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 Taikai Shuzo in Kagoshima. Importer's tasting notes: sweet. Nobody here has tasted this one, so the profile below is estimated from what its importer publishes rather than from the glass.
sweet potato
sweet
koji
Sweet
4/5
Body
3/5
Aroma
4/5
Fruit
2/5
Floral
1/5
Grain
1/5
Earth
2/5
Umami
2/5
Base
Beni Otome sweet potato
Koji
yellow koji, the same type used for sake
Distillation
vacuum distillation, after low-temperature fermentation
ABV
25%
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.
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
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
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
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
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.
Carbonation carries aroma up out of the glass, so a highball shows an aromatic bottle off rather than diluting the point of it.
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.
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
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.
Maewari: mix imo shochu and water a day ahead and it rounds out
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.
There is real sugar in this bottle already, and acid is what keeps it from reading as syrup.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Written for Aka Kirishima Shochu, also a sweet potato shochu. We have this one as the less fruity of the two, which is what will move most in the glass.
Written for Satsuma Kuradashi Genshu Shochu, also a sweet potato shochu. This bottle is lighter, 25% against 37%, so cut the mixer back or it will disappear.