How to mix shochu

Honkaku shochu is usually drunk on the rocks, with water, with hot water or with soda. Mixed 6 parts shochu to 4 parts water, a 25 % shochu comes down to about 15 %, the strength of sake, and easy to drink with a meal.

How strong is it once mixed?

Multiply the shochu's strength by its share of the glass.

By law honkaku shochu can be at most 45 %; 25 % is the most common, and 20 % shochu is popular in Miyazaki.

On the rocks

Fill the glass with large ice and pour the shochu over it. It starts with the ingredient at full strength and softens as the ice melts.

With water (mizuwari)

Put ice and shochu in the glass and stir to chill the shochu first, then add water and stir once more. Cold shochu blends with the water faster. For a meal, start at 6 : 4 or 5 : 5.

With hot water (oyuwari)

Hot water first, shochu second. The temperature difference mixes the two by itself, and the shochu never hits scalding water, so the aroma rises gently. Use water a little off the boil, about 70–80 °C. Six parts shochu to four parts water (roku-yon) is the classic, and it's the way imo shochu's aroma opens up most.

Mixed ahead (maewari)

Mix shochu and water to taste and let it rest for a day up to a week. The two settle together into something rounder and smoother. Drink it straight from the fridge, or warm it gently in a kurojoka, Kagoshima's black clay pot.

With soda

Chill the glass, the shochu and the soda, then mix about 1 part shochu to 2–3 parts soda. Pour the soda gently down the side, not onto the ice, and stir just once to keep the bubbles. Mugi shochu and light, vacuum-distilled shochu work best.

And awamori?

Regular awamori (under three years) is easy with water or on the rocks. Kusu, aged three years or more, is best neat or on the rocks, in small sips, for the aroma.

What changes with the ingredient and the koji: Types of shochu and awamori.