Hot water (oyuwari), in a warm cup. Lemon with it.
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.
Rice sweetness wants acid, and citrus is the most direct way to give it some. 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.
Hot water in the cup first, then the shochu, six parts shochu to four of water. No ice. Then the accent on top. If it's too strong, a little more water next time.
What it tastes like
Kome shochu from Toyonaga Distillery in Kumamoto. Importer's tasting notes: vanilla, caramel, chocolate, coffee. The profile below is built from the tasting notes its importer publishes.
rice
vanilla
caramel
chocolate
coffee
spice
sweet
whisky-like
sherry-like
cask
Sweet
4/5
Body
5/5
Aroma
5/5
Fruit
2/5
Floral
2/5
Grain
3/5
Earth
1/5
Umami
1/5
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.
ABV
40%
Aging
7 years in sherry cask
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.
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.
Rice sweetness wants acid, and citrus is the most direct way to give it some.
Rice sweetness wants acid, and lemon is the simplest acid there is
The peel, not the juice: expressed over the top, the oil lifts the roast without turning the drink into a sour
The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.
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
Heat carries spice aromatics up out of the glass; cold leaves them sitting in it
Warmth opens caramel; the same bottle cold keeps most of it below the rim
Vanilla is volatile and warmth releases it; the same bottle over ice keeps it shut
Giffard's white, or Tempus Fugit's, which is a pale brown rather than colourless. Tempus Fugit publishes 24 percent, so on a 25 percent shochu an ounce lengthens rather than fortifies, and on a 40 percent bottle it pulls the strength down.
The cocoa note is already in the tasting notes; this makes it the point of the drink
Cocoa and coffee are one flavour split in two
The bottle already smells of vanilla, and this puts more of it in the glass.
This mixer is sweetened too, so it lengthens the drink without cutting the sweetness that is already there.
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.
Rice sweetness wants acid, and citrus is the most direct way to give it some.
Softer acid than lemon, so the rice sweetness stays in the glass
The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.
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.
A small green citrus from Tokushima, sharper and more herbal than lime. Sold frozen or as juice in Japanese markets.
Rice sweetness wants acid, and citrus is the most direct way to give it some.
Squeezed over rice, it is the flavor of a Japanese autumn table
The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.
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 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
The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.
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.
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.
Oak rested and 21 percent, so half and half with a cask-aged bottle is one drink at about 23
The bottle is already reaching for that shelf, and this is the amaro that meets it there
There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
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.
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.
Barrel against barrel, except this one brings back the acid the cask took away
Oxidative on oxidative, except this one arrives with acid
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.
Cynar, 16.5 percent, which is weaker than most shochu, so equal parts with a 25 percent bottle lands near 20 and the drink stays long. Soda or a grapefruit soda over the top is the producer's own serve.
The bottle already smells of caramel, and this puts more of it in the glass.
There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
Cynar, 16.5 percent, which is weaker than most shochu, so equal parts with a 25 percent bottle lands near 20 and the drink stays long. Soda or a grapefruit soda over the top is the producer's own serve.
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.
The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.
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.
The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.
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.
The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.
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.
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.
The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.
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.
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.
A bottle described as sherry-like is being compared to this wine, so pour the wine
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.
D.O.M. Bénédictine, on most back bars. Rounder and much sweeter than the alpine liqueurs, so it suits bottles that already lean sweet rather than clean.
Wood and resin belong in the same stirred glass
D.O.M. Bénédictine, on most back bars. Rounder and much sweeter than the alpine liqueurs, so it suits bottles that already lean sweet rather than clean.
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.
Oxidative depth on both sides, the bottle's out of a cask and the vinegar's out of a year in an earthenware jar
The sweetness here is aroma rather than sugar, because sugar does not come over a still. Acid is what keeps the impression from turning cloying.
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.
Dolin blanc. Sweeter and more floral than dry; for the aromatic bottles. Lillet Blanc stands in the same place in a drink, but its maker says plainly that it is a wine aperitif and not a vermouth, because there is no wormwood in it.
The bottle already smells of vanilla, and this puts more of it in the glass.
Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini with koji where the juniper was. The strength depends on the bottle, not on the swap. Most shochu is 25 and lands well under a gin martini. The 40 percent bottles land beside one.
