Chuko Ryukyu Awamori

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

One star, steeped, for the dark bottles.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

Late summer fruit with a savory edge. For the deeper bottles.

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

Warm kombu-and-bonito stock, lightly seasoned, mixed with the spirit. It sounds strange and tastes like an oden counter.

Fino or manzanilla. Savory, salty, bone dry.

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

A quarter ounce as a rinse or a split base. Smoke for the earthy bottles.

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

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

A sprig, lightly toasted with a lighter, as garnish or stirred. Strong; a little.

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

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

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

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