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Toji Junpei

Kodama Jozo · Miyazaki · Imo (sweet potato)

  • white koji
  • honkaku
  • atmospheric distilled
  • aged

Pour this first

Ginger beer, tall over ice. Daidai (bitter orange) with it.

The distilleries themselves now sell imo shochu as a highball. Soda lifts the aroma off the glass instead of burying it.

One part shochu to three or four parts mixer, over plenty of ice. If it tastes thin, go two to three next time.

What it tastes like

Imo shochu from Kodama Jozo in Miyazaki. Importer's tasting notes: rice, tropical, spice, light bodied. Nobody here has tasted this one, so the profile below is estimated from what its importer publishes rather than from the glass.

  • sweet potato
  • rice
  • tropical fruit
  • spice
  • light-bodied
  • sweet
  • aged
  • koji
Sweet
Body
Aroma
Fruit
Floral
Grain
Earth
Umami
Base
83% locally grown beni imo purple sweet potato and 17% white koji rice
Koji
white koji
Distillation
atmospheric distillation
ABV
25%
Aging
one year

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.

Explore all 112 pairings

  • Ginger beer

    Strong 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.

    • 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
    • A shochu mule, and it is on menus

  • 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.

    • 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
    • Shochu and soda over ice is the most ordinary drink in Japan

  • Daidai (bitter orange)

    Strong 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.

    • Citrus acid is what cuts sweet potato's weight, which is why Kagoshima bars pour imo shochu with grapefruit and yuzu before anything else.
    • There is real sugar in this bottle already, and acid is what keeps it from reading as syrup.
    • Daidai is the citrus in ponzu, and ponzu is already on the table next to imo shochu
    • The peel is doing what the orange twist on an old fashioned does

  • 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.

    • Citrus acid is what cuts sweet potato's weight, which is why Kagoshima bars pour imo shochu with grapefruit and yuzu before anything else.
    • There is real sugar in this bottle already, and acid is what keeps it from reading as syrup.
    • A Miyazaki citrus and a Miyazaki spirit, which is usually all the reason a pairing needs
    • Softer acid than lemon, so the rice sweetness stays in the glass

  • 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.

    • Citrus acid is what cuts sweet potato's weight, which is why Kagoshima bars pour imo shochu with grapefruit and yuzu before anything else.
    • There is real sugar in this bottle already, and acid is what keeps it from reading as syrup.
    • Kagoshima bartenders reach for yuzu with imo shochu first
    • The classic pair: rice sweetness under yuzu zest

  • Ginger ale

    Strong match

    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.
    • Gentler than ginger beer; right for a soft rice bottle

  • Sparkling wine (brut)

    Strong match

    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.
    • Shochu and brut sparkling is a French 75 at lower proof; the acid is the point

  • Sudachi

    Strong match

    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.
    • There is real sugar in this bottle already, and acid is what keeps it from reading as syrup.
    • Squeezed over rice, it is the flavor of a Japanese autumn table

  • Oolong tea

    Strong match

    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.
    • Rice shochu and oolong is a Kyushu dinner drink
    • Oolong's toast meets sweet potato's roast

  • Cold water (mizuwari)

    Strong match

    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.
    • Rice shochu mizuwari is a dinner drink in Kumamoto
    • Maewari: mix imo shochu and water a day ahead and it rounds out

  • Hibiscus

    Strong match

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

    • There is real sugar in this bottle already, and acid is what keeps it from reading as syrup.
    • Tropical flower with tropical fruit
    • Its acid is what rice bottles need
    • Only for the lychee-scented bottles. On a heavy, roasted imo the flowers simply disappear.

  • Lemon soda (ramune, Sanpellegrino)

    Strong match

    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.
    • Rice shochu and lemon soda

  • Tonic water

    Good match

    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.
    • Shochu tonic: bitter, sweet, low proof, and better than it sounds

  • Amazake (sweet koji rice)

    Good match

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

    • Koji rice porridge on a rice drink; the same koji, before and after fermentation
    • Koji meets koji
    • 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.

  • Kurozu (Kagoshima black vinegar)

    Good match

    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.

