Yamaneko Premium

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

• Grain and roast are the same flavour arrived at twice, once by the still and once by the pan.
• Maraschino is what makes a stirred aged drink taste finished rather than flat
• The stone in the distillate reads as almond, which meets a nutty bottle

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

• Cask notes and cherry is a Manhattan instinct
• Dark cherry against aged, oxidative notes
• Fresh in early summer; morello or amarena in syrup otherwise. Dark cherry for aged bottles, bright cherry for sparkling.

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.

• The peel is doing what the orange twist on an old fashioned does
• 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.

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

• The barley highball is the default shochu drink in Japan. Clean spirit, cold soda, nothing in the way.
• Barley shochu and ginger ale is an izakaya highball

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.

• Barley shochu and grapefruit is the Kyushu sour after the lemon one
• 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.

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

• Oolong-hai and green tea highballs are on every izakaya menu, and barley is clean enough to let the tea lead.
• Barley shochu and green tea is on every izakaya menu in Japan

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

• Jasmine-hai is on izakaya menus next to oolong-hai
• Cold-brewed. Floral without sugar. The jasmine highball is a real menu item in Japan.

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

• Kabosu and barley shochu are both Oita's and that is how Oita drinks them; the gentler acid suits a mugi wherever it was distilled
• Oita's citrus, softer than sudachi. Bartenders in Oita mix it with the local barley shochu and soda.

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

• Kumquat's bitter peel stands up to aged, nutty notes
• Eaten whole, peel and all. Muddle a few in a glass; the peel gives bitterness, the flesh gives tartness.

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.

• The barley highball is the default shochu drink in Japan. Clean spirit, cold soda, nothing in the way.
• The shochu highball: ice, shochu, cold soda, nothing else

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

• Sharper and greener than the lemon a barley sour usually gets, which is what makes it worth the trip from Tokushima
• A small green citrus from Tokushima, sharper and more herbal than lime. Sold frozen or as juice in Japanese markets.

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

• The bottle already smells of nutty, and this puts more of it in the glass.
• Grain and roast are the same flavour arrived at twice, once by the still and once by the pan.

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.

• The bottle already smells of nutty, and this puts more of it in the glass.
• Grain and roast are the same flavour arrived at twice, once by the still and once by the pan.

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

• Grain and roast are the same flavour arrived at twice, once by the still and once by the pan.
• Nut on nut
• A sesame syrup, or a rim of ground sesame and salt. Toasty and rich.

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

• The bottle already smells of vanilla, and this puts more of it in the glass.
• Vanilla is what oak gives; more of it is coherent

Mr Black or a good Japanese one. Awamori and shochu makers bottle their own, so this is not a foreign idea imposed on the spirit.

• Grain and roast are the same flavour arrived at twice, once by the still and once by the pan.
• An espresso martini at this proof is a drink you can have after dinner and still talk

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

• Grain and roast are the same flavour arrived at twice, once by the still and once by the pan.
• Malt wine and barley shochu are the same grain distilled two different ways

Almond syrup with a touch of orange blossom. The tiki sweetener, and kokuto shochu is a tiki spirit waiting to happen.

• Grain and roast are the same flavour arrived at twice, once by the still and once by the pan.
• Almond syrup on a nutty bottle

Buy the drinking grade from a shop with a liquor licence, not the salted cooking bottle, which will wreck the drink. A bar spoon is enough.

• Grain and roast are the same flavour arrived at twice, once by the still and once by the pan.
• Walnut on nut, and at about 15 percent it lengthens as it flavours

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.

• Barley's light sweetness reads as orchard fruit already, so apple and pear extend the bottle rather than decorate it.
• Cask-aged bottles have the wood; apple has the orchard

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

• Long aging turns a spirit towards stone fruit; the apricot joins what is already there
• Fresh in season, dried the rest of the year. Apricot and umeshu share a family, which is why they get along.

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

• 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

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
• It gives a toasty bottle the depth people usually go to an aged spirit for

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

• Barley shochu and celery is an unlikely, real pair
• Juiced, or a stalk as the stirrer. Savory, salty and cold.

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

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

• Cucumber and a clean barley highball is the most refreshing thing you can build out of this category.
• Barley shochu, cucumber, soda: a highball that tastes like a cool room

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

• Honey and aged notes
• Honey and barley shochu in hot water is a Kyushu cold remedy

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.

• Barley has less to open up than sweet potato, so water shows you exactly what is there. That is a fair test and not always a flattering one: a thin mugi has nowhere to hide in it.
• Mugi oyuwari in winter, with an umeboshi

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

• A clean barley spirit takes herbs the way vodka does, but with a cereal sweetness underneath that gives them something to sit on.
• A US barley shochu is literally made with lemongrass; the pairing is proven

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

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

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

• A clean barley spirit takes herbs the way vodka does, but with a cereal sweetness underneath that gives them something to sit on.
• Shiso and barley shochu is an izakaya sour

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

• Barley has less to open up than sweet potato, so water shows you exactly what is there. That is a fair test and not always a flattering one: a thin mugi has nowhere to hide in it.
• Six parts shochu to four parts water, the classic

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

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

• A clean barley spirit takes herbs the way vodka does, but with a cereal sweetness underneath that gives them something to sit on.
• Barley shochu and thyme is an unexpected, clean match

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.

• Barley shochu and tomato juice is an izakaya standard order
• 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.

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

• Barley shochu with an umeboshi dropped in is a real izakaya order
• Umeboshi (salt-pickled), ume syrup, or the fruit's own liqueur. Sour, salty and savory at once.

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

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

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.

• The barley highball is the default shochu drink in Japan. Clean spirit, cold soda, nothing in the way.

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.

• 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fresh juice when you want it long and easy; the peel when the bottle is aged and the drink is stirred.

• Fresh juice when you want it long and easy; the peel when the bottle is aged and the drink is stirred.

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.

• 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.

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.

• 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.

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

• The barley highball is the default shochu drink in Japan. Clean spirit, cold soda, nothing in the way.

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 Japanese citrus that tastes like grapefruit, mandarin and lemon at once, with a floral peel. A little zest or juice goes a long way.

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

• This is a light bottle and this is a heavy ingredient. It will not taste bad, it will taste like the ingredient.
• Fig meets the dried fruit that kusu awamori and long aged shochu already carry
• Fig and nut is a natural pair
• Fresh figs muddled, or fig jam. For the aged and the brown-sugar bottles only.

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

• The bottle already smells of vanilla, and this puts more of it in the glass.

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.

• The bottle already smells of vanilla, and this puts more of it in the glass.

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

• Barley shochu and gari brine is a bartender's shortcut to a ginger sour
• A spoon of the brine, and a slice as garnish. Sweet, sour and hot at once.

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

A drop. Think of it as salt with depth, for the savory glass only.

• A long aged spirit and aged soy share the same brown, oxidative notes
• A drop. Think of it as salt with depth, for the savory glass only.

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

• One umeboshi in a glass of barley shochu and hot water is the oldest shochu drink there is
• Dashi-wari and an umeboshi in hot barley shochu are real izakaya orders, but they belong to a winter counter rather than a summer glass.