Takara Yokaichi Kome Shochu

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.

• The bottle already smells of rice, and this puts more of it in the glass.
• 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.

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

• The bottle already smells of jasmine, and this puts more of it in the glass.
• The cleanest of the shochu bases, so a flower actually reads instead of being swallowed.

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.

• Rice sweetness wants acid, and citrus is the most direct way to give it some.
• The classic pair: rice sweetness under yuzu zest
• 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 gentle ginger. For bottles that a ginger beer would bully.

• Gentler than ginger beer; right for a soft rice bottle
• Carbonation carries aroma up out of the glass, so a highball shows an aromatic bottle off rather than diluting the point of it.

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.

• A shochu mule, and it is on menus
• 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.

• One part shochu to five parts Hoppy drinks like a pint with none of beer's body. A 25 percent bottle lands just under 5; the figure follows the bottle, so a 40 percent one is nearer 7
• 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.

• Acid and bubbles on rice sweetness
• Carbonation carries aroma up out of the glass, so a highball shows an aromatic bottle off rather than diluting the point of it.

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

• Rice shochu and lemon soda
• Carbonation carries aroma up out of the glass, so a highball shows an aromatic bottle off rather than diluting the point of it.

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.

• Shochu and soda over ice is an everyday drink in Japan
• Carbonation carries aroma up out of the glass, so a highball shows an aromatic bottle off rather than diluting the point of it.

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

• Shochu and brut sparkling is a French 75 with rice under it; the acid is the point
• 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.

• Shochu tonic: bitter and sweet at once, and better than it sounds
• Carbonation carries aroma up out of the glass, so a highball shows an aromatic bottle off rather than diluting the point of it.

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

• The bottle carries the grain and the mixer carries it roasted, so it is one ingredient reaching the glass two ways.
• A bar spoon, not an ounce. It is very sweet, and its job here is the almond smell rather than the sugar.

Lustau or González Byass. Fino is salt and living flor; this is what is left after the flor dies, and at 18 percent an ounce lengthens the glass rather than strengthening it.

• The bottle carries the grain and the mixer carries it roasted, so it is one ingredient reaching the glass two ways.
• Lustau or González Byass. Fino is salt and living flor; this is what is left after the flor dies, and at 18 percent an ounce lengthens the glass rather than strengthening it.

John D. Taylor's Velvet Falernum, about twenty dollars. At 11 percent it behaves like a syrup, so it sweetens and thickens without raising the drink.

• The bottle carries the grain and the mixer carries it roasted, so it is one ingredient reaching the glass two ways.
• John D. Taylor's Velvet Falernum, about twenty dollars. At 11 percent it behaves like a syrup, so it sweetens and thickens without raising the drink.

Bols Genever, around thirty-five dollars. The split base for a grain shochu, in a way plain gin is not.

• The bottle carries the grain and the mixer carries it roasted, so it is one ingredient reaching the glass two ways.
• Bols Genever, around thirty-five dollars. The split base for a grain shochu, in a way plain gin is not.

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.

• The bottle carries the grain and the mixer carries it roasted, so it is one ingredient reaching the glass two ways.
• 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.

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.

• The bottle carries the grain and the mixer carries it roasted, so it is one ingredient reaching the glass two ways.
• 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.

Luxardo. It is sweetened, whatever the name suggests: their own account of the process ends by adding a syrup of water and sugar to bring it to 32 percent. What makes it read as dry is the stone. The cherries sit in larch vats for up to three years, pits, leaves and all, before the lot is distilled and the heart rested in ash, and that almond bitterness arrives before the sugar does. So measure it as a sweetener that tastes bitter, not as a dry modifier, and a bar spoon changes a stirred drink completely.

• The bottle carries the grain and the mixer carries it roasted, so it is one ingredient reaching the glass two ways.
• Luxardo. It is sweetened, whatever the name suggests: their own account of the process ends by adding a syrup of water and sugar to bring it to 32 percent. What makes it read as dry is the stone. The cherries sit in larch vats for up to three years, pits, leaves and all, before the lot is distilled and the heart rested in ash, and that almond bitterness arrives before the sugar does. So measure it as a sweetener that tastes bitter, not as a dry modifier, and a bar spoon changes a stirred drink completely.