    • 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.
    • Black vinegar is rice fermented with koji and then soured, so it is the same mould arriving a second time

  • Passion fruit

    Good match

    The most useful tropical fruit for mixing: intensely aromatic and properly sour. Pulp with seeds, or a good puree.

    • 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.
    • Tropical acid against sweet-potato depth is a modern Kagoshima cocktail

  • Ume (Japanese plum)

    Good match

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

    • There is real sugar in this bottle already, and acid is what keeps it from reading as syrup.
    • Ume sour: the second most ordered shochu drink in Japan after lemon
    • Salt-plum and imo shochu in hot water is a Kagoshima winter

  • Umezu (ume plum vinegar)

    Good match

    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.

    • 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.
    • Salt and lactic acid land on the sweetness koji leaves behind

  • Amaro

    Good match

    Montenegro, Nonino, Averna. Equal parts with a dark shochu over ice is a whole drink.

    • Amaro and gentian answer the earth with more earth, which is why a split-base imo drink reads as intentional rather than odd.
    • Amaro and aged notes are a winter bar
    • Amaro's herbs answer imo shochu's earth

  • Aromatic bitters

    Good match

    Angostura or a Japanese aromatic. 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.
    • Two dashes wake up an aged bottle
    • Bitters give imo shochu a stirred-drink shape

  • Cinnamon

    Good match

    A stick in hot water with the spirit, or a light syrup. Winter.

    • Ginger and sweet potato are the same autumn kitchen. Heat gives an earthy bottle a pulse.
    • Cinnamon and aged notes are a hot toddy
    • Cinnamon on sweet potato is a pie

  • Ginger

    Good match

    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
    • Ginger and rice: think of the pickled ginger next to sushi

  • Ginger liqueur

    Good match

    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

  • Umeboshi

    Good match

    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
    • Ume and rice is a rice ball

  • Blood orange

    Good match

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

    • Citrus acid is what cuts sweet potato's weight, which is why Kagoshima bars pour imo shochu with grapefruit and yuzu before anything else.
    • There is real sugar in this bottle already, and acid is what keeps it from reading as syrup.

  • Kabosu

    Good match

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

    • Citrus acid is what cuts sweet potato's weight, which is why Kagoshima bars pour imo shochu with grapefruit and yuzu before anything else.
    • There is real sugar in this bottle already, and acid is what keeps it from reading as syrup.

  • Shikuwasa

    Good 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.

    • Citrus acid is what cuts sweet potato's weight, which is why Kagoshima bars pour imo shochu with grapefruit and yuzu before anything else.
    • There is real sugar in this bottle already, and acid is what keeps it from reading as syrup.

  • Black tea (Earl Grey)

    Good match

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

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

  • 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.

    • 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

  • Kumquat

    Good match

    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

  • Matcha

    Good match

    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.
    • Rice and matcha agree, which is why the pairing turns up on menus at all

  • 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.

    • 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.
    • Mikan juice over rice sweetness is gentle and familiar
    • Kagoshima bartenders pair imo shochu with mikan when it is in season

  • Hoppy (beer-taste mixer)

    Good 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.

    • 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.
    • One part shochu to five parts Hoppy lands near 4 percent and drinks like a pint with none of beer's body

  • Kombucha

    Good match

    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.
    • Acid and bubbles on rice sweetness

  • Grapefruit

    Good match

    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
    • There is real sugar in this bottle already, and acid is what keeps it from reading as syrup.
    • Grapefruit and imo shochu is a Kagoshima bar staple; the bitterness answers the earth

  • Lemon

    Good match

    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
    • There is real sugar in this bottle already, and acid is what keeps it from reading as syrup.
    • Rice sweetness wants acid, and lemon is the simplest acid there is

  • Lime

    Good match

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

    • Citrus acid is what cuts sweet potato's weight, which is why Kagoshima bars pour imo shochu with grapefruit and yuzu before anything else.
    • Lime's green edge can read metallic against soft rice sweetness
    • There is real sugar in this bottle already, and acid is what keeps it from reading as syrup.
    • Lime frames tropical fruit so it does not go flat

  • Osmanthus (kinmokusei)

    Good match

    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.

