imo shochu with grapefruit and yuzu before anything else.
• On an already sweet bottle it turns to grapefruit candy
• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• There is real sugar in this bottle already, and acid is what keeps it from reading as syrup.

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

• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• There is real sugar in this bottle already, and acid is what keeps it from reading as syrup.
• The newer imo shochu are bred for lychee and tropical aromatics, so tropical fruit is agreeing with the bottle rather than fighting it.

Sakamoto's, fermented outdoors in earthenware jars in Fukuyama and aged at least a year; Toiro and Japanese Taste ship it in the US. A teaspoon in a mizuwari is the whole intervention, and a second one is usually a mistake.

• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• There is real sugar in this bottle already, and acid is what keeps it from reading as syrup.
• Umeboshi in hot shochu is a Kagoshima winter, and salt is the fastest way to make an earthy bottle taste like more of itself.

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

• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• There is real sugar in this bottle already, and acid is what keeps it from reading as syrup.
• The newer imo shochu are bred for lychee and tropical aromatics, so tropical fruit is agreeing with the bottle rather than fighting it.

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

• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• There is real sugar in this bottle already, and acid is what keeps it from reading as syrup.
• Salt-plum and imo shochu in hot water is a Kagoshima winter

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

• The distilleries themselves now sell imo shochu as a highball. Soda lifts the aroma off the glass instead of burying it.
• Carbonation carries aroma up out of the glass, so a highball shows an aromatic bottle off rather than diluting the point of it.

Domaine de Canton or similar. The mule flavour without the sugar load of a ginger beer, and it works hot as well as cold.

• Ginger and sweet potato is a winter kitchen pairing before it is a bar one
• Warm spice against caramel, without the sugar a ginger beer brings
• It joins the pepper already in the glass rather than arguing with it

Dry cava or crémant. Acid and bubbles in one pour, which is exactly what a distilled spirit has none of.

• The distilleries themselves now sell imo shochu as a highball. Soda lifts the aroma off the glass instead of burying it.
• Carbonation carries aroma up out of the glass, so a highball shows an aromatic bottle off rather than diluting the point of it.

Braulio, made in Bormio from gentian, juniper, peppermint and yarrow, around forty-five dollars. A summer drink on shochu and a winter one on whisky, which is one bottle behaving two ways.

• Amaro and gentian answer the earth with more earth, which is why a split-base imo drink reads as intentional rather than odd.
• Oak rested and 21 percent, so half and half with a cask-aged bottle is one drink at about 23
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

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

• Ginger and sweet potato are the same autumn kitchen. Heat gives an earthy bottle a pulse.
• Spice on aged, nutty notes
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

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

• Ginger and sweet potato are the same autumn kitchen. Heat gives an earthy bottle a pulse.
• Ginger and sweet potato is a Japanese autumn kitchen
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

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.

• Hot water is the Kagoshima serve and it earns its reputation: heat pulls the earth and the sweetness up out of the glass. Cold water does the opposite and lengthens it without changing its shape.
• Oyuwari: hot water first, then shochu, six to four. Imo shochu opens up in warmth

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

• Citrus acid is what cuts sweet potato's weight, which is why Kagoshima bars pour imo shochu with grapefruit and yuzu before anything else.
• Kumquat's bitter peel stands up to aged, nutty notes

One star, steeped, for the dark bottles.

• Ginger and sweet potato are the same autumn kitchen. Heat gives an earthy bottle a pulse.
• Anise and aged notes are a winter cabinet
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

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

• Hot water is the Kagoshima serve and it earns its reputation: heat pulls the earth and the sweetness up out of the glass. Cold water does the opposite and lengthens it without changing its shape.
• Maewari: mix imo shochu and water a day ahead and it rounds out

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

• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• There is real sugar in this bottle already, and acid is what keeps it from reading as syrup.
• Only for the lychee-scented bottles. On a heavy, roasted imo the flowers simply disappear.

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

• This bottle's aroma is the reason to own it, and a roasted or smoky mixer covers exactly that.
• Green tea and oolong are how shochu is drunk with dinner across Kyushu. Tea's tannin meets the earth without covering it.
• Hojicha and imo shochu: a roasted pair
• Roasted tea and aged notes are a fireside

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

• Green tea and oolong are how shochu is drunk with dinner across Kyushu. Tea's tannin meets the earth without covering it.
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

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

• Green tea and oolong are how shochu is drunk with dinner across Kyushu. Tea's tannin meets the earth without covering it.
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

Loose or bagged, brewed weak: at full strength it takes the glass over. Takara's own guide to tea-wari lists it alongside mugicha and sobacha.

• Green tea and oolong are how shochu is drunk with dinner across Kyushu. Tea's tannin meets the earth without covering it.
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

Fresh juice, never bottled. It is the whole basis of the lemon sour, and the quickest way to put acid into a spirit that has almost none of its own.

• Citrus acid is what cuts sweet potato's weight, which is why Kagoshima bars pour imo shochu with grapefruit and yuzu before anything else.
• Fresh lemon reads harsh against aged, caramel notes
• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• There is real sugar in this bottle already, and acid is what keeps it from reading as syrup.

