The awamori highball is an easy summer drink and the simplest way into the category.
Chamomile is faint enough to be lost, and a smooth bottle leaves it the room it needs. Cold-brewed chamomile as a lengthener, or steeped in the spirit.
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
Awamori from Higa Shuzo in Okinawa. Importer's tasting notes: smooth, soft, clean. The profile below is built from the tasting notes its importer publishes.
rice
smooth
soft
clean
umami
aged
Sweet
2/5
Body
4/5
Aroma
3/5
Fruit
1/5
Floral
2/5
Grain
2/5
Earth
2/5
Umami
3/5
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
rice with black koji, zen koji shikomi (the whole mash is koji)
Koji
black koji
ABV
24%
Aging
a minimum of 3 months, then double filtered
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.
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 bar spoon, no more. Salt, and the savory note that comes with it.
Dirty, on a rice base: the sweetness and the brine argue in a good way
Salt brings umami forward
A clean bottle can take a splash of brine
Salt does not make a drink salty in small amounts. It makes a savoury bottle taste more like itself. The pairing reads as strange and drinks as obvious.
A drop. Think of it as salt with depth, for the savory glass only.
A drop of soy in a savoury glass is seasoning rather than flavouring
Soy and rice
A long aged spirit and aged soy share the same brown, oxidative notes
Salt does not make a drink salty in small amounts. It makes a savoury bottle taste more like itself. The pairing reads as strange and drinks as obvious.
Mikawa Mirin from Sumiya Bunjiro Shoten, made from glutinous rice, koji and shochu since 1911 with no added sugar. Not the sweetened seasoning sold as mirin-fu chomiryo, which is a different product.
It adds body and savour where a sugar syrup would only add sugar
The bottle already smells of rice, and this puts more of it in the glass.
Mikawa Mirin from Sumiya Bunjiro Shoten, made from glutinous rice, koji and shochu since 1911 with no added sugar. Not the sweetened seasoning sold as mirin-fu chomiryo, which is a different product.
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.
Awamori carries citrus and tropical aromatics of its own, out of an all-koji ferment rather than out of anything added. Citrus meets what is already there instead of introducing it.
Mild enough that a light bottle is still the thing you taste
Softer acid than lemon, so the rice sweetness stays 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.
A small green citrus from Tokushima, sharper and more herbal than lime. Sold frozen or as juice in Japanese markets.
Awamori carries citrus and tropical aromatics of its own, out of an all-koji ferment rather than out of anything added. Citrus meets what is already there instead of introducing it.
Sudachi's green sharpness shows best on a clean bottle
Squeezed over rice, it is the flavor of a Japanese autumn table
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.
Awamori carries citrus and tropical aromatics of its own, out of an all-koji ferment rather than out of anything added. Citrus meets what is already there instead of introducing it.
A clean bottle gives yuzu a blank page
The classic pair: rice sweetness under yuzu zest
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.
Warm kombu-and-bonito stock, lightly seasoned, mixed with the spirit. It sounds strange and tastes like an oden counter.
Warm dashi carries a spirit's savoury side forward the way hot water carries its aroma
Warm dashi and the rice in the bottle make a savoury glass, the broth carrying the grain
Salt does not make a drink salty in small amounts. It makes a savoury bottle taste more like itself. The pairing reads as strange and drinks as obvious.
A small piece steeped in the bottle overnight. Savory depth without salt.
Kombu pushes the glass further toward the savoury side a bottle with umami is already on
Steeping kombu in alcohol is a real preparation in a Japanese kitchen
Salt does not make a drink salty in small amounts. It makes a savoury bottle taste more like itself. The pairing reads as strange and drinks as obvious.
One salted plum, crushed with a spoon in the glass. Salty, sour, savory.
Ume and rice is a rice ball
Salt and sour pull umami forward
Salt does not make a drink salty in small amounts. It makes a savoury bottle taste more like itself. The pairing reads as strange and drinks as obvious.
Lustau or González Byass. Fino is salt and living flor; this is what is left after the flor dies, and at 18 percent an ounce lengthens the glass rather than strengthening it.
Both have spent years going quietly brown, and they meet in the middle
Flor leaves a savoury edge behind it, and koji leaves the same one
Lustau or González Byass. Fino is salt and living flor; this is what is left after the flor dies, and at 18 percent an ounce lengthens the glass rather than strengthening it.