  • Green tea (sencha)

    Good match

    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
    • Ryokucha-hai: rice shochu with green tea is an ordinary Kyushu order
    • Green tea softens the earth in imo shochu without hiding it

  • Cranberry

    Good match

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

    • There is real sugar in this bottle already, and acid is what keeps it from reading as syrup.
    • Tart cranberry gives soft rice sweetness structure

  • Kiwi

    Good match

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

    • 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.

  • Raspberry

    Good match

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

    • There is real sugar in this bottle already, and acid is what keeps it from reading as syrup.
    • Its acidity is what soft rice bottles need

  • Red aperitivo bitter (Campari-style)

    Good match

    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.
    • A negroni built on shochu is a real drink on real menus

  • Cardamom

    Good match

    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

  • Fino sherry

    Good match

    Fino or manzanilla. Savory, salty, bone dry.

    • Oxidative on oxidative
    • Rice shochu and fino, stirred: a bamboo variation

  • Kombu

    Good match

    A small piece steeped in the bottle overnight. Savory depth without salt.

    • Umeboshi in hot shochu is a Kagoshima winter, and salt is the fastest way to make an earthy bottle taste like more of itself.
    • Steeping kombu in alcohol is a real preparation in a Japanese kitchen

  • Pickled ginger (gari)

    Good match

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

    • Umeboshi in hot shochu is a Kagoshima winter, and salt is the fastest way to make an earthy bottle taste like more of itself.
    • Gari sits next to sushi rice; it sits next to a rice spirit for the same reason

  • Sake (in a shochu drink)

    Good match

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

    • Rice shochu lengthened with a junmai: the same grain, fermented and distilled, in one glass
    • Koji meets koji

  • Sansho pepper

    Good match

    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.
    • Sansho and rice is a Kyoto kitchen

  • Sea salt

    Good match

    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

  • Shiitake

    Good match

    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

  • Star anise

    Good match

    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

  • Togarashi (chili)

    Good match

    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.
    • Chili and tropical fruit is a Mexican fruit stand

  • Umeshu

    Good match

    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
    • Umeshu rounds imo shochu for a first-timer

  • Hojicha

    Good match

    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

  • Jasmine tea

    Good match

    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.

  • Pu-erh tea

    Good match

    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.

  • Pineapple

    Good match

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

    • Pineapple's acid and sugar overwhelm a soft rice bottle
    • 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.
    • Amplifies the tropical fruit already there

  • Egg white

    Good match

    One white, dry-shaken. Texture without flavor.

    • Egg white on a rice spirit is a silky, low proof pisco sour
    • 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.

  • Jasmine

    Good match

    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.

  • Sakura (cherry blossom)

    Good match

    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
    • Only for the lychee-scented bottles. On a heavy, roasted imo the flowers simply disappear.

  • Allspice dram

    Worth trying

    St. Elizabeth, in 375ml. A bar spoon is the whole dose: concentrated enough to flavour a low-proof drink without diluting it or raising it.

    • It joins the pepper already in the glass instead of introducing a new one

  • Alpine amaro (Braulio-style)

    Worth trying

    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.

  • Amaretto

    Worth trying

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

    • Marzipan against caramel, which is a dessert people already eat

  • Amontillado sherry

    Worth trying

    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.

    • Both have spent years going quietly brown, and they meet in the middle

  • Apricot

    Worth trying

    Fresh in season, dried the rest of the year. Apricot and umeshu share a family, which is why they get along.

    • Long aging turns a spirit towards stone fruit; the apricot joins what is already there

  • Apricot liqueur

    Worth trying

    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

  • Basil

    Worth trying

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

    • Thai and Italian basil both love tropical fruit

  • Black pepper

    Worth trying

    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.

  • Carciofo amaro (Cynar-style)

    Worth trying

    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.

  • Crème de cassis

    Worth trying

    A bar spoon. Cassis-oolong is one of the most common izakaya orders in Japan.

    • A kir at half the proof: rice shochu and a spoon of cassis

  • Celery bitters

    Worth trying

    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.

  • Cherry

    Worth trying

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

    • Dark cherry against aged, oxidative notes

  • Coconut

    Worth trying

    Coconut water for lengthening, coconut milk or cream for weight.

