LEARN / Reading about drinks

Know a little, and the glass changes.

The hard parts can wait. We start with the things that make you say "I did not know that." Q-Na and Joanne will show you around.

01 / Things worth knowing

Things worth knowing

Sake

Q-Na

A 60% polishing ratio does not mean 60% removed

On a label, "rice polishing ratio 60%" does not mean 60% was taken off. It means 60% is left, so the outer 40% has been milled away. The centre of the grain is mostly starch, while the outer layer holds more protein and fat, and too much of that layer can leave a rough taste. Sake made for clean aroma is milled further: ginjo is 60% or less, daiginjo 50% or less. Milling costs rice and time, so the price climbs. More polishing does not automatically mean a sake you will enjoy more.

Q-Na

The alcohol in honjozo is not there to stretch the sake

Junmai sake is made from rice, rice koji and water only. Honjozo has a small amount of distilled alcohol added. People assume this is padding, but the amount is capped at 10% of the weight of the rice, and the point is flavour design. Aroma compounds dissolve easily in alcohol, so a small addition lifts the scent and leaves a lighter, crisper finish. Junmai tends to carry more of the rice flavour and often opens up when warmed. Neither is better; pick by the dish and the serving temperature.

Q-Na

One word on the label changes how you store it

Most sake is pasteurised twice, once before storage and once before shipping, by warming it to around 60-65C. This stops the enzymes and keeps the flavour from moving too fast. Sake that skips both rounds is namazake: fresh and lively, but it needs to stay cold. Namazume is pasteurised once before storage and not again at shipping. Namachozo is the opposite, stored unpasteurised and heated once on the way out. The names look alike but the process is not the same, so check the label before you buy. Namazake changes quickly as it warms, so put it in the fridge the day you buy it.

Q-Na

"Hiya" does not mean chilled

Warm sake has a name for roughly every five degrees: about 30C is hinatakan, 35C hitohadakan, 40C nurukan, 45C jokan, 50C atsukan and around 55C tobikirikan. Near body temperature the sweetness of the rice fills out; hotter, the aroma rises and the finish turns brisk. The confusing one is hiya, which means room temperature, not chilled. Chilled sake is reishu. So if you order hiya and it arrives at room temperature, the bar got it right. Overheat it and the aroma turns coarse, so let the flask rest for a moment out of the hot water before pouring.

Q-Na

One number will not tell you if it is dry

The sake meter value on the back label is a density reading: sugar makes the liquid heavier. A plus number leans dry, a minus number leans sweet. It is only half the story. The acidity figure next to it matters just as much. At the same meter value, higher acidity tastes sharper and drier, lower acidity tastes rounder and sweeter. A sake at +3 with high acidity can taste drier than one at +5 with low acidity. Read the two numbers together and choosing gets much easier. Plenty of breweries print no numbers at all, in which case the wording on the back label is your clue.

Q-Na

Two jobs happening in the same tank

Press grapes and you already have sugar, so yeast can get straight to work. Rice offers starch instead, which yeast cannot use. Sake solves this by letting koji mould turn the starch into sugar while, in the very same tank, yeast turns that sugar into alcohol. Saccharification and fermentation run side by side, which is why it is called multiple parallel fermentation, unlike beer where the two steps are separate. It also lets the fermenting mash reach close to 20% alcohol, unusually high for a brewed drink. The hard part is keeping the two processes in step, which makes temperature control the crux of the work.

Shochu

Q-Na

Korui and otsurui are two stills, not two grades

Korui and otsurui do not rank shochu by quality; they name the still. Korui runs through a continuous still again and again, so almost none of the raw material's scent survives and the spirit comes out clean and neutral. By law it is under 36% alcohol. Otsurui goes through a pot still once, keeping the character of the sweet potato or barley, and is capped at 45%. That is the one sold as honkaku shochu. Korui suits sours and homemade fruit liqueurs; otsurui is for drinking on its own. There are blends of the two as well, and the label has to say which side makes up more of the bottle.

Q-Na

Sweet potato, barley, rice: three different characters

Honkaku shochu changes character with the base ingredient. Sweet potato shochu is full and sweet in the nose with a faint earthy note behind it, and because it uses fresh potatoes it can only be made around the harvest. Barley shochu is toasty and light, the easiest place to start. Rice shochu is soft and gently sweet, and often reminds people of sake. If you are stuck: sweet potato for rich dishes, barley for fried or salty food, rice for delicate Japanese cooking. There are also versions from brown sugar, buckwheat or chestnut: whatever the area could grow became the base.

Q-Na

Mix it with water days before you drink it

In Kagoshima and nearby areas people use a method called maewari. A few days before drinking, you dilute the shochu with water and simply let it sit. Mixed and drunk right away it can taste as if the spirit and the water are still separate; after a few days it settles and feels rounder. Around 6:4 or 5:5 is usual. On the day you either chill it or warm it in a kurojoka, a traditional flask. It takes almost no effort and the difference is easy to taste, so make a batch and keep it in the fridge. Write the date on the bottle and you can taste for yourself what the extra days are doing.

