Tomino Hozan Imo 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.

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

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

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

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

Cold-brewed sencha, unsweetened. The green tea highball is one of the most common ways shochu is actually drunk in Japan.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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-brewed. Floral without sugar. The jasmine highball is a real menu item in Japan.

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

Unsweetened, cold. One part shochu to three or four parts tea, over ice. It is the drink half of Japan orders with dinner.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Fresh juice, a syrup, or a good ginger beer. The spice that makes a low-proof drink feel like it has a backbone.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dried osmanthus flowers steeped, or the syrup. Apricot and honey, and the smell of October in Japan.

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

Ripe banana, muddled or as a syrup. The banana note in ginjo sake is real chemistry, not a metaphor.

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

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

Juiced, or a stalk as the stirrer. Savory, salty and cold.

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

Ribbons or muddled slices. Cucumber is what turns a glass of sake into something you would drink on a porch.

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

Diluted one to one with warm water so it mixes cold. A little goes far; taste before adding more.

Okinawan or Amami kokuto dissolved one to one in water. Molasses, minerals, a little salt.

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

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

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

Torn leaves steeped briefly. Perfumed citrus without juice.

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

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

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

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

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

One star, steeped, for the dark bottles.

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

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

Sweet, sour, almondy. A splash does the work of both syrup and citrus.

A split bean in a syrup, or a good extract, in small amounts.

Fresh juice, strained. Add a pinch of salt.

Sweet yuzu liqueur, usually on a sake or shochu base. A shortcut to yuzu when the fruit is out of season.

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

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

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

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

Campari, Aperol, or a Japanese bitter like Kina. The aperitivo hour is where sake and shochu make the most sense as cocktails.

Angostura or a Japanese aromatic. Two dashes.

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

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

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