This is a liqueur rather than a base spirit. It is already sweetened, so treat the suggestions below as a starting point and go easier on anything else sweet.
Pour this first
Lemon soda (ramune, Sanpellegrino), tall over ice. Lemon with it.
Citrus is in this bottle itself, not just on its nose, so this adds more of the same rather than a second flavour.
Citrus is in this bottle itself, not just on its nose, so this adds more of the same rather than a second flavour. 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.
One part shochu to three or four parts of the long mixer, over plenty of ice, then the accent on top. If it tastes thin, go two to three next time.
What it tastes like
Liqueur from Takahashi Shuzo in Kumamoto. Published tasting notes: plum, sweet. The profile below is built from the tasting notes published for it.
plum
sweet
citrus
Sweet
2/5
Body
3/5
Aroma
4/5
Fruit
3/5
Floral
not described
Grain
2/5
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.
Base
honkaku shochu with Japanese ume, Dekopon citrus juice, sugar and citric acid
ABV
10%
What to mix with it
This bottle is made with plum and citrus, not merely reminiscent of it. A mixer meets the plum and citrus first and the grain second, so read these as answers to the plum and citrus rather than to the barley or the rice. 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.
A pinch of ground sansho over the top, or a few peppercorns steeped. Numbing, citrusy, green.
Citrus is in this bottle itself, not just on its nose, so this adds more of the same rather than a second flavour.
Sansho is citrus peel and pepper in one seed
Sansho and yuzu turn up together in Japanese seasoning
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.
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.
Citrus is in this bottle itself, not just on its nose, so this adds more of the same rather than a second flavour.
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.
Citrus is in this bottle itself, not just on its nose, so this adds more of the same rather than a second flavour.
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.
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.
Citrus is in this bottle itself, not just on its nose, so this adds more of the same rather than a second flavour.
Tokushima yuzu at 27 percent, which is the shochu's own strength, so a dropper moves flavour and not proof
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.
Citrus is in this bottle itself, not just on its nose, so this adds more of the same rather than a second flavour.
Quinine and gentian give a measured bitterness where an amaro would take the glass over
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.
Plum is in this bottle itself, not just on its nose, so this adds more of the same rather than a second flavour.
The brine off the umeboshi barrel, so it is the same fruit in a form you can measure
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 is in this bottle itself, not just on its nose, so this adds more of the same rather than a second flavour.
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 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 is in this bottle itself, not just on its nose, so this adds more of the same rather than a second flavour.
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.
Citrus is in this bottle itself, not just on its nose, so this adds more of the same rather than a second flavour.
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.
Torn leaves steeped briefly. Perfumed citrus without juice.
Citrus is in this bottle itself, not just on its nose, so this adds more of the same rather than a second flavour.
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.
Sweet, low-acid Japanese mandarin. Juice it or drop segments in a glass. It needs a squeeze of something sharper alongside.
Citrus is in this bottle itself, not just on its nose, so this adds more of the same rather than a second flavour.
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.
Citrus is in this bottle itself, not just on its nose, so this adds more of the same rather than a second flavour.
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.
Citrus is in this bottle itself, not just on its nose, so this adds more of the same rather than a second flavour.
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.
Citrus is in this bottle itself, not just on its nose, so this adds more of the same rather than a second flavour.
Kinome tastes of citrus peel and pepper at once
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.
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.
Plum is in this bottle itself, not just on its nose, so this adds more of the same rather than a second flavour.
Tart red plum rather than ume, so it lands on the note without umeshu's cooked sugar
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.
Citrus is in this bottle itself, not just on its nose, so this adds more of the same rather than a second flavour.
Doubles the citrus already in the glass
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.
Citrus is in this bottle itself, not just on its nose, so this adds more of the same rather than a second flavour.
Fermented peel gives citrus without the acid a fresh yuzu would add
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 Korean-style yuzu preserve sold in jars. A spoon in hot water with shochu, or shaken cold.
Citrus is in this bottle itself, not just on its nose, so this adds more of the same rather than a second flavour.
Yuzu peel, sweetened, on a citrus bottle
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
With soda
On the rocks
The bases with no family of their own: sake lees, chestnut, corn. There are no style rules on this page, which is deliberate. What each bottle is described as tasting of is doing the whole job, so the suggestions come from that rather than from anything the category is supposed to want.
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.