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

• Cucumber and rice is the flavor of a Japanese summer lunch
• Melon and cucumber sit in the same aroma family as a ginjo-scented rice spirit.

St-Germain or similar: the flower with alcohol behind it, for stirred drinks. A half ounce is enough. For a long drink, the cordial above does the same flavour without the proof.

• Shochu, elderflower liqueur, lemon: a sour that tastes like spring
• St-Germain or similar: the flower with alcohol behind it, for stirred drinks. A half ounce is enough. For a long drink, the cordial above does the same flavour without the proof.

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

• Rice and green tea is an ordinary Japanese meal, not a novelty
• Sweeter and rounder than brewing your own matcha, and it dissolves properly, which matcha powder in a cold drink does not.

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

• Its acid is what rice bottles need
• The cleanest of the shochu bases, so a flower actually reads instead of being swallowed.

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

• Melon and pear are neighbors
• Ripe honeydew, juiced or in cubes. If a bottle says melon on the label, this is the proof.

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

• The bottle is already described as pear, and fresh pear says it again
• Ripe pear, muddled or as nectar. Delicate, so it belongs with delicate bottles.

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

• A junmai lengthens the rice already in the bottle: the same grain, brewed and distilled, in one glass
• A dry junmai as the lengthener for rice shochu, one to two. Low proof, all rice.

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

• Salt-pickled blossoms in a rice drink is a Japanese spring
• The cleanest of the shochu bases, so a flower actually reads instead of being swallowed.

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

• Shiso and rice is an onigiri flavour
• Usually red shiso, so it comes out pink. Sharper and more herbal than it looks, and a little goes a long way.

Good tomato juice, or a ripe tomato muddled and strained. Savoury and acidic at once.

• Rice is mild and a little sweet, which leaves tomato's savoury, acidic side room to lead
• A light rice spirit takes a green, quiet garden note. Anything savoury leads instead of following.

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

• Umeboshi brings salt and sourness together, which is a different job from the lemon and lands on rice shochu better
• 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.

• Umeshu is usually built on shochu in the first place, so adding it back is coherent
• Sweet, sour, almondy. A splash does the work of both syrup and citrus.

Fresh juice, strained. Add a pinch of salt.

• Rice shochu and watermelon juice is a Kumamoto summer
• A light rice spirit takes a green, quiet garden note. Anything savoury leads instead of following.

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

• Peach and jasmine sit in the same register, which is why they are so often steeped together
• The bellini fruit. Nectar from a Japanese market, or a ripe peach muddled through a strainer.

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

• This bottle's aroma is the reason to own it, and a roasted or smoky mixer covers exactly that.
• Rice shochu is light enough to let the tea lead, which is how it is drunk with dinner in Kyushu.
• Toasted rice tea and a rice spirit are the same grain twice
• The bottle carries the grain and the mixer carries it roasted, so it is one ingredient reaching the glass two ways.

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

• Rice shochu is light enough to let the tea lead, which is how it is drunk with dinner in Kyushu.

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

• Rice sweetness wants acid, and citrus is the most direct way to give it some.

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.

• Rice sweetness wants acid, and citrus is the most direct way to give it some.

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.

• Warmth brings rice sweetness forward instead of washing it out. That's why the hot serve is the traditional one in Kuma, where they've distilled rice shochu for around five hundred years. source

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

• Rice sweetness wants acid, and citrus is the most direct way to give it some.

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

• Rice sweetness wants acid, and citrus is the most direct way to give it some.

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.

• Rice shochu is light enough to let the tea lead, which is how it is drunk with dinner in Kyushu.

Ayagiku's, on a shochu base, or Kikusui's. Quince is too hard and astringent to eat raw, so the liqueur is the convenient way to get that scent into a glass; it opens up in hot water.

• Orchard fruit meeting orchard fruit, one of them cooked
• Ayagiku's, on a shochu base, or Kikusui's. Quince is too hard and astringent to eat raw, so the liqueur is the convenient way to get that scent into a glass; it opens up in hot water.
• 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.

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.

• Rice sweetness wants acid, and citrus is the most direct way to give it some.
• 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.

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

• Rice sweetness wants acid, and citrus is the most direct way to give it some.
• 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.

• Rice sweetness wants acid, and citrus is the most direct way to give it some.
• 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.