Chef Takumi
Awamori Mizuwari (泡盛水割り, awamori with water)
Awamori mizuwari is not a trick of the bar. It is three parts awamori, seven parts cold water, and enough patience to let the black-kōji aroma open.
Culinary Explorer
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Nihonshu Highball (日本酒ハイボール, sparkling sake)
Created by
A sake highball is decided before you pour: cold junmai, cold soda, clear ice, and a light hand so the rice aroma stays alive.
Beverages
Japanese
Dinner Party
Outdoor Dining
Special Occasion
5 min
Active Time
0 min cook•5 min total
Yield1 drink
The hesitation here is the word cocktail. It sounds as if the sake needs managing, sweetening, or dressing up for company. It doesn't. Nihonshu, what we call sake at the table, only needs cold soda, good ice, and a strip of citrus peel to show a lighter face.
The one detail that decides it is temperature. Chill the glass, chill the sake, chill the soda, and build the drink over one large piece of ice. Cold keeps the bubbles fine and the flavor clean. Warm soda goes flat at once, and small ice melts quickly, thinning the sake before it has had a fair chance to speak.
Use a dry junmai, not the proudest bottle in the cupboard and not the cheapest one hiding at the back, poor thing. Junmai has enough rice body to stay present when lengthened with soda, while a fragrant ginjō can lose its perfume under the bubbles. We pour gently, stir once, and stop. Nothing hidden. A Nihonshu Highball belongs easily beside grilled fish, vinegared vegetables, and the first hot evenings when beer feels loud and wine feels heavy.
The highball became a familiar Japanese bar drink in the twentieth century, especially through whisky highballs served in urban bars and later izakaya. Sake mixed with soda is a modern extension of the same mizuwari and sodawari drinking habits, using dilution not to disguise the drink but to make it lighter with food. In Japan it is often promoted as a way to serve nihonshu chilled and sparkling to younger drinkers and at warm-weather meals.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
dry junmai sake
Quantity
3 ounces
well chilled
plain soda water
Quantity
3 ounces
well chilled
large clear ice cube or ice spear
Quantity
1
yuzu peel
Quantity
1 strip
cut without the bitter white pith
lemon peel (optional)
Quantity
1 strip
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dry junmai sakewell chilled | 3 ounces |
| plain soda waterwell chilled | 3 ounces |
| large clear ice cube or ice spear | 1 |
| yuzu peelcut without the bitter white pith | 1 strip |
| lemon peel (optional) | 1 strip |
Equipment Needed
- •Tall chilled glass, ideally a thin highball glass
- •Bar spoon, or a long-handled teaspoon
- •Peeler or small knife for cutting citrus peel
Instructions
- 1
Chill everything
Put the glass, sake, and soda water in the refrigerator until they are properly cold. This isn't fussiness. Cold liquid holds its bubbles longer, and a cold glass keeps the first sip sharp instead of tired.
If time is short, fill the glass with ice water for two minutes, then empty and dry it before building the drink. - 2
Set the ice
Place one large clear cube or ice spear in the chilled glass. Big ice melts slowly and gives the drink a quiet pace. Small ice chills fast, yes, but it also waters the sake before the bubbles have settled.
- 3
Pour the sake
Add the chilled junmai sake over the ice. Use a dry, clean bottle with enough rice flavor to stand up to soda. A very aromatic ginjō is better saved for a wine glass, where its fragrance doesn't have to compete.
- 4
Top with soda
Pour the cold soda gently down the side of the glass or along a bar spoon. You are preserving bubbles, not making a ceremony of pouring water. Stop at equal parts sake and soda for a balanced drink, or use a little more soda if the evening is hot.
- 5
Stir once
Lift the ice once with a bar spoon, then let it fall back into place. One calm stir combines the drink without knocking the life out of the soda. If you hear the glass fizz hard and angrily, you've stirred too much.
- 6
Finish with yuzu
Twist the yuzu peel over the surface, rub it once around the rim, and drop it in or rest it against the ice. The peel gives aroma before sweetness, which is why it belongs here. Serve at once, while the drink is still bright.
Chef Tips
- •Choose junmai that tastes clean and dry when chilled. If it is sweet and heavy on its own, soda will make it seem clumsy. If it is thin, soda will make it disappear.
- •Yuzu is best in winter, its shun, when the peel is vivid and fragrant. Out of season, use a narrow strip of lemon peel and say plainly what it is: a sensible stand-in, not yuzu.
- •Don't add syrup unless you're making another drink. The pleasure here is the sake's rice aroma stretched lightly by bubbles, honmono made simple, not hidden under sweetness.
- •Use plain soda with strong carbonation. Mineral water is fine if it is clean-tasting, but flavored soda drags the drink away from the table.
Advance Preparation
- •Chill the sake and soda several hours ahead. The drink itself should be mixed only at the moment of serving.
- •Cut yuzu or lemon peel up to one hour ahead and keep it covered in the refrigerator so it does not dry out.
- •Clear ice can be made ahead and stored tightly wrapped in the freezer to keep it from picking up odors.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 235g)
Calories
115 calories
Total Fat
0 g
Saturated Fat
0 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
0 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
5 mg
Total Carbohydrates
4 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
0 g
Protein
0 g
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