Blog
Stories from behind the bar: cocktails, ramen, Japanese culture, and life on the Lower East Side.
ShochuSep 26, 2025Lento: The Kokuto Shochu That Gets Played Classical MusicAmami Oshima Kaiun Shuzo matures this brown sugar shochu inside tanks fitted with transducers, playing Mozart and Beethoven into the liquid. The name is a tempo marking.ShochuSep 23, 2025Nikaido Shochu: The Barley Shochu That Changed the GameNikaido is a pioneering barley shochu from Oita prefecture, made with 100% in-house barley koji by a family distillery running since 1866.WhiskySep 23, 2025The Hojicha Old Fashioned: A Seasonal Twist at Izakaya JurakuSato Shiki Single Grain Whisky, roasted hojicha tea, and a mist of Laphroaig 10-year Scotch — our fall cocktail, now with subtle smoke.ShochuSep 23, 2025Discover Nankai Shochu at Izakaya JurakuNankai is an awamori-style kokuto (black sugar) shochu from the Amami Islands, and sales support reforestation efforts there.ShochuSep 19, 2025Aka Kirishima: The Shochu That Turns Red By ItselfA purple sweet potato, black koji, and a chemical reaction that gives this Miyazaki imo shochu its color. Strawberry on the nose, and a sweetness that lingers.WhiskySep 16, 2025Akashi Ume: Green Plums Steeped in Whisky Barrels Since 1679Eigashima has been distilling in Akashi since 1679. This one macerates fresh ume in barrels of matured Akashi whisky with rock sugar — umeshu logic, whisky base.EventsSep 12, 2025Shirakawago Sasanigori: The Nigori That Started as Festival DoburokuA lightly cloudy Junmai Ginjo from Miwa Shuzo in Gifu, born from a request by the mayor of a UNESCO World Heritage village to make sake for its doburoku festival.SakeSep 5, 2025Far Yeast Brewing: Hinoki Lager and Mori to Mori Rice AleTwo Japanese craft beers from a brewery in the mountains of Yamanashi — one brewed with Japanese cypress, one with sake rice and sake yeast.CocktailsSep 2, 2025Kissui: A Rice Vodka Distilled Twelve Times and Filtered Through BambooMade by Takara Shuzo in Fushimi, Kyoto, from 100% Japanese rice and famously soft local water. The name means absolutely pure.CocktailsAug 29, 2025Ki No Tea: A Kyoto Gin Built With a 19th-Century Uji Tea HouseThe Kyoto Distillery made Japan's first dedicated craft gin. This one is a collaboration with a tea blender founded in 1879, using tencha and gyokuro from Uji.ShochuAug 22, 2025Daiyame 40: The Sweet Potato Shochu That Smells Like LycheeHamada Shuzo ages the sweet potatoes before they ever reach the still, and the result is an imo shochu with a full lychee aroma. Bottled at 40% for cocktails.
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