Food-grade citric and malic powder from the canning aisle, 10 grams whisked into 100 grams of cold water; two parts citric to one malic is close to lime. Some bartenders find a drink with no juice in it thin, so it is worth trying both ways.

• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• There is real sugar in this bottle already, and acid is what keeps it from reading as syrup.

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

• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• There is real sugar in this bottle already, and acid is what keeps it from reading as syrup.

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

• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• There is real sugar in this bottle already, and acid is what keeps it from reading as syrup.

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

• The distilleries themselves now sell imo shochu as a highball. Soda lifts the aroma off the glass instead of burying it.
• Sweet soda and aged notes argue
• Carbonation carries aroma up out of the glass, so a highball shows an aromatic bottle off rather than diluting the point of it.
• A lemon soda softens imo shochu for the unconvinced

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

• The distilleries themselves now sell imo shochu as a highball. Soda lifts the aroma off the glass instead of burying it.
• Tonic's sweetness fights aged notes
• Carbonation carries aroma up out of the glass, so a highball shows an aromatic bottle off rather than diluting the point of it.
• Imo shochu and tonic is what Kagoshima distilleries now recommend to first-timers

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

• Kinmokusei blooms when the new imo shochu is released, same season
• Honeyed flower on honeyed age
• Only for the lychee-scented bottles. On a heavy, roasted imo the flowers simply disappear.

A bar spoon, not an ounce. It is very sweet, and its job here is the almond smell rather than the sugar.

• Almond and oak is the whole idea behind a nut liqueur in a barrel drink
• Marzipan against caramel, which is a dessert people already eat

Rothman and Winter, or a Japanese anzu liqueur. Closer to umeshu than to a candy liqueur if you buy a good one.

• Long aging turns towards stone fruit anyway; this meets it there
• Apricot and oak is the flavour of an old brandy, at a third of the strength

D.O.M. Bénédictine, on most back bars. Rounder and much sweeter than the alpine liqueurs, so it suits bottles that already lean sweet rather than clean.

• Wood and resin belong in the same stirred glass
• It gives a toasty bottle the depth people usually go to an aged spirit for

Late summer fruit with a savory edge. For the deeper bottles.

• Blackberry and imo shochu is a bramble with a Kyushu accent
• Cask and blackberry: think of a whisky smash

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

• Cask notes and cherry is a Manhattan instinct
• Dark cherry against aged, oxidative notes

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

• Green tea and oolong are how shochu is drunk with dinner across Kyushu. Tea's tannin meets the earth without covering it.
• Bitter tea and a sweet bottle argue
• Green tea softens the earth in imo shochu without hiding it
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

Zuiyo's Kuririn, from Japanese chestnuts at 11 percent, or Dover's wa-shu kuri, which is on a rum base. A dessert direction, and not the same thing as kuri shochu, which is a base spirit.

• A chestnut liqueur on a chestnut shochu is the same nut twice, which is the whole idea
• Starchy sweetness and a roasted note, thickening the glass rather than brightening it

Blandy's or Barbeito, ten year. It is the one fortified wine that brings real acid, so it can do the lemon's job on a bottle where fresh citrus reads harsh.

• Barrel against barrel, except this one brings back the acid the cask took away
• The estufagem heating leaves a baked note that meets toast instead of arguing with it

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.

• Umeboshi in hot shochu is a Kagoshima winter, and salt is the fastest way to make an earthy bottle taste like more of itself.
• A salt rim on an imo shochu drink is a Kagoshima bar trick

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

• Umeboshi in hot shochu is a Kagoshima winter, and salt is the fastest way to make an earthy bottle taste like more of itself.
• A long aged spirit and dried mushroom share a forest floor note

Carpano Antica or Cocchi. A quarter of the shochu's volume, stirred cold, is a manhattan at well under half the usual proof.

• An aged bottle already has the caramel a manhattan wants; this brings the botanicals
• Cask notes and vermouth's spice belong in the same stirred glass

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

• Umeboshi in hot shochu is a Kagoshima winter, and salt is the fastest way to make an earthy bottle taste like more of itself.
• Imo shochu, hot water, umeboshi: a Kagoshima winter

Campari, Aperol, or a Japanese bitter like Kina. Shochu is low enough in proof to make an aperitivo you can actually have two of.

• Amaro and gentian answer the earth with more earth, which is why a split-base imo drink reads as intentional rather than odd.
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

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

• Ginger and sweet potato are the same autumn kitchen. Heat gives an earthy bottle a pulse.
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

Cynar, 16.5 percent, which is weaker than the shochu itself, so equal parts lands near 20 percent and the drink stays long. Soda or a grapefruit soda over the top is the producer's own serve.

• Amaro and gentian answer the earth with more earth, which is why a split-base imo drink reads as intentional rather than odd.
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

Scrappy's leads with the seed, Fee Brothers has garlic and ginger behind it, The Bitter Truth reads more astringent than bitter. Two dashes.