Cynar, 16.5 percent, which is weaker than most shochu, so equal parts with a 25 percent bottle lands near 20 and the drink stays long. Soda or a grapefruit soda over the top is the producer's own serve.
With a 25 percent bottle under it the bitterness reads as celery and walnut skin instead of being scorched off
There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
Cynar, 16.5 percent, which is weaker than most shochu, so equal parts with a 25 percent bottle lands near 20 and the drink stays long. Soda or a grapefruit soda over the top is the producer's own serve.
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.
The Umami expression is kelp, shiitake and bonito, aimed at the savoury side the bottle is described with
There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under 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.
Eaten whole, peel and all. Muddle a few in a glass; the peel gives bitterness, the flesh gives tartness.
Awamori carries citrus and tropical aromatics of its own, out of an all-koji ferment rather than out of anything added. Citrus meets what is already there instead of introducing it.
Kumquat's bitter peel stands up to aged, nutty notes
Hana Makgeolli is brewed in Greenpoint, Brooklyn; Makku sells a canned one. Strength varies widely across the category, from around 6 percent in a can to the mid teens for an unfiltered takju, so read the label before deciding how much to pour.
The bottle already smells of rice, and this puts more of it in the glass.
Hana Makgeolli is brewed in Greenpoint, Brooklyn; Makku sells a canned one. Strength varies widely across the category, from around 6 percent in a can to the mid teens for an unfiltered takju, so read the label before deciding how much to pour.
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.
Awamori carries citrus and tropical aromatics of its own, out of an all-koji ferment rather than out of anything added. Citrus meets what is already there instead of introducing it.
The peel is doing what the orange twist on an old fashioned does
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.
Awamori carries citrus and tropical aromatics of its own, out of an all-koji ferment rather than out of anything added. Citrus meets what is already there instead of introducing it.
Milder than sudachi, so it does not fight a delicate 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.
Sweet, low-acid Japanese mandarin. Juice it or drop segments in a glass. It needs a squeeze of something sharper alongside.
Awamori carries citrus and tropical aromatics of its own, out of an all-koji ferment rather than out of anything added. Citrus meets what is already there instead of introducing it.
Mikan juice over rice sweetness is gentle and familiar
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 pinch of ground sansho over the top, or a few peppercorns steeped. Numbing, citrusy, green.
Sansho and rice is a Kyoto kitchen
There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
A pinch of ground sansho over the top, or a few peppercorns steeped. Numbing, citrusy, green.
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.
Awamori carries citrus and tropical aromatics of its own, out of an all-koji ferment rather than out of anything added. Citrus meets what is already there instead of introducing it.
Sharper and more bitter than a lime, which is what keeps it from disappearing into a light 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.
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.
The salt in it raises the perceived sweetness of koji
There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
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.
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.
White miso whisked into a syrup, a small spoon per drink. Salty, sweet and savory at once.
Umami on umami
Salt does not make a drink salty in small amounts. It makes a savoury bottle taste more like itself. The pairing reads as strange and drinks as obvious.
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.
Salt is the fastest way to make umami louder
Salt does not make a drink salty in small amounts. It makes a savoury bottle taste more like itself. The pairing reads as strange and drinks as obvious.
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.
A clean bottle has nowhere to hide, so acid reads as brightness rather than as a correction
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.
The cordial, sweet and alcohol-free, poured like a syrup. Muscat, lychee and honey in one flower. The liqueur has its own entry below: a different product rather than a stronger or weaker version of this one, and it brings alcohol along with the flower.
Nothing here is sharp enough to cut the elderflower down, so it survives at the strength it was poured
Awamori carries perfume of its own, so a flower works when it is quiet enough to sit beside that rather than argue with it.
St-Germain or similar: the flower with alcohol behind it, for stirred drinks. A half ounce is enough. For a long drink, the cordial above does the same flavour without the proof.
Shochu, elderflower liqueur, lemon: a sour that tastes like spring
St-Germain or similar: the flower with alcohol behind it, for stirred drinks. A half ounce is enough. For a long drink, the cordial above does the same flavour without the proof.
