The awamori highball is an easy summer drink and the simplest way into the category.
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.
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 Zuisen Distillery in Okinawa (Naha). Importer's tasting notes: nutty, dry. The profile below is built from the tasting notes its importer publishes.
rice
nutty
dry
aged
Sweet
2/5
Body
4/5
Aroma
3/5
Fruit
1/5
Floral
2/5
Grain
2/5
Earth
3/5
Umami
2/5
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.
ABV
25.9%
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.
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.
A dry bottle and grapefruit stay refreshing instead of turning sweet
An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
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
An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
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 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.
Softer acid than lemon, so the rice sweetness stays in the glass
An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
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.
Squeezed over rice, it is the flavor of a Japanese autumn table
An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
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.
The classic pair: rice sweetness under yuzu zest
An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
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.
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.
An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
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
Hazelnut and dried orange peel land straight on a nutty bottle
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.
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
The stone in the distillate reads as almond, which meets a nutty bottle
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.
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
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.
Toasty and faintly sweet, with no tannin to fight
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.
You set the quinine and the sugar separately, so a dry bottle can have the bitterness without the sweetness
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.
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.
An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
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.
An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
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.
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
An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
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.
An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
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.
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.
The bottle is already nutty, and this puts more of that in the glass.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Nut on nut, and on a kuri shochu one of the two is the bottle's own raw material
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Cappelletti Sfumato, where sfumato means smoked and the smoke is the point, or the sweeter Zucca. At 20 percent it can take a third of the glass and still leave the drink weaker than the bottle it started from.
There is enough weight here to stand up to a bitter or a spice without disappearing under it.
Cappelletti Sfumato, where sfumato means smoked and the smoke is the point, or the sweeter Zucca. At 20 percent it can take a third of the glass and still leave the drink weaker than the bottle it started from.
Sharper and greener than lemon. The citrus for anything built on brown sugar or tropical fruit.
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.
Lime's green edge can read metallic against soft rice sweetness
An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
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.
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.
An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Awamori carries perfume of its own, so a flower works when it is quiet enough to sit beside that rather than argue with it.
Small Hand Foods', or sugar, water and gum arabic from the baking aisle at home. Worth knowing that most Japanese gum syrup on a shelf today has no arabic gum in it at all.
The sweetener for a bottle you do not actually want to sweeten
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.
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.
An earthy, heavy spirit flattens out without acid. This is the ingredient doing structural work, not decoration.
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.
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.
Its sweetness dulls the edge a dry bottle is bought for
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.
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.
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
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.
The concentrate, diluted with soda. Yogurt-sweet and sour. The Calpis sour is a familiar order in Japan.
Calpico and aged notes do not agree
Calpis and rice shochu is a sweet-and-sour sour
Dairy softens awamori rather than fighting it, which is why the cut is an ordinary order in Okinawa.
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, 25.9% 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)
punchdrink.com · Christian Suzuki, Kagano (Pop Up!), San Francisco
Renai Revolution
Written for a different style
Written for iichiko Saiten, which is a barley shochu, not awamori. This bottle is lighter, 25.9% against 43%, so cut the mixer back or it will disappear.
·1 1/2 ounces shochu, preferably iichiko saiten
·1/2 ounce pandan-vanilla syrup (see editor's note)
Written for iichiko Saiten, which is a barley shochu, not awamori. This bottle is lighter, 25.9% against 43%, so cut the mixer back or it will disappear.
·3 ounces buckwheat tea concentrate (see editor's note)
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.