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Tsutsumi 'Taru' 12 Year Sherry Cask Shochu

Tsutsumi Shuzo · Kumamoto · Kome (rice)

  • honkaku
  • aged
  • cask aged

Pour this first

Oolong tea, tall over ice. Black tea (Earl Grey) with it.

Rice shochu with green tea is an ordinary Kyushu dinner order, not a novelty.

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

Kome shochu from Tsutsumi Shuzo in Kumamoto. Importer's tasting notes: light bodied, sweet, sherry like. Nobody here has tasted this one, so the profile below is estimated from what its importer publishes rather than from the glass.

  • rice
  • light-bodied
  • sweet
  • sherry-like
  • cask
  • aged
Sweet
Body
Aroma
Fruit
Floral
Grain
Earth
Umami
Base
100% rice, cut with Kuma River water
ABV
41%
Aging
12 years in ex-sherry casks, bottled single barrel

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 119 pairings

  • Black tea (Earl Grey)

    Strong match

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

    • Rice shochu with green tea is an ordinary Kyushu dinner order, not a novelty.
    • Black tea's tannin sits well with aged notes
    • Tea and cask is a Scotch idea

  • Amaretto

    Strong match

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

    • Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini at half the proof.
    • Almond and oak is the whole idea behind a nut liqueur in a barrel drink
    • Marzipan against caramel, which is a dessert people already eat

  • Amontillado sherry

    Strong match

    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.

    • Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini at half the proof.
    • Both have spent years going quietly brown, and they meet in the middle
    • A bottle described as sherry-like is being compared to this wine, so pour the wine

  • Apricot liqueur

    Strong match

    Rothman and Winter, or a Japanese anzu liqueur. Closer to umeshu than to a candy liqueur if you buy a good one.

    • Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini at half the proof.
    • Long aging turns towards stone fruit anyway; this meets it there
    • Apricot and oak is the flavour of an old brandy, at a third of the strength

  • Cherry

    Strong match

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

    • Rice shochu distilled with ginjo yeast carries apple and melon esters already, so orchard fruit is amplification.
    • Cask notes and cherry is a Manhattan instinct
    • Dark cherry against aged, oxidative notes

  • Fino sherry

    Strong match

    Fino or manzanilla. Savory, salty, bone dry.

    • Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini at half the proof.
    • Oxidative on oxidative
    • Rice shochu and fino, stirred: a bamboo variation

  • Madeira (dry, Sercial or Verdelho)

    Strong match

    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.

    • Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini at half the proof.
    • Barrel against barrel, except this one brings back the acid the cask took away
    • Oxidative on oxidative, except this one arrives with acid

  • Sweet vermouth (rosso)

    Strong match

    Carpano Antica or Cocchi. A quarter of the shochu's volume, stirred cold, is a manhattan at well under half the usual proof.

    • Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini at half the proof.
    • An aged bottle already has the caramel a manhattan wants; this brings the botanicals
    • Cask notes and vermouth's spice belong in the same stirred glass

  • 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.

    • Rice sweetness wants acid the way sake does, and yuzu over rice is the oldest flavour pairing in the Japanese kitchen.
    • 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.

    • Rice sweetness wants acid the way sake does, and yuzu over rice is the oldest flavour pairing in the Japanese kitchen.
    • Softer acid than lemon, so the rice sweetness stays in the glass

  • Kumquat

    Strong match

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

    • Rice sweetness wants acid the way sake does, and yuzu over rice is the oldest flavour pairing in the Japanese kitchen.
    • Kumquat's bitter peel stands up to aged, nutty notes

  • Matcha

    Strong match

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

    • Rice shochu with green tea is an ordinary Kyushu dinner order, not a novelty.
    • 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.

    • Rice sweetness wants acid the way sake does, and yuzu over rice is the oldest flavour pairing in the Japanese kitchen.
    • Mikan juice over rice sweetness is gentle and familiar

  • Oolong tea

    Good match

    Unsweetened, cold. One part shochu to three or four parts tea, over ice.

    • Rice shochu with green tea is an ordinary Kyushu dinner order, not a novelty.
    • Rice shochu and oolong is a Kyushu dinner drink

  • 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.

