Hot cocktails – and I don’t just mean popular

Ever considered oden dashi, yuzu ponzu or pickled ginger as cocktail ingredients?

Excite News reports on a new lineup of just-add-sake mixer cups from Ponshu Gria, who launched with summertime sangria-style glasses complete with ingredients for instant sake cocktails.

Now they’re back for winter with a new range for kanzake, heated sake. The three flavours on offer are oden dashi [bonito-based fish stock for simmered stew], yuzu ponzu [soy sauce flavoured with Japanese citrus] and sushiya no gari – yes, the pink pickled ginger you get with your sushi as a palate cleanser.

In a sharp departure from their previous strategy of using fruit from all around the country to create easy sweet and fruity sake cocktails, this time they’re trying to create a new way to drink sake in winter by riffing on hot dashi-wari [diluting sake with dashi stock as you would with water] to make a cocktail you can drink warm with a meal.

Oden Dashi Nihonshu goes well with simmered dishes like daikon radish or hakusai Chinese cabbage, while Yuzu Ponzu Nihonshu is a perfect match for grilled fish such as mackerel, or savoury nabe [hotpot]. And Sushiya no Gari Nihonshu? You guessed it, serve with sushi or sashimi.

You can also enjoy trying different sake with the same flavourings, and seeing what they bring out of a sake you already know.

The three kanzake cocktail kits are available online, JPY 480 each for a 180 ml cup filled with flavourings. Add sake and heat for a kanzake cocktail.

Links

• Original article (Japanese, Excite News, 13 December 2019)
• Ponshu Gria (Japanese)
• Just add sake – readymade sake cocktail kit (29 October 2017)