• Amaro and gentian answer the earth with more earth, which is why a split-base imo drink reads as intentional rather than odd.
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

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

• Amaro and gentian answer the earth with more earth, which is why a split-base imo drink reads as intentional rather than odd.
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

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

• Amaro and gentian answer the earth with more earth, which is why a split-base imo drink reads as intentional rather than odd.
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

The Japanese Bitters, five 100ml expressions, sold at Astor Wines in New York. Angostura at nearly 45 percent is a small spike in a 25 percent drink in a way these are not.

• Amaro and gentian answer the earth with more earth, which is why a split-base imo drink reads as intentional rather than odd.
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

Cocchi Americano: moscato steeped with cinchona bark, gentian and bitter orange. Lillet dropped its quinine in 1985, so only the Americano side of the category still tastes of the bark, and equal parts with a shochu is about 21 percent.

• Amaro and gentian answer the earth with more earth, which is why a split-base imo drink reads as intentional rather than odd.
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

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

• Ginger and sweet potato are the same autumn kitchen. Heat gives an earthy bottle a pulse.
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

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

• Ginger and sweet potato are the same autumn kitchen. Heat gives an earthy bottle a pulse.
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

Jack Rudy's Extra Bitter, made with real cinchona bark, or Small Hand Foods'. Half a teaspoon and soda, set to the bottle in front of you rather than to a tonic maker's idea of a spirit.

• Amaro and gentian answer the earth with more earth, which is why a split-base imo drink reads as intentional rather than odd.
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

The Kyushu condiment, in a tube in any Japanese grocer: fermented yuzu peel, green chili and salt. A quarter teaspoon stirred into an oyuwari, which is the serve Asahi publishes.

• Ginger and sweet potato are the same autumn kitchen. Heat gives an earthy bottle a pulse.
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

Eden Foods sells it as Ume Plum Vinegar in most US supermarkets, and it is one of the cheapest things on this list. A bar spoon, and unlike a crushed umeboshi it can go into a shaken drink.

• Salt and sour cut across a vanilla note rather than joining it
• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• There is real sugar in this bottle already, and acid is what keeps it from reading as syrup.
• Umeboshi in hot shochu is a Kagoshima winter, and salt is the fastest way to make an earthy bottle taste like more of itself.

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

• This bottle's aroma is the reason to own it, and a roasted or smoky mixer covers exactly that.
• Green tea and oolong are how shochu is drunk with dinner across Kyushu. Tea's tannin meets the earth without covering it.
• Cask notes and coffee: think of a coffee old fashioned
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

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

• This bottle brings its own sweetness. More sugar is the most common way a drink built on it goes wrong.
• Maple and oak are a bourbon idea
• Maple on sweet potato
• Maple and aged, caramel notes

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

• This bottle's aroma is the reason to own it, and a roasted or smoky mixer covers exactly that.
• Green tea and oolong are how shochu is drunk with dinner across Kyushu. Tea's tannin meets the earth without covering it.
• Mugicha softens imo shochu's earth into something you drink all evening
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

Roasted buckwheat, in any Japanese grocery, hot or cold. In a soba restaurant the same serve is made with soba-yu, the starchy water the noodles were boiled in, which is thicker and cannot be bought.

• This bottle's aroma is the reason to own it, and a roasted or smoky mixer covers exactly that.
• Green tea and oolong are how shochu is drunk with dinner across Kyushu. Tea's tannin meets the earth without covering it.
• It flatters a toasty barley bottle that has nothing to do with soba
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

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

• Citrus acid is what cuts sweet potato's weight, which is why Kagoshima bars pour imo shochu with grapefruit and yuzu before anything else.
• This bottle brings its own sweetness. More sugar is the most common way a drink built on it goes wrong.
• Kagoshima bartenders pair imo shochu with mikan when it is in season

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

• This bottle brings its own sweetness. More sugar is the most common way a drink built on it goes wrong.
• Ginger and sweet potato are the same autumn kitchen. Heat gives an earthy bottle a pulse.
• Vanilla is what oak gives; more of it is coherent
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

Hoppy Beverage Co. has made it in Tokyo since 1948; at 0.8 percent it is legally a soft drink, and it is hard to find outside Japan. Chill the bottle, the shochu and the mug and no ice is needed.

• The distilleries themselves now sell imo shochu as a highball. Soda lifts the aroma off the glass instead of burying it.
• An aged bottle is the one you would not lengthen with a beer substitute
• 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, none of which survive a still.

• The distilleries themselves now sell imo shochu as a highball. Soda lifts the aroma off the glass instead of burying it.
• No
• Carbonation carries aroma up out of the glass, so a highball shows an aromatic bottle off rather than diluting the point of it.

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

• Amazake softens imo shochu into a winter dessert
• Milk and Calpis do soften imo shochu, and that is exactly the point for someone who thinks they dislike it. It is a gateway, not a destination.

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

• Jasmine against imo shochu's floral side is a real Kagoshima cocktail idea
• Only for the lychee-scented bottles. On a heavy, roasted imo the flowers simply disappear.