    • Rice sweetness comes forward in warmth rather than being washed out by it, which is why the hot serve is the traditional one in Kuma, where rice shochu has been distilled for around five hundred years. source
    • Rice shochu mizuwari is a dinner drink in Kumamoto

  • Sudachi

    Good match

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

    • Rice sweetness wants acid the way sake does, and yuzu over rice is the oldest flavour pairing in the Japanese kitchen.
    • Squeezed over rice, it is the flavor of a Japanese autumn table

  • Yuzu

    Good 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.

    • Rice sweetness wants acid the way sake does, and yuzu over rice is the oldest flavour pairing in the Japanese kitchen.
    • The classic pair: rice sweetness under yuzu zest

  • Amaro

    Good match

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

    • Amaro and aged notes are a winter bar
    • Cask and amaro
    • A light rice spirit can be bullied by amaro. Keep the bitter under a quarter ounce or pick a heavier bottle.

  • Aromatic bitters

    Good match

    Angostura or a Japanese aromatic. Two dashes.

    • Bitters, sugar, a cask-aged spirit: an old fashioned
    • Two dashes wake up an aged bottle
    • A light rice spirit can be bullied by amaro. Keep the bitter under a quarter ounce or pick a heavier bottle.

  • Ginger ale

    Good match

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

    • 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

  • Ginger beer

    Good 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.

    • Carbonation carries aroma up out of the glass, so a highball shows an aromatic bottle off rather than diluting the point of it.
    • A shochu mule, and it is on menus

  • Soda water

    Good 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.

    • 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 soda over ice is the most ordinary drink in Japan

  • Sparkling wine (brut)

    Good match

    Dry cava or crémant. Acid and bubbles in one pour, which is exactly what a distilled spirit has none of.

    • 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

  • Apple

    Good match

    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.

    • Rice shochu distilled with ginjo yeast carries apple and melon esters already, so orchard fruit is amplification.
    • Cask-aged bottles have the wood; apple has the orchard

  • Apricot

    Good match

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

    • Rice shochu distilled with ginjo yeast carries apple and melon esters already, so orchard fruit is amplification.
    • Long aging turns a spirit towards stone fruit; the apricot joins what is already there

  • Bénédictine

    Good match

    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.

    • Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini at half the proof.
    • Wood and resin belong in the same stirred glass

  • Crème de cassis

    Good match

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

    • Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini at half the proof.
    • A kir at half the proof: rice shochu and a spoon of cassis

  • Cinnamon

    Good match

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

    • Cinnamon and aged notes are a hot toddy
    • Cask and cinnamon: an old fashioned instinct

  • Cucumber

    Good match

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

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

  • Elderflower liqueur

    Good match

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

    • Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini at half the proof.
    • Shochu, elderflower liqueur, lemon: a sour that tastes like spring

  • Fig

    Good match

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

    • Rice shochu distilled with ginjo yeast carries apple and melon esters already, so orchard fruit is amplification.
    • Fig meets the dried fruit that kusu awamori and long aged shochu already carry

  • 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.

    • Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini at half the proof.
    • Warm spice against caramel, without the sugar a ginger beer brings

  • Green tea liqueur

    Good match

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

    • Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini at half the proof.
    • Rice and green tea is an ordinary Japanese meal, not a novelty

  • Hibiscus

    Good match

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

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

  • Makgeolli

    Good match

    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.

    • Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini at half the proof.
    • The yeasty haze gives back the body distillation took out

  • Maple syrup

    Good match

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

    • Maple and oak are a bourbon idea
    • Maple and aged, caramel notes

  • Melon liqueur

    Good match

    Midori, or a drier Japanese one if you can find it. Half an ounce is plenty; this is a flavour, not a base.

    • Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini at half the proof.
    • Ginjo-scented rice shochu and melon are the same aroma family

  • Orange liqueur

    Good match

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

    • Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini at half the proof.
    • Aged bottles and orange peel liqueur

  • Osmanthus (kinmokusei)

    Good match

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

    • The cleanest of the shochu bases, so a flower actually reads instead of being swallowed.
    • Honeyed flower on honeyed age

  • 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 stirred with vermouth is a martini at half the proof.
    • Rice shochu lengthened with a junmai: the same grain, fermented and distilled, in one glass

  • Sakura (cherry blossom)

    Good match

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

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

  • Shiso liqueur

    Good match

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

    • Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini at half the proof.
    • Shiso and rice is an onigiri flavour

  • Ume (Japanese plum)

    Good match

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

    • Rice shochu distilled with ginjo yeast carries apple and melon esters already, so orchard fruit is amplification.
    • Ume sour: the second most ordered shochu drink in Japan after lemon

  • Umeshu

    Good match

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

    • Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini at half the proof.
    • Umeshu is usually built on shochu in the first place, so adding it back is coherent

  • Blood orange

    Good match

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

    • Rice sweetness wants acid the way sake does, and yuzu over rice is the oldest flavour pairing in the Japanese kitchen.