Q-Na

Hot water first, then the shochu

For a hot water mix, pour the hot water in first and add the shochu after. The other way round they do not blend well, and stirring hard to fix it drives the aroma off. With the water sitting underneath, a gentle pour of shochu rises through it and sets up a natural current, so no stirrer is needed. Water just off the boil is too hot; around 70C works better. Start at six parts shochu to four parts water and adjust. The steam carries the aroma up, so smell it before the first sip. A ceramic cup holds the heat, so the drink stays at much the same temperature to the last sip.

Joanne

Black koji protects the batch with acid

In shochu, the colour of the koji shapes the result. Black koji produces a lot of citric acid, which turns the mash acidic and keeps unwanted microbes from taking hold. It is a practical answer to brewing in a warm climate, and awamori uses black koji only. The flavour runs deep and full. White koji came from black koji and also produces acid, but finishes softer and lighter. Yellow koji, the one used for sake, gives a more floral aroma but is harder to manage. Same potato, different koji, different spirit. The back label usually names the koji, so once you know which you like the next bottle gets easier.

Whisky

Q-Na

A bourbon rule keeps the world in casks

Most of a whisky's colour and aroma comes from the cask. The two you meet most often are ex-bourbon and ex-sherry. US rules require bourbon to be aged in new charred oak, so once-used barrels pile up and travel to distilleries all over the world. Ex-bourbon casks tend to give vanilla and honey notes; ex-sherry casks give something darker, closer to raisin and nuts. In Japan, mizunara oak is also used, and it is often described as giving a sandalwood-like scent. The same spirit in a different cask becomes a different whisky, which makes cask comparisons an easy way in.

Q-Na

The "single" in single malt is not one cask

The "single" in single malt means a single distillery, not a single cask. What is in the bottle is usually dozens of casks from that one distillery, married together to hit a house style. A bottling from one cask alone is labelled single cask, which is a different thing. Blended whisky combines malt from several distilleries with grain whisky made from corn or other cereals; the grain rounds off the stronger malts, which makes the whisky easy to drink and easier to price. Neither style outranks the other.

Q-Na

A few drops of water change what you smell

At high strength, the alcohol hits your nose first and hides what is behind it. Adding a few drops of water lowers the strength, softens that hit, and lets the fruit and cereal notes come through. That small jug of water in a bar, separate from the chaser, is there for exactly this. Too much water and the flavour goes thin and vague, so add a few drops, smell it, then decide whether to add more. Ice does something similar, but the cold also keeps the aroma from coming out.

Joanne

A highball is won or lost on how much you stir

Making a highball at home is mostly about order. Fill the glass to the top with ice, stir once to chill the glass, then pour off the melt water. Add the whisky and stir once more, just enough to chill the spirit. Pour in well-chilled soda down the side of the glass rather than onto the ice. Finish by sliding a bar spoon to the bottom and lifting it once. Every extra stir costs you bubbles, so keep it to one. Warm soda undoes all of the above. If you want lemon, one twist of peel at the end to drop a little oil in is plenty.

Q-Na

A little vanishes every year

A cask is wood, so it never seals completely and some of the whisky evaporates. That loss is called the angels' share. In Scotland it is usually put at around 2% a year, which means close to a fifth is gone after ten years. In hot, dry places it goes faster. What stays behind takes up more of what the wood has to give, and the flavour deepens. Long-aged whisky costs what it costs partly because of the time, and partly because you are paying for what disappeared. Step into a warehouse and the air itself smells sweet: that is the missing whisky, out in the room.

Gin

Joanne

Gin's aroma is an addition problem

Gin is made by carrying plant aromas into a distilled spirit. Those plants are called botanicals, and which ones go in, and in what amounts, is what makes one gin different from another. Common choices include coriander seed, angelica root, lemon or orange peel and cardamom. Some gins use around ten, others more than forty. There are also two ways to pick up the aroma: steeping the botanicals in the spirit before distilling, or passing the vapour through them. Same ingredients, different result. Many makers keep the recipe to themselves, so guessing what is in the glass is part of the fun.

Joanne

The juniper berry is not a berry

To be called gin, the drink must taste mainly of juniper. Everything else is up to the maker, but that one is fixed. And despite the name, a juniper berry is not a fruit at all. It is a cone, related to a pine cone, whose scales close up tight and end up looking round like a berry. Crush one lightly and you get that clean, cool scent of a conifer forest. That smell is the thing that makes gin gin. In the kitchen it is a spice used to soften the smell of meat, and its job in the glass is much the same.

