Yamaneko "Wild Cat"

A spicy one, not a sweet one. The mule format works for every dark shochu and most sake.

Cold, and fizzy enough to matter. One part spirit to three or four parts soda for shochu; one to one for sake.

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.

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

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

Dry cava or crémant. Topping sake with it adds the acid and the bubbles sake lacks in one pour.

The most useful tropical fruit for mixing: intensely aromatic and properly sour. Pulp with seeds, or a good puree.

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

Unsweetened, cold. One part shochu to three or four parts tea, over ice. It is the drink half of Japan orders with dinner.

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

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

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

The non-alcoholic koji drink, sweet from rice starch alone. Blend with the spirit and ice; it is a shochu smoothie.

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.

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

Angostura or a Japanese aromatic. Two dashes.

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

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

Fresh juice, a syrup, or a good ginger beer. The spice that makes a low-proof drink feel like it has a backbone.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A plain or ginger kombucha. It brings acid, bubbles and funk, all things sake is short of.

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

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

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

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

Fresh juice, never bottled. The building block of the lemon sour, and the fastest way to give sake the acidity it does not have on its own.

Campari, Aperol, or a Japanese bitter like Kina. The aperitivo hour is where sake and shochu make the most sense as cocktails.

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

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

Fino or manzanilla. Savory, salty, bone dry.

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

Fresh in early summer, canned in syrup the rest of the year (drain it). The signature aroma of a whole school of imo shochu.

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

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

A dry junmai as the lengthener for rice shochu, one to two. Low proof, all rice.

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

A pinch in the glass or a half rim. Salt does not make a drink salty in small amounts; it makes it taste more like itself.

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

One star, steeped, for the dark bottles.

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

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

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

Muddled with the seeds. Green, sour and refreshing, and cheap year round.

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

Cold-brewed or hot. Roasted green tea, low in bitterness, high in toast. The oyuwari of teas.

Fresh orange juice for a sparkling sake mimosa; the peel for stirred drinks with aged bottles.

One white, dry-shaken. Texture without flavor.

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

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

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.

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

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

Ripe banana, muddled or as a syrup. The banana note in ginjo sake is real chemistry, not a metaphor.

A few grinds over the top. Aroma more than heat.

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

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

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

Ribbons or muddled slices. Cucumber is what turns a glass of sake into something you would drink on a porch.

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

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

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

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

Young sansho leaves, clapped between the palms and floated. Hard to find outside Japanese markets in spring, worth the hunt.

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

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

Torn leaves steeped briefly. Perfumed citrus without juice.

White miso whisked into a syrup, a small spoon per drink. Salty, sweet and savory at once.

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

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

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

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

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

A rim of shichimi, or a slice of fresh chili. Heat on fruit, not on rice.

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

Green tea with popped, toasted rice. Cold-brew it. Comfort in a glass.

Cold, unsweetened barley tea. Every Japanese fridge has a pitcher in summer. Mix one to three over ice.

The concentrate, diluted with soda. Yogurt-sweet and sour. The Calpis sour is a national drink in Japan.

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

Ripe mango puree. Needs lime beside it or it goes flat.

A bar spoon, no more. Salt, and the savory note that comes with it.

A rice-grain amount, dissolved. For the savory, cucumber glass, not the fruit one.

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

Half-and-half or heavy cream, in the after-dinner glass only.

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

Cold whole milk. Shochu milk-wari is a real order in Kyushu, not a dare.

The dairy-free milk that tastes of cereal, which is why it likes grain spirits.

Fresh juice, or grilled wedges for a smokier drink. The awamori fruit.