    • The newer imo shochu are bred for lychee and tropical aromatics, so tropical fruit is agreeing with the bottle rather than fighting it.

  • Cucumber

    Worth trying

    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

  • Elderflower liqueur

    Worth trying

    St-Germain or similar. A half ounce is enough.

    • Shochu, elderflower liqueur, lemon: a sour that tastes like spring

  • Fernet

    Worth trying

    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.

  • Fig

    Worth trying

    Fresh figs muddled, or fig jam. For the aged and the brown-sugar bottles only.

    • Fig meets the dried fruit that kusu awamori and long aged shochu already carry

  • Gentian (Suze-style)

    Worth trying

    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.

  • 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.

    • Rice and green tea is an ordinary Japanese meal, not a novelty

  • Gum syrup (gomme)

    Worth trying

    Small Hand Foods', or sugar, water and gum arabic from the baking aisle at home. Worth knowing that most Japanese gum syrup on a shelf today has no arabic gum in it at all.

    • A 25 percent spirit brings far less viscosity than a 40 percent one, so a shaken sour goes thin

  • Japanese craft bitters (yuzu, shiso, umami)

    Worth trying

    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.

  • 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.

    • The classic spring garnish for rice dishes; it belongs on rice wine too

  • Lychee

    Worth trying

    Fresh in early summer, canned in syrup the rest of the year (drain it). The signature aroma of a whole school of imo shochu.

    • The newer imo shochu are bred for lychee and tropical aromatics, so tropical fruit is agreeing with the bottle rather than fighting it.

  • Makgeolli

    Worth trying

    Hana Makgeolli is brewed in Greenpoint, Brooklyn; Makku sells a canned one. Strength varies widely across the category, from around 6 percent in a can to the mid teens for an unfiltered takju, so read the label before deciding how much to pour.

    • The yeasty haze gives back the body distillation took out

  • Makrut lime leaf

    Worth trying

    Torn leaves steeped briefly. Perfumed citrus without juice.

    • Lime leaf and tropical fruit are one cuisine

  • 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.

    • Ginjo-scented rice shochu and melon are the same aroma family

  • Miso

    Worth trying

    White miso whisked into a syrup, a small spoon per drink. Salty, sweet and savory at once.

    • This bottle's aroma is the reason to own it, and a roasted or smoky mixer covers exactly that.
    • Umeboshi in hot shochu is a Kagoshima winter, and salt is the fastest way to make an earthy bottle taste like more of itself.
    • Miso is koji too; the bottle and the paste share a mold
    • Miso and roasted sweet potato is a Kagoshima side dish

  • Orange liqueur

    Worth trying

    Cointreau or a dry curaçao. The sweet-and-citrus half of any sour.

    • Aged bottles and orange peel liqueur

  • Quinquina aperitif (Cocchi Americano-style)

    Worth trying

    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.

  • 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 and rice is an onigiri flavour, and rice shochu is rice

  • 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.

    • Shiso and rice is an onigiri flavour

  • Sweet vermouth (rosso)

    Worth trying

    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

  • Toasted sesame

    Worth trying

    A sesame syrup, or a rim of ground sesame and salt. Toasty and rich.

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

  • Tonic syrup (cinchona concentrate)

    Worth trying

    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.

  • 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.

    • Ginger and sweet potato are the same autumn kitchen. Heat gives an earthy bottle a pulse.

  • Genmaicha

    Worth trying

    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.
    • Green tea and oolong are how shochu is drunk with dinner across Kyushu. Tea's tannin meets the earth without covering it.
    • Toasted rice tea and a rice spirit are the same grain twice

  • Mugicha (barley tea)

    Worth trying

    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

  • Maple syrup

    Worth trying

    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 on sweet potato
    • Maple and aged, caramel notes

  • Yuzu marmalade (yuja-cha)

    Worth trying

    The Korean-style yuzu preserve sold in jars. A spoon in hot water with shochu, or shaken cold.

