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Takara Shochu Jun

Takara Shuzo · Shochu

  • korui (multiple distillation)

Pour this first

Jasmine tea, tall over ice. Lemon with it.

Perfumed tea on a clean bottle

Neutral by design, so the citrus does all of the flavour and the shochu does the length and the proof. This is the base a lemon sour is built on. 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.

One part shochu to three or four parts of the long mixer, over plenty of ice, then the accent on top. If it tastes thin, go two to three next time.

What it tastes like

Korui shochu from Takara Shuzo. Importer's tasting notes: corn, savory, sweet. The profile below is built from the tasting notes its importer publishes.

  • corn
  • savory
  • sweet
  • clean
Sweet
3/5
Body
2/5
Aroma
1/5
Fruit
1/5
Floral
not described
Grain
2/5
Earth
not described
Umami
2/5

Read from the words above rather than measured. Where it says not described, none of the sources behind this page mention it, which is not the same as it not being there.

Base
a carefully-selected combination of grains including corn, barley, and molasses

What to mix with it

Tap a family to narrow it down. Every suggestion carries its reasoning, so if the reasoning does not convince you, ignore the suggestion.

A longer wedge is a family we'd reach for sooner with this bottle, worked out from its flavours rather than tasted. It isn't a score, or a comparison with other bottles.

Explore all 52 pairings

  • Hoppy (beer-taste mixer)

    Strong match

    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.

    • Soda and a neutral base is the chuhai, and nothing in the bottle competes with what you put in it.
    • It was built around neutral shochu, and that is still where it fits best

  • Jasmine tea

    Strong match

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

    • Perfumed tea on a clean bottle
    • Cold-brewed, unsweetened. The floral top note sits above a dry spirit without adding weight to it.

  • Lemon soda (ramune, Sanpellegrino)

    Strong match

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

    • Soda and a neutral base is the chuhai, and nothing in the bottle competes with what you put in it.
    • Sweet citrus bubbles on a clean bottle

  • Mugicha (barley tea)

    Strong match

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

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

  • Soda water

    Strong match

    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.

    • Soda and a neutral base is the chuhai, and nothing in the bottle competes with what you put in it.
    • Bubbles on a clean bottle: the simplest refreshing drink on this list

  • Tonic water

    Strong match

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

    • Soda and a neutral base is the chuhai, and nothing in the bottle competes with what you put in it.
    • Clean bottle and tonic is a gin and tonic without the juniper

  • Hyuganatsu

    Strong match

    A Miyazaki citrus eaten with the white pith left on, which is sweet rather than bitter. Gentler and more floral than lemon, so it flavours a drink without taking it over.

    • Mild enough that a light bottle is still the thing you taste
    • A Miyazaki citrus eaten with the white pith left on, which is sweet rather than bitter. Gentler and more floral than lemon, so it flavours a drink without taking it over.
    • 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.

  • Kabosu

    Strong match

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

    • Milder than sudachi, so it does not fight a delicate bottle
    • 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.

  • Shikuwasa

    Strong match

    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.

    • Sharper and more bitter than a lime, which is what keeps it from disappearing into a light bottle
    • 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.

  • Sudachi

    Strong match

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

    • Sudachi's green sharpness shows best on a clean bottle
    • 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.

  • Yuzu

    Strong match

    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 clean bottle gives yuzu a blank page
    • 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.
    • 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.

  • Black tea (Earl Grey)

    Good match

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

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

  • Blood orange

    Good match

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

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

  • Coffee (cold brew)

    Good match

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

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

  • Genmaicha

    Good match

    Green tea with popped, toasted rice. Cold-brew it.

    • Green tea with popped, toasted rice. Cold-brew it.

  • Ginger ale

    Good match

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

    • Soda and a neutral base is the chuhai, and nothing in the bottle competes with what you put in it.

  • Ginger beer

    Good match

    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.

    • Soda and a neutral base is the chuhai, and nothing in the bottle competes with what you put in it.

  • Hojicha

    Good match

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

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

  • Kombucha

    Good match

    A plain or ginger kombucha. Acid, bubbles and a little funk, all three in one pour.

    • Soda and a neutral base is the chuhai, and nothing in the bottle competes with what you put in it.

