Sake cocktails: Our favourite recipes you can make at home

The easiest introduction to sake in a mixed drink, and the one we pour most often at tastings. Tonic's quinine bitterness gives a light ginjo something to push against.

Ingredients

• 50ml junmai ginjo sake
• 100ml Indian tonic water
• Lime wedge

Method

1. Fill a highball glass with ice.
2. Pour in the sake, then the tonic, and stir once.
3. Squeeze the lime wedge over the drink and drop it in.

Pour it with: Kikusui Junmai Ginjo 720ml.

Sodawari simply means cut with soda, and it's how a great deal of sake is drunk in Japan on a warm evening. A savoury junmai keeps its character even at this dilution.

Ingredients

• 50ml junmai sake
• 100ml soda water
• Lemon twist

Method

1. Fill a highball glass with ice and chill it for a moment, then pour away any meltwater.
2. Add the sake, top with soda and stir once, gently, to keep the bubbles.
3. Twist the lemon peel over the surface and drop it in.

Pour it with: Urakasumi 'Misty Bay' Junmai 720ml.

A house highball from the Sho Chiku Bai brewery, and proof that sake and lime belong together. Use a generous squeeze — more than feels right.

Ingredients

• 50ml junmai sake
• 100ml tonic water
• Half a lime

Method

1. Fill a highball glass with ice.
2. Add the sake and tonic.
3. Squeeze the lime half over the drink and drop it in.

Pour it with: Hakutsuru Excellent Junmai 720ml.

Adapted from a Sho Chiku Bai house recipe.

Lighter than the tequila original, and all the better at lunchtime. Pink grapefruit and sake share a soft bitterness that makes this taste more expensive than it is.

Ingredients

• 50ml tokubetsu junmai sake
• 25ml pink grapefruit juice
• 15ml lime juice
• 10ml agave syrup
• Soda water to top
• Grapefruit slice

Method

1. Shake the sake, grapefruit, lime and agave with ice.
2. Strain into an ice-filled highball glass.
3. Top with soda and garnish with the grapefruit slice.

Pour it with: Nanbu Bijin Tokubetsu Junmai 720ml.

Three ingredients, no shaking, and the best drink on this page to make for six people at once.

Ingredients

• 50ml junmai sake
• 50ml fresh grapefruit juice
• Soda water to top
• Grapefruit slice

Method

1. Build the sake and grapefruit juice over ice in a wine glass.
2. Top with soda and stir once.
3. Garnish with the grapefruit slice.

Pour it with: Shichiken Junmai 720ml.

Named for the Japanese satsuma. The orange oils and the Cointreau lift a simple sake highball into something that tastes considered.

Ingredients

• 50ml junmai sake
• 25ml Cointreau
• 1 orange slice
• Soda water to top

Method

1. Squeeze the orange slice into the bottom of a highball glass and leave it in.
2. Fill with ice, then add the sake and Cointreau.
3. Top with soda and stir once.

Pour it with: Dassai 45 Junmai Daiginjo 720ml.

Adapted from a Sho Chiku Bai house recipe.

Cool cucumber, warm ginger and a dry sake in the middle. This is the drink we'd pour alongside sushi for someone who says they don't like sake.

Ingredients

• 50ml ginjo sake
• 15ml ginger syrup
• 10ml lemon juice
• 4 slices cucumber
• Soda water to top

Method

1. Press three cucumber slices gently in the base of a shaker — bruise them, don't pulverise them.
2. Add the sake, ginger syrup, lemon juice and ice, and shake briefly.
3. Strain into an ice-filled highball, top with soda, and garnish with the last cucumber slice.

Pour it with: Kubota Senju Ginjo 720ml.

Yuzu smells like grapefruit, mandarin and lime at once. Against sparkling sake it needs nothing else.

Ingredients

• 40ml yuzu liqueur
• 80ml sparkling sake, well chilled
• Strip of lemon peel

Method

1. Pour the yuzu liqueur into an ice-filled wine glass.
2. Top gently with sparkling sake.
3. Twist the lemon peel over the top and drop it in.

Pour it with: Takara Kyoto Yuzu Sake Liqueur 700ml and Shichiken Yamanokasumi Sparkling Sake 360ml.

The gateway sake cocktail. Keep the vodka small: it's there for backbone, not flavour, and the sake should still taste of sake.