    • This bottle brings its own sweetness. More sugar is the most common way a drink built on it goes wrong.
    • Yuzu tea and imo shochu oyuwari is a Kagoshima winter
    • Hot water, rice shochu, a spoon of yuzu tea

  • Calpico (cultured milk)

    Worth trying

    The concentrate, diluted with soda. Yogurt-sweet and sour. The Calpis sour is a national drink in Japan.

    • Calpico and aged notes do not agree
    • Calpis and rice shochu is a sweet-and-sour sour
    • Calpis softens imo shochu for people who think they do not like it
    • 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.

  • Orange

    Worth trying

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

    • 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.

  • Dry vermouth

    Worth trying

    Dolin dry or Noilly Prat. A quarter of the shochu's volume, stirred cold.

    • Dry vermouth and a sweet bottle argue
    • Rice shochu and dry vermouth, stirred, is the martini bars actually serve at this proof
    • Rice shochu, dry vermouth, a lemon twist

  • Olive brine

    Worth trying

    A bar spoon, no more. Salt, and the savory note that comes with it.

    • Brine and sweetness do not agree
    • Umeboshi in hot shochu is a Kagoshima winter, and salt is the fastest way to make an earthy bottle taste like more of itself.
    • Dirty, on a rice base: the sweetness and the brine argue in a good way

  • Wasabi

    Worth trying

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

    • Wasabi and sweetness do not agree
    • Ginger and sweet potato are the same autumn kitchen. Heat gives an earthy bottle a pulse.
    • Wasabi and rice is sushi

  • Chamomile

    Worth trying

    Cold-brewed chamomile as a lengthener, or steeped in the spirit.

    • Only for the lychee-scented bottles. On a heavy, roasted imo the flowers simply disappear.

  • Cream

    Worth trying

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

    • 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.

  • Elderflower

    Worth trying

    Cordial or the liqueur. Muscat, lychee and honey in one flower.

    • Only for the lychee-scented bottles. On a heavy, roasted imo the flowers simply disappear.

  • Milk

    Worth trying

    Cold whole milk. Shochu milk-wari is a real order in Kyushu, not a dare.

    • 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.

  • Oat milk

    Worth trying

    The dairy-free milk that tastes of cereal, which is why it likes grain spirits.

    • 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.

  • Rose

    Worth trying

    A drop of rose water, or a rose syrup. A drop; it takes over.

    • Only for the lychee-scented bottles. On a heavy, roasted imo the flowers simply disappear.

  • Soy milk (tonyu)

    Worth trying

    Unsweetened, four parts shochu to six parts soy milk, which is how the Japanese recipes write it. Stronger than it tastes, so pour it knowing that.

    • 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.

Ways to serve it

  • On the rocks
  • Mizuwari (with water)

Sweet potato shochu is the one people are told they have to drink with hot water. Hot water is genuinely good, and it is also the hardest first sip to sell. Start it long and cold with soda and a wedge of grapefruit, and come back to the hot water once you like the spirit.

Cocktails other people made

Nobody has published a cocktail written for this exact bottle. These were written for other bottles, so each one says which, and what changes if you pour this instead.

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 in the glass, topped with soda.

    Full method at Just One Cookbook →

  • 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 · 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 in the glass, topped with soda.

    Full method at punchdrink.com →

  • Umami Mart blog

    Oolong-Hai (Shochu Iced Tea)

    Written for sweet potato shochu

    • 6 parts oolong tea (substitute with sencha (green tea) for a sencha-hai)
    • 4 parts shochu (i recommend satsuma imo (sweet potato) or mugi (barley))
    • ice

    Built in the glass, topped with soda.

    Full method at Umami Mart blog →

  • 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 in the glass, topped with soda.

    Full method at Pickled Plum →

  • Tokyo Weekender

    Hana Shigure

    Written for Daiyame

    Daiyame is a range rather than one bottle, so the strength and the style vary across it. Treat this as a starting point.

    • daiyame (imo shochu) 30ml
    • aphrodite sakura 15ml
    • bols parfait amour 5ml
    • 1883 maison routin lemon syrup 10ml
    • hinoki bitters 2 dashes
    • narutomaki beet slice to garnish
    • lime peel to garnish
    Full method at Tokyo Weekender →

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

Filed under imo shochu.