Shoro Interlude Chestnut Barrel Aged Sweet Potato Shochu

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.

• Citrus acid cuts sweet potato's weight. That's why Kagoshima bars reach for grapefruit and yuzu before anything else.
• Kagoshima bartenders reach for yuzu with imo shochu first
• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.

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

• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.
• Orange with a raspberry edge. Winter fruit; worth waiting for.

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

• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.
• Sharper and greener than lemon. The citrus for anything built on brown sugar or tropical fruit.

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

• Green tea and oolong are how shochu is drunk with dinner across Kyushu. Tea's tannin meets the earth without covering it.
• 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.

Unsweetened, cold. One part shochu to three or four parts tea, over ice. Drinks with food better than almost anything else here.

• 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.

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

• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.
• Oita's citrus, softer than sudachi. Bartenders in Oita mix it with the local barley shochu and soda.
• 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.

• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.
• 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.
• 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.

• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.
• A small green citrus from Tokushima, sharper and more herbal than lime. Sold frozen or as juice in Japanese markets.
• 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.

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.
• The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.
• Muddled with the seeds. Green, sour and refreshing, and cheap year round.

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.
• The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.
• Fresh juice, or grilled wedges for a smokier drink. The awamori fruit.

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

• Salt-plum and imo shochu in hot water is a Kagoshima winter
• An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
• The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.

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.
• Imo shochu mule: ginger beer, lime, over ice
• Carbonation carries aroma up out of the glass, so a highball shows an aromatic bottle off rather than diluting the point of it.
• This mixer is sweetened too, so it lengthens the drink without cutting the sweetness that is already there.

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

• 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.

• 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.
• 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.

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

• Spice on aged, nutty notes
• Warm spice gives an earthy bottle a pulse without covering the earth itself.
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

One star, steeped, for the dark bottles.

• Anise and aged notes are a winter cabinet
• Warm spice gives an earthy bottle a pulse without covering the earth itself.
• 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

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.
• The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.
• An earthy bottle has a savoury side already, and these meet it rather than trying to sweeten it away.
• 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.

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

• This bottle's aroma is the reason to own it, and a roasted or smoky mixer covers exactly that.
• Vanilla is the thing added to a coffee syrup; this bottle has it already
• 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.

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.
• The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.
• 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.
• Hojicha and imo shochu: a roasted pair
• Roasted tea and aged notes are a fireside
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

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

• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
• Cold-brewed, unsweetened. The floral top note sits above a dry spirit without adding weight to it.

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

• 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.

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.

• 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.

Juice and peel are two different tools. Fresh juice, never bottled, is the whole basis of the lemon sour and the quickest way to put acid into a distilled base. The peel expressed over the top gives the oil and no acid at all, which is what a sweet or roasted bottle usually wants instead.

• 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.
• The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.
• Juice and peel are two different tools. Fresh juice, never bottled, is the whole basis of the lemon sour and the quickest way to put acid into a distilled base. The peel expressed over the top gives the oil and no acid at all, which is what a sweet or roasted bottle usually wants instead.

Fresh juice when you want it long and easy; the peel when the bottle is aged and the drink is stirred.

• Orange peel is the standard partner for a warm spice, which is why anything mulled has both
• Orange oil sits on top of vanilla. Juice would cut it, which is the opposite of the point
• This bottle already reads sweet, on aroma rather than on sugar. Adding real sugar to it is the most common way a drink built on it goes wrong.
• Fresh juice when you want it long and easy; the peel when the bottle is aged and the drink is stirred.

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.
• The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.

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

• Nut on nut, and almond is the sweeter of the two so it does the sweetening
• Almond and vanilla is marzipan, and the bottle is already halfway there
• Almond and oak is the whole idea behind a nut liqueur in a barrel drink
• This mixer is sweetened too, so it lengthens the drink without cutting the sweetness that is already there.

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.
• The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.

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.
• The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.

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

• Chestnut and cream is mont blanc, and the bottle is the chestnut half of it
• Vanilla and dairy is what a custard is, and here the bottle is bringing the vanilla
• Half-and-half or heavy cream, in the after-dinner glass only.

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.

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.
• This mixer is sweetened too, so it lengthens the drink without cutting the sweetness that is already there.

Barrow's Intense, made in Brooklyn, or Domaine de Canton, which is the easier one to find. Ginger and sugar arrive together either way, and both work hot as well as cold. Being spirits themselves they add alcohol along with the volume, which a juice or a syrup does not.

• 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
• This mixer is sweetened too, so it lengthens the drink without cutting the sweetness that is already there.

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

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.

• A salt rim on an imo shochu drink is a Kagoshima bar trick
• Salt is the fastest way to make an earthy bottle taste like more of itself.

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

• A long aged spirit and dried mushroom share a forest floor note
• An earthy bottle has a savoury side already, and these meet it rather than trying to sweeten it away.

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

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

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

• Kumquat's bitter peel stands up to aged, nutty notes
• This mixer is sweetened too, so it lengthens the drink without cutting the sweetness that is already there.
• Eaten whole, peel and all. Muddle a few in a glass; the peel gives bitterness, the flesh gives tartness.

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

• Warm spice gives an earthy bottle a pulse without covering the earth itself.
• 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 most shochu, so equal parts with a 25 percent bottle lands near 20 and the drink stays long. Soda or a grapefruit soda over the top is the producer's own serve.

• 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 most shochu, so equal parts with a 25 percent bottle lands near 20 and the drink stays long. Soda or a grapefruit soda over the top is the producer's own serve.

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

• 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.

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

• 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.

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

• A bitter answers the earth with more earth, amaro and gentian most of all. A split-base imo drink then 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.

• 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.

Cocchi Americano: moscato steeped with cinchona bark, gentian and bitter orange. The bark is the point of it, and it carries a quinine bitterness no citrus will give you.

• 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. The bark is the point of it, and it carries a quinine bitterness no citrus will give you.

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

• Warm spice gives an earthy bottle a pulse without covering the earth itself.
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.

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

• Warm spice gives an earthy bottle a pulse without covering the earth itself.
• 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.
• The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.
• Salt is the fastest way to make an earthy bottle taste like more of itself.

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

• Maple and oak are a bourbon idea
• Maple on sweet potato
• Maple and aged, caramel notes
• This bottle already reads sweet, on aroma rather than on sugar. Adding real sugar to it is the most common way a drink built on it goes wrong.

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

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.
• 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.
• 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.

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
• A lemon soda softens imo shochu for the unconvinced
• Carbonation carries aroma up out of the glass, so a highball shows an aromatic bottle off rather than diluting the point of it.

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
• Imo shochu and tonic is what Kagoshima distilleries now recommend to first-timers
• Carbonation carries aroma up out of the glass, so a highball shows an aromatic bottle off rather than diluting the point of 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, all three in one pour.

• 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.

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.

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

• Warm spice gives an earthy bottle a pulse without covering the earth itself.
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
• 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 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.

• Warm spice gives an earthy bottle a pulse without covering the earth itself.
• There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
• 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.

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

• Kagoshima bartenders pair imo shochu with mikan when it is in season
• This bottle already reads sweet, on aroma rather than on sugar. Adding real sugar to it is the most common way a drink built on it goes wrong.
• Sweet, low-acid Japanese mandarin. Juice it or drop segments in a glass. It needs a squeeze of something sharper alongside.
• 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.