  • 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.

    • Rice sweetness comes forward in warmth rather than being washed out by it, which is why the hot serve is the traditional one in Kuma, where rice shochu has been distilled for around five hundred years. source

  • Jasmine tea

    Good match

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

    • Rice shochu with green tea is an ordinary Kyushu dinner order, not a novelty.

  • Kabosu

    Good match

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

    • Rice sweetness wants acid the way sake does, and yuzu over rice is the oldest flavour pairing in the Japanese kitchen.

  • Orange

    Good match

    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 the way sake does, and yuzu over rice is the oldest flavour pairing in the Japanese kitchen.

  • 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.

    • Rice shochu with green tea is an ordinary Kyushu dinner order, not a novelty.

  • 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.

    • Rice sweetness wants acid the way sake does, and yuzu over rice is the oldest flavour pairing in the Japanese kitchen.

  • Dry vermouth

    Good match

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

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

  • Alpine amaro (Braulio-style)

    Good match

    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
    • A light rice spirit can be bullied by amaro. Keep the bitter under a quarter ounce or pick a heavier bottle.

  • 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.

    • A negroni built on shochu is a real drink on real menus
    • A light rice spirit can be bullied by amaro. Keep the bitter under a quarter ounce or pick a heavier bottle.

  • Green tea (sencha)

    Worth trying

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

    • Rice shochu with green tea is an ordinary Kyushu dinner order, not a novelty.
    • Bitter tea and a sweet bottle argue
    • Ryokucha-hai: rice shochu with green tea is an ordinary Kyushu order

  • Lemon

    Worth trying

    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.

    • Rice sweetness wants acid the way sake does, and yuzu over rice is the oldest flavour pairing in the Japanese kitchen.
    • Fresh lemon reads harsh against aged, caramel notes
    • Rice sweetness wants acid, and lemon is the simplest acid there is

  • 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.

    • Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini at half the proof.

  • Amazake (sweet koji rice)

    Worth trying

    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

  • Aquavit

    Worth trying

    Linie, around thirty-five dollars, rested in oloroso casks at sea so it brings a little wood as well. A quarter ounce as a split base.

    • Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini at half the proof.

  • Banana

    Worth trying

    Ripe banana, muddled or as a syrup. Isoamyl acetate, the ester behind a ginjo aroma, is the same compound that makes a banana smell of banana.

    • Cask-aged shochu and banana is a bourbon instinct

  • Blanc vermouth

    Worth trying

    Dolin blanc or Lillet. Sweeter and more floral than dry; for the aromatic bottles.

    • Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini at half the proof.

  • Cantaloupe

    Worth trying

    Sweeter and muskier than honeydew. Prosciutto logic: it likes salt nearby.

    • Melon and cucumber sit in the same aroma family as a ginjo-scented rice spirit.

  • Cardamom

    Worth trying

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

    • Spice on aged, nutty notes

  • Chamomile

    Worth trying

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

    • The cleanest of the shochu bases, so a flower actually reads instead of being swallowed.

  • Cranberry

    Worth trying

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

    • Tart cranberry gives soft rice sweetness structure

  • White crème de cacao

    Worth trying

    Tempus Fugit or Giffard. Clear, so the drink stays pale, and at about the shochu's own strength, so an ounce lengthens rather than fortifies.

    • Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini at half the proof.

  • Egg white

    Worth trying

    One white, dry-shaken. Texture without flavor.

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

  • Elderflower

    Worth trying

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

    • The cleanest of the shochu bases, so a flower actually reads instead of being swallowed.

  • Falernum

    Worth trying

    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.

    • Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini at half the proof.

  • Genever

    Worth trying

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

    • Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini at half the proof.

  • Ginger

    Worth trying

    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 rice: think of the pickled ginger next to sushi

  • Goya (bitter melon)

    Worth trying

    Two slices from any Asian grocery, seeds out. The bitterness is water soluble, so at 25 percent it steeps in minutes and stops there, where a 40 percent spirit pulls it medicinal within the hour.

