Yamasemi 'Kingfisher' Rice Shochu

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

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

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

Fino or manzanilla. Savory, salty, bone dry.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

Angostura or a Japanese aromatic. Two dashes.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

One star, steeped, for the dark bottles.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

Cold-pressed juice or thin slices. Green apple is the aroma many ginjo sake already carry, so this is amplification rather than addition.

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

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

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

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

One white, dry-shaken. Texture without flavor.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

Good tomato juice, or a ripe tomato muddled and strained. Sake's umami and tomato's are chemically the same thing.

Fresh juice, strained. Add a pinch of salt.