Ingredients

• 60ml junmai ginjo sake
• 25ml vodka
• Lemon twist

Method

1. Stir the sake and vodka with plenty of ice for about 20 seconds.
2. Strain into a chilled glass.
3. Twist the lemon peel over the surface and drop it in.

Pour it with: Suigei Junmai Ginjo Ginrei 720ml.

A reverse martini: sake leads, gin supports. The pinch of salt isn't a gimmick — it suppresses bitterness and makes the fruit read sweeter. A modern classic, and the drink that changed how a lot of bartenders think about sake.

Ingredients

• 75ml junmai daiginjo sake
• 25ml dry gin
• 1–2 dashes maraschino liqueur
• 2 drops saline solution, or a small pinch of salt
• Salt-pickled cherry blossom, or a lemon twist

Method

1. Stir the sake, gin, maraschino and saline with ice until very cold.
2. Strain into a chilled coupe.
3. Float the cherry blossom, or twist lemon peel over the top.

Pour it with: Dassai 45 Junmai Daiginjo 720ml.

Created by Kenta Goto at Bar Goto, New York.

No vodka, no gin: sake and a whisper of vermouth. It only works with a fragrant ginjo or daiginjo, so this is the one to make with a bottle you'd happily drink on its own.

Ingredients

• 75ml ginjo sake
• 15ml dry vermouth
• Olive or lemon twist

Method

1. Stir the sake and vermouth with ice for 15 seconds — less than you would a gin martini, since there's less alcohol to soften.
2. Strain into a chilled glass.
3. Garnish with an olive for a savoury version, a lemon twist for a fresh one.

Pour it with: Tosatsuru Azure Ginjo 720ml.

Sake doesn't have the weight to replace gin entirely here, but a dry honjozo gives the drink a cleaner, more mineral edge, and takes some of the sweetness out.

Ingredients

• 40ml dry honjozo sake
• 25ml Campari
• 25ml sweet vermouth
• Orange peel

Method

1. Stir all three with ice until well chilled.
2. Strain over a large cube in a rocks glass.
3. Express the orange peel over the top and drop it in.

Pour it with: Kubota Hyakuju Honjozo 720ml.

Inspired by the Kubota brewery's own Negroni riff.

Lighter and more floral than the tequila version. Salt the rim on one side only, so you can choose with each sip.

Ingredients

• 50ml tokubetsu junmai sake
• 25ml triple sec
• 20ml lime juice
• 10ml agave syrup
• Salt for the rim, lime wheel

Method

1. Rub a lime wedge around half the rim and dip it in salt.
2. Shake the sake, triple sec, lime and agave hard with ice.
3. Strain into the glass and garnish with the lime wheel.

Pour it with: Hakutsuru Tokubetsu Junmai Yamadanishiki 720ml.

Rum's sweetness can bully the mint. Sake doesn't, so the herb stays in the foreground — this is the cleanest mojito you'll make.

Ingredients

• 60ml junmai ginjo sake
• 20ml lime juice
• 15ml sugar syrup
• 10 mint leaves
• Soda water to top

Method

1. Clap the mint between your hands and drop it into the glass with the lime and syrup.
2. Add the sake and fill with crushed ice, then churn with a spoon.
3. Top with soda and crown with more ice and a mint sprig.

Pour it with: Kubota Koju Junmai Ginjo 720ml.

Yuzu is sharper and more aromatic than lemon, so a sour built on it needs less sugar than you'd expect. The foam carries the aroma to your nose before the first sip.

Ingredients

• 60ml junmai ginjo sake
• 25ml yuzu juice
• 15ml sugar syrup
• 1 egg white, or 25ml aquafaba
• 3 drops aromatic bitters

Method

1. Shake everything except the bitters without ice for 10 seconds to build the foam.
2. Add ice and shake hard until cold.
3. Strain into a chilled coupe and dot the bitters on the foam.

Pour it with: Sohomare Junmai Ginjo 720ml.

A caipirinha with sake in place of cachaça. Strawberries work best when they're almost too ripe.

Ingredients

• 60ml junmai sake
• 3 ripe strawberries
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• Lime wedge

Method

1. Muddle the strawberries and sugar in the base of a rocks glass until the sugar dissolves.
2. Add the sake and fill with crushed ice, then stir.
3. Squeeze the lime over the top.

Pour it with: Shichiken Junmai Ginjo 720ml.