    • Melon and cucumber sit in the same aroma family as a ginjo-scented rice spirit.

  • 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

  • Hon-mirin

    Worth trying

    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.

    • Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini at half the proof.

  • Honey

    Worth trying

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

    • Honey and aged notes

  • Honeydew melon

    Worth trying

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

    • Melon and cucumber sit in the same aroma family as a ginjo-scented rice spirit.

  • Jasmine

    Worth trying

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

    • The cleanest of the shochu bases, so a flower actually reads instead of being swallowed.

  • Karin (quince) liqueur

    Worth trying

    Ayagiku's, on a shochu base, or Kikusui's. Raw quince is inedible and gives up its scent only in alcohol, so the liqueur is the only practical form; it opens up in hot water.

    • Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini at half the proof.

  • 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

  • Kokuto (brown sugar) syrup

    Worth trying

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

    • Cask and brown sugar is an old fashioned

  • Kombu

    Worth trying

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

    • Steeping kombu in alcohol is a real preparation in a Japanese kitchen

  • Kuri (chestnut) liqueur

    Worth trying

    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.

    • Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini at half the proof.

  • Kurozu (Kagoshima black vinegar)

    Worth trying

    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.

    • Both of them have spent a year or more in a jar getting darker

  • Lychee liqueur

    Worth trying

    Kwai Feh or Dita. Perfumed and quite sweet, so treat it as the aroma and let the shochu stay the drink.

    • Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini at half the proof.

  • Muscat grape

    Worth trying

    Green muscat grapes, halved or juiced. Shine Muscat if you can find it.

    • Rice shochu distilled with ginjo yeast carries apple and melon esters already, so orchard fruit is amplification.

  • Peach liqueur

    Worth trying

    A good one (Giffard, Merlet). A shortcut to the bellini when peaches are out of season.

    • Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini at half the proof.

  • Pear

    Worth trying

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

    • Rice shochu distilled with ginjo yeast carries apple and melon esters already, so orchard fruit is amplification.

  • Pedro Ximénez sherry (PX)

    Worth trying

    Lustau San Emilio. Effectively a raisin syrup that happens to be wine, so a bar spoon sweetens and adds body where sugar syrup would only add sugar.

    • Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini at half the proof.

  • Pickled ginger (gari)

    Worth trying

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

    • Gari sits next to sushi rice; it sits next to a rice spirit for the same reason

  • Raspberry

    Worth trying

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

    • Its acidity is what soft rice bottles need

  • Rose

    Worth trying

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

    • The cleanest of the shochu bases, so a flower actually reads instead of being swallowed.

  • Sansho pepper

    Worth trying

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

    • Sansho and rice is a Kyoto kitchen

  • Shiitake

    Worth trying

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

    • A long aged spirit and dried mushroom share a forest floor note

  • 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

  • Star anise

    Worth trying

    One star, steeped, for the dark bottles.

    • Anise and aged notes are a winter cabinet

  • Sumomo (Japanese plum) liqueur

    Worth trying

    Dewazakura's from Yamagata plums, or Machida Shuzo's on Amami kokuto shochu. It does umeshu's job and leaves the glass drier, which matters when the bottle is already sweet.

    • Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini at half the proof.

  • Umeboshi

    Worth trying

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

    • Ume and rice is a rice ball

  • Vanilla

    Worth trying

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

    • Vanilla is what oak gives; more of it is coherent

  • White peach

    Worth trying

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

    • Rice shochu distilled with ginjo yeast carries apple and melon esters already, so orchard fruit is amplification.

  • Yellow peach

    Worth trying

    Bolder than white peach, closer to apricot. For bottles with more weight.

    • Rice shochu distilled with ginjo yeast carries apple and melon esters already, so orchard fruit is amplification.

  • Yuzu marmalade (yuja-cha)

    Worth trying

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

    • Hot water, rice shochu, a spoon of yuzu tea

  • Yuzu liqueur (yuzushu)

    Worth trying

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

    • Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini at half the proof.

  • Coffee (cold brew)

    Worth trying

    Cold brew, unsweetened. For barley, brown-sugar, cask-aged and awamori bottles; it will bury a daiginjo.