This mixer is sweetened too, so it lengthens the drink without cutting the sweetness that is already there.
Cappelletti Sfumato, where sfumato means smoked and the smoke is the point, or the sweeter Zucca. At 20 percent it can take a third of the glass and still leave the drink weaker than the bottle it started from.
This bottle's aroma is the reason to own it, and a roasted or smoky mixer covers exactly that.
Bitter on bitter, both of them roasted
The bottle already smells of caramel, and this puts more of it in the glass.
There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
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 a martini that tastes of its base instead of juniper
Rice shochu, dry vermouth, a lemon twist
Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini with koji where the juniper was. The strength depends on the bottle, not on the swap. Most shochu is 25 and lands well under a gin martini. The 40 percent bottles land beside one.
A pinch of ground sansho over the top, or a few peppercorns steeped. Numbing, citrusy, green.
Sansho and rice is a Kyoto kitchen
There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
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.
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.
Carbonation carries aroma up out of the glass, so a highball shows an aromatic bottle off rather than diluting the point of it.
Cold-pressed juice or thin slices. Green apple is already in the aroma of a lot of rice shochu, so this amplifies what is there rather than adding something new.
Cask-aged bottles have the wood; apple has the orchard
Rice shochu distilled with ginjo yeast carries apple and melon esters already, so orchard fruit is amplification.
This mixer is sweetened too, so it lengthens the drink without cutting the sweetness that is already there.
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
This mixer is sweetened too, so it lengthens the drink without cutting the sweetness that is already there.
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.
Barrow's Intense, made in Brooklyn, or Domaine de Canton, which is the easier one to find. Ginger and sugar arrive together either way, and both work hot as well as cold. Being spirits themselves they add alcohol along with the volume, which a juice or a syrup does not.
It joins the pepper already in the glass rather than arguing with it
This mixer is sweetened too, so it lengthens the drink without cutting the sweetness that is already there.
Barrow's Intense, made in Brooklyn, or Domaine de Canton, which is the easier one to find. Ginger and sugar arrive together either way, and both work hot as well as cold. Being spirits themselves they add alcohol along with the volume, which a juice or a syrup does 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.
Chestnut and cocoa is a dessert that already exists
This mixer is sweetened too, so it lengthens the drink without cutting the sweetness that is already there.
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.
Cocchi Americano: moscato steeped with cinchona bark, gentian and bitter orange. The bark is the point of it, and it carries a quinine bitterness no citrus will give you.
There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
Cocchi Americano: moscato steeped with cinchona bark, gentian and bitter orange. The bark is the point of it, and it carries a quinine bitterness no citrus will give you.
Carpano Antica or Cocchi. A quarter of the shochu's volume, stirred cold, makes a manhattan-style drink: on a 25 percent shochu that is about 23 before the ice gets to it, where a 40 percent rye starts nearer 35.
Cask notes and vermouth's spice belong in the same stirred glass
Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini with koji where the juniper was. The strength depends on the bottle, not on the swap. Most shochu is 25 and lands well under a gin martini. The 40 percent bottles land beside one.
This mixer is sweetened too, so it lengthens the drink without cutting the sweetness that is already there.
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.
A light rice spirit takes a green, quiet garden note. Anything savoury leads instead of following.
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.
This bottle already reads sweet, on aroma rather than on sugar. Adding real sugar to it is the most common way a drink built on it goes wrong.
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, low-acid Japanese mandarin. Juice it or drop segments in a glass. It needs a squeeze of something sharper alongside.
Rice sweetness wants acid, and citrus is the most direct way to give it some.
Mikan juice over rice sweetness is gentle and familiar
This bottle already reads sweet, on aroma rather than on sugar. Adding real sugar to it is the most common way a drink built on it goes wrong.
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.
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.
Cloudy rice and cask wood argue
The bottle already smells of rice, and this puts more of it in the glass.
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.
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.
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.
There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
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.
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.
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
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 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.
There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
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
Straight
On the rocks
Rice shochu is what happens when you distil something very close to sake. It carries the same apple and melon aromatics, which makes it the shochu that behaves most like a white spirit in a stirred drink.
Cocktails other people made
We haven't found 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.
If a recipe calls for something else and this is what you have. The verdict is for this bottle rather than for its style, so a bottle without the strength a stirred drink needs is not offered for one.