  • Kumquat

    Good match

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

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

  • Lemon

    Good match

    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.

    • Neutral by design, so the citrus does all of the flavour and the shochu does the length and the proof. This is the base a lemon sour is built on.

  • Lime

    Good match

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

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

  • Matcha

    Good match

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

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

  • Oolong tea

    Good match

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

    • Oolong-hai and green tea-hai are this bottle's job. The tea is the drink; the shochu is the proof behind it.

  • Orange

    Good match

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

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

  • Sobacha (roasted buckwheat tea)

    Good match

    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.

    • 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.

  • Sparkling wine (brut)

    Good match

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

    • Soda and a neutral base is the chuhai, and nothing in the bottle competes with what you put in it.

  • Daidai (bitter orange)

    Good match

    Bitter orange: sour and aromatic rather than sweet, the citrus that goes into ponzu. Bottled juice is sold for cooking and works straight in a glass. Use the peel too, it carries most of the smell.

    • Bitter orange: sour and aromatic rather than sweet, the citrus that goes into ponzu. Bottled juice is sold for cooking and works straight in a glass. Use the peel too, it carries most of the smell.
    • 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.

  • Mikan (satsuma)

    Good match

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

    • 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.

  • Green tea (sencha)

    Worth trying

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

    • Oolong-hai and green tea-hai are this bottle's job. The tea is the drink; the shochu is the proof behind it.
    • Bitter tea and a sweet bottle argue
    • Cold-brewed sencha on a clean bottle is quiet and grown-up

  • Citric and malic acid solution

    Worth trying

    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.

    • A clean bottle has nowhere to hide, so acid reads as brightness rather than as a correction

  • Agave syrup

    Worth trying

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

    • A neutral sweetener that does not add flavor of its own

  • Aquavit

    Worth trying

    Linie, around thirty-five dollars, rested in oloroso casks at sea so it brings a little wood as well. A quarter ounce as a split base.

    • Caraway and dill point at the dashi and miso end of the table, where juniper does not go

  • Basil

    Worth trying

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

    • Basil on a clean bottle reads like a gin smash

  • Cucumber

    Worth trying

    Ribbons or muddled slices. Cucumber is what turns a serious glass into something you drink outside without thinking about it.

    • Cucumber on a clean bottle is the most refreshing thing on this list

  • Goya (bitter melon)

    Worth trying

    Two slices from any Asian grocery, seeds out. It keeps getting more bitter the longer it sits, so taste as you go and pull the slices when it is where you want it.

    • The Okinawa brewers' association publishes a goya cocktail of its own, so this is not an idea from outside

  • Green tea liqueur

    Worth trying

    Sweeter and rounder than brewing your own matcha, and it dissolves properly, which matcha powder in a cold drink does not.

    • A clean bottle lets the tea bitterness read as bitterness rather than mud

  • Hon-mirin

    Worth trying

    Mikawa Mirin from Sumiya Bunjiro Shoten, made from glutinous rice, koji and shochu since 1911 with no added sugar. Not the sweetened seasoning sold as mirin-fu chomiryo, which is a different product.

    • Sweet and savoury at once is what mirin is for in a kitchen, and the glass is no different

  • Kiwi

    Worth trying

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

    • Kiwi's tartness shows on a clean bottle

  • Lemongrass

    Worth trying

    Bruised stalks steeped in the spirit, or a syrup. Citrus without acid, which is useful when you want aroma but not sourness.

    • Lemongrass perfume shows on a clean bottle

  • Lychee liqueur

    Worth trying

    Kwai Feh or Dita. Perfumed and quite sweet, so treat it as the aroma and let the shochu stay the drink.

    • A clean bottle is the right blank page for something this perfumed

  • Melon liqueur

    Worth trying

    Midori, or a drier Japanese one if you can find it. Half an ounce is plenty; this is a flavour, not a base.

    • Sweet enough to need a clean base under it

  • Mint

    Worth trying

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

    • Mint on a clean bottle is a mojito with the rum swapped out

  • Pickled ginger (gari)

    Worth trying

    A spoon of the brine, and a slice as garnish. Sweet, sour and hot at once.