    • This bottle's aroma is the reason to own it, and a roasted or smoky mixer covers exactly that.
    • Rice shochu with green tea is an ordinary Kyushu dinner order, not a novelty.
    • Cask notes and coffee: think of a coffee old fashioned

  • 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.
    • Rice shochu with green tea is an ordinary Kyushu dinner order, not a novelty.
    • Toasted rice tea and a rice spirit are the same grain twice

  • Hojicha

    Worth trying

    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.
    • Rice shochu with green tea is an ordinary Kyushu dinner order, not a novelty.
    • Roasted tea and aged notes are a fireside

  • Hoppy (beer-taste mixer)

    Worth trying

    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.

    • 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

    Worth trying

    A plain or ginger kombucha. Acid, bubbles and a little funk, none of which survive a still.

    • 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

  • Lemon soda (ramune, Sanpellegrino)

    Worth trying

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

    • 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

    Worth trying

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

    • 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

  • Maraschino

    Worth trying

    Luxardo. Dry rather than sweet despite the name, and a bar spoon changes a stirred drink completely.

    • On an already sweet bottle it tips the glass into syrup
    • Rice shochu stirred with vermouth is a martini at half the proof.
    • Maraschino is what makes a stirred aged drink taste finished rather than flat

  • Tomato

    Worth trying

    Good tomato juice, or a ripe tomato muddled and strained. The savour koji leaves behind and the savour in a tomato are the same glutamate.

    • Sweet bottles make tomato taste like ketchup
    • Melon and cucumber sit in the same aroma family as a ginjo-scented rice spirit.
    • Tomato juice and a savory junmai is a Japanese bloody mary

  • Watermelon

    Worth trying

    Fresh juice, strained. Add a pinch of salt.

    • Watermelon is too fresh for aged notes
    • Melon and cucumber sit in the same aroma family as a ginjo-scented rice spirit.
    • Rice shochu and watermelon juice is a Kumamoto summer

  • 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.

    • A light rice spirit can be bullied by amaro. Keep the bitter under a quarter ounce or pick a heavier bottle.

  • 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.

    • A light rice spirit can be bullied by amaro. Keep the bitter under a quarter ounce or pick a heavier bottle.

  • Fernet

    Worth trying

    A quarter ounce. Menthol and bitterness, for the darkest bottles.

    • A light rice spirit can be bullied by amaro. Keep the bitter under a quarter ounce or pick a heavier bottle.

  • Gentian (Suze-style)

    Worth trying

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

    • A light rice spirit can be bullied by amaro. Keep the bitter under a quarter ounce or pick a heavier bottle.

  • 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.

    • A light rice spirit can be bullied by amaro. Keep the bitter under a quarter ounce or pick a heavier bottle.

  • 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.

    • A light rice spirit can be bullied by amaro. Keep the bitter under a quarter ounce or pick a heavier bottle.

  • 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.

    • A light rice spirit can be bullied by amaro. Keep the bitter under a quarter ounce or pick a heavier bottle.

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

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

  • punchdrink.com · Kenta Goto, New York City

    Hakumai Highball

    Written for a similar bottle

    Written for Hakutake Shiro, also a rice shochu. This bottle is stronger, 41% against 24%, so it will take more mixer than the original asks for.

    • 1 ounce rice shochu (such as hakutake shiro)
    • 3/4 ounce rice vodka (such as suntory haku)
    • 4 ounces soda water

    Built in the glass, topped with soda.

    Full method at punchdrink.com →

  • Izakaya Juraku · Izakaya Juraku

    Hidari Chichi

    Written for a different style

    Written for Takara Shochu Jun, a different bottle. We have this one as the more floral of the two, which is what will move most in the glass.

    • Lychee liqueur
    • Elderflower liqueur
    • Takara shochu
    • Mio sparkling sake
    • Edible pink glitter, for garnish
    • Dried rosebud, for garnish
    Full method at Izakaya Juraku →

  • punchdrink.com · Tom Liu, Los Angeles

    Sobacha Chu-Hai

    Written for a different style

    Written for iichiko Saiten, which is a barley shochu, not a rice shochu.

    • 3 ounces buckwheat tea concentrate (see editor's note)
    • 1 1/2 ounces shochu, such as iichiko saiten
    • 3/4 ounce lemon cordial (see editor's note)
    • 5 drops saline solution (25%)
    • 4 1/4 ounces soda water

    Stirred.

    Full method at punchdrink.com →

  • 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 →

  • 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

    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 →

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 kome shochu.