Joanne

London Dry does not have to come from London

London Dry is a method, not a place. A gin made anywhere in the world can carry the name. The rule is that the flavour has to come from the distillation itself, so no aromas or colouring may be added afterwards, and only a trace of sweetening is allowed. Because nothing can be fixed later, the choice of botanicals and the skill of the distiller show up directly in the glass. If you see those words on a label, expect a clear, unadorned style. Even inside the category the gap between brands is wide, so it is better not to treat them as one thing.

Joanne

Craft gin brings the local landscape in

Over the past decade or so, small distilleries around the world have started making gin from plants grown nearby. In Japan that means yuzu, sansho pepper, green tea or hinoki cypress. In Taiwan you find lychee, local tea leaves and citrus peel. Juniper stays at the centre, and everything around it is open, which is the fun of gin. It also needs no long ageing, so a small producer can start without waiting years. That is why there are so many, and why comparing them is worth doing.

Umeshu and liqueurs

Q-Na

Green plums and ripe plums make two different drinks

The same fruit gives two results. Hard green plums make a clean, sharp, clear drink. Yellow ripe plums make something sweeter in the nose and thicker in the mouth. Green plums hold their shape and stay clear even after a long steep. Ripe plums have thin, soft skins, so they give more aroma but cloud the liquid and need more care. Commercial umeshu follows the same split, so choose by whether you want brightness or perfume and you will not go far wrong. Soaking green plums in water overnight to draw out the bitterness is what keeps that sharpness clean.

Q-Na

Rock sugar is used because it dissolves slowly

Rock sugar in umeshu is not only about sweetness. Fine sugar raises the sugar level straight away, which pulls water out of the plums hard, shrivels them, and ends the process before much aroma has come out. Rock sugar comes in large lumps that sink and dissolve slowly, so the concentration rises bit by bit. The plums have time to give up both water and scent, and the spirit works its way into the fruit in exchange. It is chosen for being slow. Some people add the sugar in stages instead, which helps when you want it less sweet.

Joanne

Liqueur is defined by what is in it

The word liqueur sounds like a catch-all for sweet drinks, but Japanese tax law defines it by content: an alcoholic drink with sugar, fruit, herbs or similar added, with an extract content of 2 degrees or more. Extract content is what is left once you set aside the water and the alcohol. So the line is drawn by how much is dissolved in it, not by how sweet it tastes. Umeshu counts as a fruit liqueur, and that is why canned fruit drinks carry the same label. With the same ingredients but less extract, the drink falls into another class, with different tax and labelling.

Q-Na

To steep at home, start at 20% or above

In Japan you are allowed to steep your own umeshu at home for your own drinking, with conditions. The spirit you use must be 20% alcohol or higher and must already have had duty paid on it. White liquor is the usual choice because it is strong and mild in aroma. The 20% line exists because weaker spirit can start fermenting. A second rule: grapes, rice and barley are among the ingredients you may not steep. And whatever you make, you cannot sell it. Sterilise the jar with boiling water or strong spirit and wipe it dry; that alone prevents most failures.

Wine and grappa

Joanne

Grappa begins where wine is finished

Grappa is not distilled from wine. It is distilled from what is left after the wine is pressed: the skins, the seeds and sometimes the stems. It started as a farmer's way of turning the leftovers into something worth drinking. There is very little juice clinging to that pomace, so it takes effort to gather and it spoils quickly, which is why it goes to the still as soon as the press is done. The name is protected too: only grappa made in Italy may be called grappa. Other countries do the same thing under other names: marc in France, orujo in Spain.

Joanne

Ordering a coffee that has been corrected

In bars in northern Italy, an espresso with a splash of grappa is a caffe corretto: a corrected coffee. What exactly is being corrected depends on who you ask, but it is a normal way to warm up on a cold morning. Sambuca or brandy are sometimes used instead. There is also a follow-up version: pour a little grappa into the empty cup and drink it along with whatever coffee is left clinging to the bottom. That one is called a resentin. On a winter morning at a stand-up bar, most people finish theirs in well under a minute.

Joanne

The smaller the barrel, the louder the wood

A barrique, the barrel used for ageing wine, holds 225 litres. Compared with a large cask, more wood touches the same amount of liquid, so the wood's aroma and compounds arrive faster and stronger. A new barrel pushes clear vanilla and toasted notes; by its second and third fill it has calmed down. Producers therefore decide what share of new barrels to use as part of building the flavour. Grappa can be barrel-aged too, turning amber and rounder in the nose than the clear style. Too much wood buries the fruit, so judging the balance is where the winemaker's skill shows.

