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Tan Taka Tan

Godo Shusei · Hokkaido · Shiso shochu

  • flavored
  • honkaku

Pour this first

Tan Taka Tan, long, with Ginger ale, and Blood orange.

The botanical is the whole point of the bottle, so the job of the mixer is to carry it, not to add to it.

One part shochu to three or four parts mixer, plenty of ice. If it tastes thin, go two to three next time. That is the whole method.

What it tastes like

Shiso shochu from Godo Shusei in Hokkaido. Nobody here has tasted this one, so the profile below is estimated from what its importer publishes rather than from the glass.

  • shiso
Sweet
Body
Aroma
Fruit
Floral
Grain
Earth
Umami
Base
a blend of cane neutral spirit and date spirit, flavoured
ABV
20%

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.

  • Ginger ale

    Strong match

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

  • Ginger beer

    Strong match

    A spicy one, not a sweet one. The mule format works for every dark shochu and most sake.

  • Kombucha

    Strong match

    A plain or ginger kombucha. It brings acid, bubbles and funk, all things sake is short of.

  • Lemon soda (ramune, Sanpellegrino)

    Strong match

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

  • Soda water

    Strong match

    Cold, and fizzy enough to matter. One part spirit to three or four parts soda for shochu; one to one for sake.

  • Sparkling wine (brut)

    Strong match

    Dry cava or crémant. Topping sake with it adds the acid and the bubbles sake lacks in one pour.

  • Tonic water

    Strong match

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

  • Hot water (oyuwari)

    Good match

    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.

  • Cold water (mizuwari)

    Good match

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

  • Blood orange

    Worth trying

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

  • Grapefruit

    Worth trying

    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.

  • Kabosu

    Worth trying

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

  • Kumquat

    Worth trying

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

  • Lemon

    Worth trying

    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.

  • Lime

    Worth trying

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

  • Mikan (satsuma)

    Worth trying

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

  • Orange

    Worth trying

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

  • Sudachi

    Worth trying

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

  • Yuzu

    Worth trying

    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.

  • Basil

    Worth trying

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

  • Dill

    Worth trying

    Fronds, gently muddled. For the savory, saline glass.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Makrut lime leaf

    Worth trying

    Torn leaves steeped briefly. Perfumed citrus without juice.

  • Mint

    Worth trying

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

  • 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.

  • Thyme

    Worth trying

    Gentler than rosemary. Steep a sprig, or use a thyme syrup.

Ways to serve it

  • With soda
  • On the rocks

These are shochu with one loud idea in them, shiso or sesame or green tea. Treat the botanical as the drink's flavour and everything else as its frame, and do not try to add a second loud idea.

Cocktails other people made

Bottles like this one

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

Where this came from

Imported in the US by Sakaya NYC

Filed under shiso, sesame, tea and other single-botanical shochu.