Luxardo. It is sweetened, whatever the name suggests: their own account of the process ends by adding a syrup of water and sugar to bring it to 32 percent. What makes it read as dry is the stone. The cherries sit in larch vats for up to three years, pits, leaves and all, before the lot is distilled and the heart rested in ash, and that almond bitterness arrives before the sugar does. So measure it as a sweetener that tastes bitter, not as a dry modifier, and a bar spoon changes a stirred drink completely.
Maraschino is what makes a stirred aged drink taste finished rather than flat
Luxardo. It is sweetened, whatever the name suggests: their own account of the process ends by adding a syrup of water and sugar to bring it to 32 percent. What makes it read as dry is the stone. The cherries sit in larch vats for up to three years, pits, leaves and all, before the lot is distilled and the heart rested in ash, and that almond bitterness arrives before the sugar does. So measure it as a sweetener that tastes bitter, not as a dry modifier, and a bar spoon changes a stirred drink completely.
Cointreau or a dry curaçao. The sweet-and-citrus half of any sour.
Aged bottles and orange peel liqueur
Awamori has enough character to be the base of a cocktail, not the neutral part of one. So an orange liqueur or a mezcal sits beside it instead of covering it.
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.
There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
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.
Orange with a raspberry edge. Winter fruit; worth waiting for.
Awamori carries citrus and tropical aromatics of its own, out of an all-koji ferment rather than out of anything added. Citrus meets what is already there instead of introducing it.
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.
Awamori carries citrus and tropical aromatics of its own, out of an all-koji ferment rather than out of anything added. Citrus meets what is already there instead of introducing it.
Fresh juice when you want it long and easy; the peel when the bottle is aged and the drink is stirred.
Awamori carries citrus and tropical aromatics of its own, out of an all-koji ferment rather than out of anything added. Citrus meets what is already there instead of introducing it.
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.
There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
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.
Roasted buckwheat, in any Japanese grocery, hot or cold. In a soba restaurant the same serve is made with soba-yu, the starchy water the noodles were boiled in, which is thicker and cannot be bought.
There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
Roasted buckwheat, in any Japanese grocery, hot or cold. In a soba restaurant the same serve is made with soba-yu, the starchy water the noodles were boiled in, which is thicker and cannot be bought.
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.
There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
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.
The non-alcoholic koji drink, sweet from rice starch alone. Blend with the spirit and ice; it is a shochu smoothie.
Koji rice porridge on a rice drink; the same koji, before and after fermentation
Dairy softens awamori rather than fighting it, which is why the cut is an ordinary order in Okinawa.
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.
The classic spring garnish for rice dishes; it belongs on rice wine too
A single leaf on a clean bottle changes the whole 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.
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 awamori highball is an easy summer drink and the simplest way into the category.
An aged bottle is the one you would not lengthen with a beer substitute
It was built around neutral shochu, and that is still where it fits best
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.
Awamori carries citrus and tropical aromatics of its own, out of an all-koji ferment rather than out of anything added. Citrus meets what is already there instead of introducing it.
Fresh lemon reads harsh against aged, caramel notes
Rice sweetness wants acid, and lemon is the simplest acid there is
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.
Salt does not make a drink salty in small amounts. It makes a savoury bottle taste more like itself. The pairing reads as strange and drinks as obvious.
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.
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.
Dolin blanc. Sweeter and more floral than dry; for the aromatic bottles. Lillet Blanc stands in the same place in a drink, but its maker says plainly that it is a wine aperitif and not a vermouth, because there is no wormwood in it.
Dolin blanc. Sweeter and more floral than dry; for the aromatic bottles. Lillet Blanc stands in the same place in a drink, but its maker says plainly that it is a wine aperitif and not a vermouth, because there is no wormwood in it.
Giffard's white, or Tempus Fugit's, which is a pale brown rather than colourless. Tempus Fugit publishes 24 percent, so on a 25 percent shochu an ounce lengthens rather than fortifies, and on a 40 percent bottle it pulls the strength down.
Giffard's white, or Tempus Fugit's, which is a pale brown rather than colourless. Tempus Fugit publishes 24 percent, so on a 25 percent shochu an ounce lengthens rather than fortifies, and on a 40 percent bottle it pulls the strength down.