Joanne

A corked bottle is nobody's mistake

Sometimes an opened bottle smells of damp cardboard or mouldy wood, and the fruit has gone missing. This is cork taint, thought to come from a tiny trace of a compound linked to the cork. The wine is not spoiled in the sense of going bad; what happens is that the aroma gets muted. It is not the fault of the producer or the shop, and in a restaurant you can normally say so and get another bottle. That quick sniff of the cork on opening is there for this reason. One big reason screw caps have spread is that they sidestep the problem altogether.

Mead

Joanne

Why people call it the oldest drink

Mead is often called the oldest drink in the world. That cannot be proved, but there is a reason people say it. It needs no vineyard and no grain processing: if honey is diluted by rainwater, wild yeast in the air can start it fermenting on its own. So it may well have appeared by accident long before anyone knew how to make drinks on purpose. With honey to hand, you barely need equipment. Who made the first one is unknown, but it was certainly the easiest one to stumble into. We do not know, though, whether the honey drinks in old records were made the way they are today.

Joanne

Change the honey and you change everything

Mead is close to just honey, water and yeast, so whichever flower the bees worked ends up being the flavour. Acacia honey is pale in colour and taste and finishes clean. Buckwheat honey is dark, with a strong molasses and earthy note. Citrus blossom is light and fresh; chestnut blossom leaves a touch of bitterness. The direction is largely set at the honey stage, and what the maker adjusts after that is mainly how far it ferments and how it rests. When comparing bottles, start by reading the flower. Heat drives the aroma out of honey, so makers watch the temperature carefully when they start.

Joanne

The honeymoon story, told as a story

You often hear that newlyweds drank mead for their first month together, and that this is where the word honeymoon comes from. It is a story told in several places rather than something settled, and there are other explanations for the word. What the records and tales do show is that mead was long treated as a drink for celebrations. Whatever the truth about the name, it is still one of the bottles people reach for when they want to give something. If you are giving a bottle, a smaller one that is easy to finish asks less of the person receiving it.

Joanne

Mead is not always sweet

It is made from honey, so people expect it to be sweet, and it often is not. Let the yeast eat through all the sugar and you get a dry mead with almost no sweetness left. Stop the fermentation partway and the remaining sugar makes it sweet. The same honey can give a dry version, a sweet version, or a sparkling one. Dry meads sit at the table much like a white wine; sweet ones suit a small glass after a meal. Check the label for dry or sweet and there will be fewer surprises. Some are fermented together with fruit or spices, and those styles go by names of their own.

Drinks from Taiwan

Joanne

The kaoliang in kaoliang liquor is a cereal

Kaoliang is sorghum, a cereal that grows well on dry land. It is fermented with koji-style starter and then distilled. In Taiwan the best-known version comes from Kinmen, and the 58% bottle has long been the standard. Because it is strong, the usual way to drink it is in small glasses, a sip at a time, alternating with food. At a Taiwanese banquet it tends to arrive along with the call to drink together. The aroma is forceful, and what it leaves behind is surprisingly light. Do not over-chill it; a little below room temperature balances the aroma against how easy it is to drink.

Joanne

Drink in Taiwan was a state monopoly for a long time

For a long time, tobacco and alcohol in Taiwan were a state monopoly, with a government bureau in charge of making and selling them. The system ended in the early 2000s and the business passed to Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation, usually shortened to TTL. Rice liquor, kaoliang and Taiwan Beer all come down that line. Once the monopoly ended, private producers could make their own, and small distilleries and breweries began to appear. The variety you see in Taiwan today grew up after that change. Red-label rice liquor still sits in home kitchens, where it doubles as a cooking ingredient.

Joanne

On a hot island, ageing moves fast

Ageing depends heavily on temperature. In the heat, the spirit moves in and out of the wood more actively, so colour and aroma develop in fewer years than in a cold climate. The trade-off is evaporation: in Taiwan the angels' share is said to run above 10% a year, which means a ten-year plan loses a great deal of liquid. Those are hard conditions, yet whisky made there has come to be recognised at international competitions, and its mark is depth of flavour at a young age.

Joanne

In Taiwan, honey means longan

The best-known honey in Taiwan comes from longan blossom. It is rich, with a deep note close to burnt sugar. Production centres on the middle and south of the island, and because the flowering season is short, the harvest is squeezed into a few weeks. Mead made from this honey is dark and full, quite unlike the pale styles you meet in northern Europe. Small producers in Taiwan have started making mead as well, so bottles built on local honey are slowly becoming easier to find. Even longan honey varies by year and place, so producers are choosy from the moment they buy it.

How to serve

Joanne

Big ice waters the drink down less

The same amount of ice behaves differently depending on its size. Crushed ice has far more total surface touching the drink, so it melts fast and dilutes fast. A large block keeps its cooling power and lasts. If you are drinking something on the rocks slowly, use big ice; for a sour you will finish quickly, small ice is fine. Ice from a standard household tray is small and full of bubbles, so one larger mould is a cheap change you can taste. Even just swirling the ice once and tipping out the melt water sharpens the first mouthful.

