Soba Unkai Shochu

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

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

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.

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.

Almond syrup with a touch of orange blossom. The tiki sweetener, and kokuto shochu is a tiki spirit waiting to happen.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

The neutral sweetener. Use when you want to balance acid without adding a flavor.

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

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

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

Fino or manzanilla. Savory, salty, bone dry.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.