    • Sweet-sour ginger on a clean bottle

  • Shiso

    Worth trying

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

    • Shiso on a clean bottle is the most Japanese drink you can build

  • Shiso liqueur

    Worth trying

    Usually red shiso, so it comes out pink. Sharper and more herbal than it looks, and a little goes a long way.

    • The herb needs a quiet base or it just tastes like the herb

  • Cold water (mizuwari)

    Worth trying

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

    • Mizuwari shows a clean bottle as it is, just lighter

  • Umezu (ume plum vinegar)

    Worth trying

    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 acid arrive together, which is what a salted rim does for a margarita

  • Watermelon

    Worth trying

    Fresh juice, strained. Add a pinch of salt.

    • Watermelon and a clean bottle is a summer festival

  • Kinome (sansho leaf)

    Worth trying

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

    • A single leaf on a clean bottle changes the whole glass
    • 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.

  • Makrut lime leaf

    Worth trying

    Torn leaves steeped briefly. Perfumed citrus without juice.

    • Intense citrus perfume on a clean bottle
    • 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.

  • Yuzu kosho

    Worth trying

    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.

    • The chili leaves warmth at the back rather than heat on the tongue
    • 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.

Ways to serve it

  • With soda
  • On the rocks

Korui is shochu defined by the still rather than by what it is made from: a continuous column strips out most of what a pot still leaves in, and the law caps it below 36 percent. That is why it is the house base for a lemon sour. Buy it for what you are going to put in it.

Cocktails other people made

Show 8 more

  • Just One Cookbook

    Japanese Yuzu Cocktail (Yuzu Chuhai)

    Written for shochu generally

    • ½ cup club soda (soda water)
    • ¼ cup shochu (any brand or type)
    • 1 tbsp homemade simple syrup
    • 1 tsp yuzu juice (extract)
    • ice cubes
    • 1, 2 tsp korean citron tea (yuja cha) (optional)
    • lime (optional; can use lemon)

    Built tall in the glass.

    Full method at Just One Cookbook →

  • Pickled Plum

    Lemon Sour (Japanese)

    Written for shochu generally

    • juice of 1/2 lemon
    • 1/4 cup shōchū (or soju)
    • 1/2 cup soda water
    • 1 tablespoon simple syrup (1 tablespoon sugar mixed with 1 tablespoon water)
    • ice cubes

    Built tall in the glass.

    Full method at Pickled Plum →

  • punchdrink.com · Brian Evans and George Padilla, Brooklyn, New York

    The Rule of Thirds Chu-Hai

    Written for shochu generally

    • 1 1/2 ounces shochu
    • 1 1/4 ounce grapefruit juice
    • 3/4 ounce sweetened hojicha tea (see editor's note)
    • club soda, to top

    Built tall in the glass.

    Full method at punchdrink.com →

  • Pickled Plum

    Umeboshi Sour (Pickled Plum Cocktail)

    Written for shochu generally

    • ice cubes
    • 1/4 cup shōchū (such as iichiko)
    • 3/4 cup sparkling water
    • 1 1/2 tablespoon umezu (plum vinegar)
    • 1/2 teaspoon plain rice vinegar
    • 1/2 teaspoon honey (optional)
    • 1 large soft umeboshi (japanese pickled plum)
    • 1 shiso leaf, whole or shredded, for garnish (optional)

    Built in the glass.

    Full method at Pickled Plum →

  • punchdrink.com · Teppoudama, Tokyo, Japan

    Gari Hai

    Written for shochu generally

    • scant 1 3/4 ounces shochu
    • 6 to 7 ounces soda water, to top
    • Garnish: 1 large pinch of gari (pickled ginger slices, pink or yellow)

    Built tall in the glass.

    Full method at punchdrink.com →

  • punchdrink.com · Tokyo Record Bar, New York

    Miso Dark 'n' Stormy

    Written for shochu generally

    • 2 ounces shochu
    • 1 ounce miso syrup (see editor's note)
    • 3/4 ounce yuzu juice
    • cynar, to top
    • soda, to top

    Built tall in the glass.

    Full method at punchdrink.com →

Bottles like this one

Closest on the flavour profile within the same style family, so the mixers above tend to carry across.

Sources and verification

Imported in the US by Takara Sake USA

Filed under korui, the continuous-still shochu.