Joanne

A narrow rim keeps the aroma in

Glass shape is not decoration. A bowl that widens and then narrows at the rim lets the rising aroma gather at the top, so more of it reaches your nose. Use that shape when you want to look closely at a whisky or a sake. A wide-mouthed glass lets aroma escape, but it also lets the alcohol's sharpness escape, which suits highballs and water-cut drinks you will drink more of. Pour the same drink into both and even the taste seems to change. Thin glass feels lighter on the lip; thick glass keeps the warmth of your hand away from the drink.

Q-Na

Cold pulls back both sweetness and smell

As the temperature drops, aroma compounds stay put and sweetness registers less. That is why chilling works when you want to play down rough edges and drink something crisp. The reverse also holds: if you want the aroma and savour, let it warm a little. A drink often opens up a few minutes out of the fridge rather than straight from it. It is also why a cheap bottle tastes better cold. Treat temperature as a dial you control, not a rule to follow. Split one bottle over two evenings, chilled and at room temperature, and the difference is plain.

Joanne

Pour soda down the glass, not onto the ice

Soda poured hard onto ice bursts its bubbles right there and loses its fizz. Tilt the glass and let the soda run down the inside wall instead, and far less escapes. Keep the soda properly cold as well: cold liquid holds gas better, so lukewarm soda has lost the argument before you pour. Over-stirring afterwards costs you the same thing. When the bubbles last, the drink still feels the same on the final sip as it did on the first. One part spirit to three or four parts soda is a good starting point, and the ice shifts it as well.

02 / Sake and shochu

What actually differs between the types

Different names mean different making. Change one step and the taste moves with it.