Zuiyo's Kuririn, from Japanese chestnuts at 11 percent, or Dover's wa-shu kuri, which is on a rum base. A dessert direction, and not the same thing as kuri shochu, which is a base spirit.
Zuiyo's Kuririn, from Japanese chestnuts at 11 percent, or Dover's wa-shu kuri, which is on a rum base. A dessert direction, and not the same thing as kuri shochu, which is a base spirit.
Blandy's or Barbeito, ten year. It is the one fortified wine that brings real acid, so it can do the lemon's job on a bottle where fresh citrus reads harsh.
Blandy's or Barbeito, ten year. It is the one fortified wine that brings real acid, so it can do the lemon's job on a bottle where fresh citrus reads harsh.
A quarter ounce as a rinse or a split base. Smoke for the earthy bottles.
Awamori has enough character to be the base of a cocktail, not the neutral part of one. So an orange liqueur or a mezcal sits beside it instead of covering it.
Cold whole milk. Fat rounds a spirit off the way it does in coffee, and it is not a dare.
Milk softens awamori rather than fighting it. That's why the milk cut is an ordinary order in Okinawa. Miyakojima goes further and builds miruku zake from awamori, water and condensed milk.
Ayagiku's, on a shochu base, or Kikusui's. Quince is too hard and astringent to eat raw, so the liqueur is the convenient way to get that scent into a glass; it opens up in hot water.
Ayagiku's, on a shochu base, or Kikusui's. Quince is too hard and astringent to eat raw, so the liqueur is the convenient way to get that scent into a glass; it opens up in hot water.
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.
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.
A vinegar with savour under it rather than only sharpness, so beside a savoury bottle it reads as family instead of contrast
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.
Intense citrus perfume on a clean 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.
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.
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.
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.
Hot water, rice shochu, a spoon of yuzu tea
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.
Barrow's Intense, made in Brooklyn, or Domaine de Canton, which is the easier one to find. Ginger and sugar arrive together either way, and both work hot as well as cold. Being spirits themselves they add alcohol along with the volume, which a juice or a syrup does not.
Sugar and heat on a bottle whose whole quality is that it is clean
Warm spice against caramel, without the sugar a ginger beer brings
Barrow's Intense, made in Brooklyn, or Domaine de Canton, which is the easier one to find. Ginger and sugar arrive together either way, and both work hot as well as cold. Being spirits themselves they add alcohol along with the volume, which a juice or a syrup does not.
Carpano Antica or Cocchi. A quarter of the shochu's volume, stirred cold, makes a manhattan-style drink: on a 25 percent shochu that is about 23 before the ice gets to it, where a 40 percent rye starts nearer 35.
A clean, light bottle disappears under it
An aged bottle already has the caramel a manhattan wants; this brings the botanicals
Carpano Antica or Cocchi. A quarter of the shochu's volume, stirred cold, makes a manhattan-style drink: on a 25 percent shochu that is about 23 before the ice gets to it, where a 40 percent rye starts nearer 35.
Watermelon and a clean bottle is a summer festival
Rice shochu and watermelon juice is a Kumamoto summer
Ways to serve it
On the rocks
Mizuwari (with water)
Awamori is older than mainland shochu. What defines it is black koji and an all-koji mash, not the Thai rice nearly every distillery happens to use. The law says as much: rice koji made with black koji, and water, distilled in a single-type still. It takes citrus and tropical fruit well. It takes milk well too, a serve you'll find in Okinawa.
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.
Written for Zuisen Hakuryu Awamori, also awamori. We have this one as the fuller of the two, which is what will move most in the glass.
Awamori carries an earthy note, almost mushroom-like, and elderflower sits well against it. Hakuryu is the milder of the Zuisen we pour, which is why it is the one that goes in here.
Written for iichiko Saiten, which is a barley shochu, not awamori. This bottle is lighter, 24% against 43%, so cut the mixer back or it will disappear.
·1 ounce plus 5 teaspoons shochu, preferably iichiko saiten
·1/2 teaspoon mezcal, preferably fidencio joven
·3/4 ounce citrus blend (equal parts lemon and lime juice)
If a recipe calls for something else and this is what you have. The verdict is for this bottle rather than for its style, so a bottle without the strength a stirred drink needs is not offered for one.