Rice polishing — how much of the grain is milled away

Type	The rule	Taste	How to enjoy it
Junmai Daiginjo	Rice polished down to 50% or less of its original weight. Made from rice, rice koji and water only, with no added distilled alcohol. At least 15% of the rice must be koji rice.	Clean on the nose, often with apple or pear character. The body is slender, the sweetness light, and the finish short. Differences between breweries show up in the aroma more than in the taste.	Easiest at 10-15C. A glass that narrows at the rim, such as a white wine glass, holds the aroma; pour small amounts at a time. Good with white-fish sashimi, clear broths, cured ham and mild cheese. Warming tends to coarsen the aroma, so it is not a style for serving hot.
Daiginjo	Rice polished to 50% or less. Distilled alcohol is added on top of rice, rice koji and water, limited to 10% of the weight of the polished rice. At least 15% of the rice must be koji rice.	Same polishing ratio as junmai daiginjo, but the added distilled alcohol tightens the outline and lightens the finish. The aroma is just as high; less sweetness lingers.	10-15C. Works with tempura eaten with salt, grilled fish, and mild things like tofu or yuba. It also resets the palate after rich food.
Junmai Ginjo	Rice polished to 60% or less, made from rice, rice koji and water only, with at least 15% koji rice, using the ginjo method of slow low-temperature fermentation.	Less aromatic than daiginjo, with more of the rice showing. Enough acidity and savoury depth that it holds its shape chilled or at room temperature. A safe pour for someone new to sake.	10-15C, or at room temperature. It suits everyday cooking: grilled fish, salted chicken, sesame-dressed vegetables, fried tofu. Some bottles gain savoury depth warmed to nurukan, about 40C.
Ginjo	Rice polished to 60% or less, with distilled alcohol added up to 10% of the weight of the polished rice. At least 15% koji rice.	Medium to high aroma, light body, short finish. Useful mid-meal when you do not want the drink to sit heavily.	10-15C. Pairs easily with fried food, stir-fries and dumplings.
Tokubetsu Junmai	Made from rice, rice koji and water only, polished to 60% or less or made by a special method. If the name rests on a special method, the label has to explain what that method is. At least 15% koji rice.	Cleaner than junmai, more settled than junmai ginjo. It keeps the taste of the rice without becoming heavy.	From room temperature up to nurukan, about 40C. Good with simmered dishes, braised pork and seasoned Japanese home cooking.
Junmai	Made from rice, rice koji and water only. There is no polishing requirement: the old 70% rule was removed in the 2003 revision, effective from January 2004. At least 15% koji rice.	The savoury taste of rice and its acidity lead. It can feel tight when cold; warming opens up the sweetness and depth. This is the style that gives most at the table.	From room temperature up to jokan, about 45C. Simmered dishes, anything with miso, sukiyaki, hot pot. A thick ceramic cup holds the heat and makes warm sake easier to drink at its best.
Tokubetsu Honjozo	Rice, rice koji, water and distilled alcohol up to 10% of the polished rice weight, polished to 60% or less or made by a special method. A special method has to be explained on the label.	Light with a short finish, and it holds together when warmed. This style was built to go with everyday meals.	Room temperature to nurukan, about 40C. Grilled chicken skewers in sauce, tempura, fried tofu, dried fish.
Honjozo	Rice polished to 70% or less, with distilled alcohol added up to 10% of the polished rice weight. At least 15% koji rice.	Mostly light and on the dry side. The aroma is restrained and stays out of the way of food. Warming lifts the aroma and fills out the flavour.	Nurukan at 40C to jokan at 45C is where it shows best. Oden, simmered fish, pickles, grilled chicken. Warm it in a tokkuri flask and pour into small cups.
Nama, Namazume, Namachozo and Hiire	Hiire is pasteurization: heating the sake to 60-65C, normally twice, once before storage and once before shipping. Nama is sake that is never heated after brewing; namachozo is stored unpasteurized and heated once at bottling. Both terms are defined in the national labelling standard. Namazume, pasteurized before storage but not at bottling, is an industry term with no definition in that standard.	Nama sake tastes young and light, sometimes with a slight prickle. In exchange, it changes quickly with temperature and time. Twice-pasteurized sake is stable and holds its shape when warmed.	Keep nama sake refrigerated at 5-10C and finish it within a few days of opening. Pasteurized sake keeps at room temperature and works chilled or warm. Hiyaoroshi, released in autumn, is sake brewed in winter and spring, pasteurized and stored, then shipped when the outside temperature has come back down to match the cellar.
Nigori and Origarami	The legal definition of seishu includes a filtering step. Nigori is pressed through a coarse mesh or cloth and bottled while still cloudy. Origarami leaves some of the settled lees in the bottle rather than racking them all off; it is not a term defined in the labelling standard. Versions still fermenting slightly and holding gas are called kassei seishu, and most are pasteurized to keep them stable.	The rice solids give it a thick mouthfeel and pronounced sweetness. The clear top and the cloudy bottom taste different, so it is worth tasting before and after you mix them. Sparkling versions fizz lightly.	5-10C. Sparkling versions are under pressure: chill them upright and open the cap in stages to let the gas out. Good with hot pot, fried chicken, and dishes seasoned with chilli bean paste or Sichuan pepper.
Genshu	A label may say genshu when no water has been added after brewing to adjust the alcohol or other components. Adjusting by less than one percentage point of alcohol, to even out batch-to-batch variation, is allowed.	With no water added, the alcohol runs higher, the flavour is concentrated and it lingers. A small pour goes a long way, and it does not thin out too fast over ice.	5-15C, or with a single ice cube. Pour small amounts into a small glass. It goes with strongly flavoured food, cheese, nuts and fatty meat. Soda water also works, and you can adjust the ratio to taste.
Koshu and aged sake	The labelling standard allows an optional statement of years in storage: sake held for a year or more may state the number of full years. Koshu itself is not a term in that standard; in general use it means sake brewed before the current brewing year. The Reserve Sake Association defines jukusei koshu as sake aged at the brewery for three full years or more.	Colour deepens over time, from yellow towards amber. Caramel, dried fruit, nuts and dried mushroom appear on the nose, and both sweetness and bitterness thicken. It is easier to approach if you treat it as a different drink from new sake.	Room temperature to nurukan, about 40C. Small glasses, small pours. It goes with soy-braised dishes, grilled eel, braised pork belly, aged cheese and dark chocolate, and it also stands on its own after a meal.
Sparkling sake	The labelling standard has no definition of sparkling among its optional terms. In practice there are three routes: secondary fermentation in the bottle, retaining carbon dioxide from the original fermentation, and adding carbonation. The awa sake association certifies sake made only from rice, rice koji and water, naturally sparkling from secondary fermentation and clear in appearance, as AWA SAKE after third-party testing.	Alcohol tends to be lower, with clear sweetness and acidity. Bottle-fermented versions have fine, persistent bubbles; carbonated ones have larger bubbles that fade faster.	5-10C, in a flute or a wine glass. It suits the first glass of the evening, starters, cured ham, fruit and light fried food. Cloudy sparkling versions are under pressure, so chill them upright and open the cap in stages.

Sake temperature — the names and roughly where they sit

Shochu changes with the base and the koji

Single-distilled shochu (honkaku shochu)

The pot still is simple, so a lot of the aroma from the raw material and the fermentation carries through. Change the ingredient or the region and the aroma changes with it.

For a 25 percent shochu, six parts shochu to four parts hot water brings it to around 15 percent and brings out sweetness and savoury depth. Water, ice, neat and soda all work too. Pour the hot water first and the shochu will mix in on its own.

Continuously distilled shochu (korui)

A continuous still strips out fusel oils, aldehydes and other impurities, so almost none of the raw material's aroma survives. That neutrality is what makes it easy to use.

Mostly drunk mixed with juice, tea or soda, and also used at home for steeping fruit liqueurs such as ume. Blended with pot-still shochu it becomes konwa shochu, labelled in one order or the other depending on which type dominates.

Imo shochu (sweet potato)

The base note is steamed sweet potato. Depending on the variety and the distillation, it can also show lavender, rose or violet, lychee or mango, even black tea or yoghurt. Joywhite gives a lighter, cleaner result.

Hot water lifts the aroma most. In Kagoshima there is a method called maewari: dilute it with water to the strength you like, leave it for a few days to a week, then warm it. Ice and soda also suit it. Good with pork, fried food and rich stews.

Mugi shochu (barley)

Toasted barley and a clean sweetness are the baseline. Depending on the distillation it ranges from rich, roasted and nutty to light and fruity.

Water, ice, hot water or soda all work. The aroma is gentle enough that it can be the one bottle you drink through a whole meal. Good with grilled chicken, tempura, fried chicken and soba.

Kome shochu (rice)

Round, with a light sweetness. Depending on the distillation it can turn floral, and some show fruit notes close to the ginjo aroma of sake.

Hot water, water or ice. In Hitoyoshi and Kuma there is a method called jikikan, heating the vessel directly over a flame, using a gara pot and small choku cups. Good with river fish, miso-based dishes and chicken.

Kokuto shochu (brown sugar)

Light and fresh, with the sweet smell of cane sugar. Being a distilled spirit it contains almost no sugar, yet it tastes faintly sweet.

Good over ice, with water or with soda. Hot water makes the cane aroma more obvious. It suits pork, fried chicken and tropical fruit.

Soba shochu (buckwheat)

Light and smooth, with white-flower and green notes, a faint sweetness and some depth.

In soba restaurants it is often mixed with the hot water the noodles were cooked in. Water, ice and soda all work. Good with soba, tempura and duck.

Awamori

Round and plain-spoken, with a touch of sweetness at the end. With age it gains a vanilla-like sweetness and body, and after ten or twenty years it turns amber. Unlike spirits aged in barrels, awamori keeps maturing after it is bottled.

In Okinawa it is usually drunk with water alongside food. Most honkaku shochu sits around 25 percent, while awamori is often nearer 30, which is why it is diluted. It goes well with pork; with fatty dishes, soda and a squeeze of lime or lemon lightens it.

Shiro koji (white koji)

Clean and sharp, a little lighter than black koji. In sweet potato shochu it keeps the sweetness and character of the potato while smoothing the edges.

It works with any serve, and hot water brings out a mild sweetness. Bottles often carry the character for white on the label, so tasting one beside a black-koji bottle makes the difference clear.

Kuro koji (black koji)

Full and weighty. In sweet potato shochu it pushes the body of the potato forward for a dense result. Many taste dry, which is usually put down to the acidity of the citric acid.

Hot water brings out both aroma and body. It suits strongly flavoured food: braised pork, grilled meat, fried dishes.

Ki koji (yellow koji)

It gives fruit-like aromas, sometimes close to a ginjo sake. As temperature control has improved, more sweet potato shochu is being made with it.

This is a style to smell as much as drink, so ice, water, or chilled and neat. It suits white fish, chicken and vegetable dishes.

03 / Spirits of the world

Spirits of the world

Gin

Gin is a spirit, usually grain-based, flavoured with botanicals in which juniper leads. EU rules require the juniper character to predominate; beyond that the rules are loose, so recipes vary widely between makers.

Tonic is the usual mixer, but soda or chilled water will show the aroma differently. Taste a small amount neat first, then decide how to dilute it — the differences between bottlings show up more clearly that way. The gins WAIN99 carries, including Ise Jingin, Akatorii, Wa GIN and Arduenna from Belgium, each use a different botanical set, which makes them easy to compare side by side.

Vodka

Vodka is fermented from grain, potatoes or other raw material and distilled to a high purity. EU rules assume a process that removes most of the character of the base material. It is clear and deliberately low in aroma.

It is drunk either very cold in small measures, or used as a cocktail base. With salty food it resets the palate, which makes it easy to return to during a meal.

Rum

Rum is distilled from fermented molasses or fresh sugar cane juice. It is made across much of the world, with the Caribbean and Latin America at the centre. Some is aged in cask, some is bottled unaged.

Aged rum works neat at room temperature; lighter styles show better with soda or lime. Even within one origin, molasses and cane juice taste like different drinks, so it is worth checking how a bottle was made before choosing.

Tequila and agave spirits

Agave spirits are made by cooking the heart of the agave plant to convert it to sugar, then fermenting and distilling it. Tequila is a Mexican denomination of origin: it must use blue agave and be made in designated states. Agave spirits from other places or processes carry other names, such as mezcal.

The lime-and-salt shot is the familiar form, but good bottlings show more aroma when sipped at room temperature. They pair easily with dishes built on citrus and herbs.

Brandy (Cognac and Armagnac)

Brandy is distilled from wine and aged in cask. Cognac and Armagnac are both French appellations, each with rules on area, grape variety, distillation and ageing. Brandies from other fruit are named after the fruit.

A glass that is not too large, served at room temperature, keeps the aroma together. Drinking a small measure slowly after a meal is the settled habit, though mixing it with soda alongside food has become common.

Grappa

Grappa is distilled from vinaccia, the grape pomace left after pressing for wine. Under EU rules the name Grappa may only be used for spirit made in Italy. It began as a way of using a by-product of winemaking and stayed tied to its region.

It is usually served after a meal, at room temperature or lightly chilled, in a small glass. With single-variety producers such as Distilleria De Negri, which WAIN99 carries, tasting it next to a wine from the same grape makes the link to the raw material clear.

Shochu and Awamori

Shochu is a Japanese spirit in which rice, barley, sweet potato or brown sugar is converted to sugar by koji mould, fermented and distilled. Japan's liquor tax law divides it into single-distilled and continuously distilled shochu. Awamori, from Okinawa, uses black koji and Thai rice, with the whole mash built on koji.

Hot water opens the aroma; cold water or ice sharpens the outline. In Kyushu it is common to pour the hot water into a warmed vessel first, then add the shochu. Awamori is drunk with water, and kusu is often sipped at room temperature.

Baijiu and Kaoliang

Baijiu is a grain spirit made in China and Taiwan, based mainly on sorghum, fermented with a starter culture and then distilled. Kinmen kaoliang is the best known in Taiwan, where production and labelling fall under the Tobacco and Alcohol Administration Act.

In Taiwan and China it is usually drunk from small cups, in small amounts, alongside food. It cuts through oily or strongly seasoned dishes. Strength is high, so it helps to keep water on the table and alternate.

Aquavit

Aquavit is a Nordic spirit; EU rules require caraway or dill seed to dominate its flavour. A potato or grain base spirit is given the herb character. Denmark, Norway and Sweden each developed their own style.

The settled habit is well chilled, in a small glass, with fish or cured dishes. Cask-aged bottlings open up at room temperature too.

Mead

Mead is made by diluting honey with water and fermenting it with yeast. It is a fermented drink rather than a distilled one, and Japan's liquor tax law classes it under other fermented liquors. It is one of the older things people have made, and versions of the same idea survive around the world.

Chilled, in a wine glass, the aroma comes out. Sweet styles go with cheese and nuts, dry styles with chicken and vegetable dishes. WAIN99 carries Bee Buzz, made by Legend Brewery in Taiwan, which shows how directly the choice of honey carries into the taste.

04 / The five whisky countries

The five whisky countries

Same word, different drink, depending on where it was made.

The five whisky countries, and Taiwan in recent years

Scotland

There is malt whisky, made only from malted barley, and grain whisky, distilled continuously from other cereals; blends of the two make up most production. By law, Scotch must be distilled in Scotland and matured there for at least three years in oak casks of 700 litres or less. Beyond regional character, cask type and the use of peat do most of the work on flavour.

Islay、Speyside、Highland、Lowland、Campbeltown

Ireland

The general impression is smooth, with cereal sweetness and ripe fruit. Irish whiskey is a protected geographical indication, and its technical file requires at least three years of maturation on the island of Ireland. Few distilleries use peat, so smoke is not the leading note.

Single pot still、Triple distillation

United States

New charred oak gives clear vanilla, caramel and toasted wood. Federal rules set bourbon at a minimum 51% corn, distilled at no more than 80% alcohol by volume and entered into the cask at no more than 62.5%. Kentucky and Tennessee are the centre, though small distilleries have multiplied across other states.

Bourbon、Rye、Tennessee

Canada

The overall impression is light and smooth, with a spicy note alongside soft sweetness. Federal regulations require mashing, fermenting and distilling in Canada, and at least three years in small wood of 700 litres or less, in Canada. Distilling each grain separately before blending gives makers a wide range to work with.

The 'rye' habit、Separate distillates

Japan

Japanese whisky started from Scottish practice and developed its own character through cask selection and climate. Whisky is defined in the liquor tax law, and since 2021 an industry body has operated a voluntary labelling standard for the term 'Japanese whisky'. The general impression is well balanced, with aroma that tends to be restrained.

Climate range、Craft distilleries、Mizunara casks

Taiwan

Taiwan is not counted among the five established regions, but its whiskies have been recognised at international competitions with increasing frequency. Heat and humidity speed up maturation, so even young whisky is dark, with strong ripe-fruit and sweet notes. The same conditions mean heavy losses from the cask, which makes it a demanding place to work.

Fast maturation、A large angel's share、Producers

All diagrams were drawn by WAIN99. Where photographs are used, the source is given beside each one.