The house aperitif in a lot of Japanese homes, and the drink we'd hand someone who insists they don't like Japanese drinks.

Ingredients

• 50ml umeshu (plum sake)
• 100ml soda water
• Lemon wedge

Method

1. Fill a highball with ice and pour in the umeshu.
2. Top with soda and stir once.
3. Squeeze in the lemon.

Pour it with: Nanbu Bijin Umeshu (Plum Sake) 720ml.

Tonic's bitterness cuts umeshu's sweetness, which turns a dessert drink into something you can serve before dinner. Rosemary makes it look like you tried.

Ingredients

• 50ml umeshu (plum sake)
• 100ml tonic water
• Rosemary sprig

Method

1. Build over ice in a wine glass.
2. Stir once.
3. Slap the rosemary against your palm and add it.

Pour it with: Urakasumi Junmai Umeshu (Plum Sake) 720ml.

Nigori is unfiltered, so it carries fine rice sediment and a texture closer to horchata than wine. Shaken with pineapple it turns into something tropical and faintly coconutty, with no cream involved.

Ingredients

• 60ml nigori (cloudy) sake
• 60ml pineapple juice
• 15ml lime juice
• Pineapple wedge

Method

1. Turn the nigori bottle gently end over end before opening to redistribute the sediment.
2. Shake the sake, pineapple and lime with ice.
3. Strain over crushed ice and garnish with the pineapple wedge.

Pour it with: Dassai 45 Junmai Daiginjo Nigori (Cloudy) Sake 300ml.

Cloudy sake behaves like milk in a coffee drink, so this lands somewhere between an espresso martini and an affogato. Dessert in a glass, and lower in alcohol than either.

Ingredients

• 60ml nigori (cloudy) sake
• 25ml cold brew coffee
• 15ml dark rum
• 10ml sugar syrup
• Cocoa powder to dust

Method

1. Shake everything hard with ice — harder than you think, to build the foam.
2. Strain into a chilled coupe.
3. Dust with cocoa.

Pour it with: Kanpai London KUMO Cloudy (Nigori) Sake 375ml.

Sparkling sake is lower in alcohol than Prosecco and fruitier, which makes it the better base for a brunch Bellini.

Ingredients

• 25ml white peach purée
• 100ml sparkling sake, well chilled

Method

1. Spoon the peach purée into a chilled flute.
2. Top slowly with sparkling sake, stirring gently as you pour.

Pour it with: Dassai 45 Sparkling Sake 360ml.

A long, low-alcohol drink for a hot afternoon,.

Ingredients

• 40ml yuzu liqueur
• 15ml lemon juice
• 10ml sugar syrup
• Soda water to top
• Mint sprig

Method

1. Shake the yuzu liqueur, lemon and syrup with ice.
2. Strain into an ice-filled highball and top with soda.
3. Add the mint sprig.

Pour it with: Tsukasabotan Yama Yuzu 720ml.

Sake and tomato are both full of glutamates, so this is a Bloody Mary with the umami turned up and the alcoholic burn turned down. The best argument on this page for sake at brunch.

Ingredients

• 50ml dry junmai or honjozo sake
• 125ml tomato juice
• 15ml lemon juice
• 3 dashes Worcestershire sauce
• 2 dashes hot sauce
• Pinch celery salt and black pepper
• Celery stick and lemon wedge

Method

1. Roll the ingredients between two tins rather than shaking, to keep the tomato juice from frothing.
2. Pour into an ice-filled highball.
3. Garnish with celery and lemon, and more pepper than feels sensible.

Pour it with: Ichinokura Extra Dry Honjozo 720ml.

A kimoto sake brings lactic depth and a nutty, almost cheesy savouriness. With white vermouth and orange bitters it makes a martini that tastes of broth rather than botanicals.

Ingredients

• 60ml kimoto junmai sake
• 15ml bianco vermouth
• 2 dashes orange bitters
• Lemon twist

Method

1. Stir with ice until very cold.
2. Strain into a chilled coupe.
3. Twist lemon peel over the top and discard it.

Pour it with: Izumibashi Kimoto Junmai 720ml.

Shiso tastes like mint crossed with basil and a little anise. Against a crisp ginjo it makes the most herbaceous drink here, and the best one with fried food.

Ingredients

• 50ml ginjo sake
• 10ml sugar syrup
• 2 shiso leaves (or 4 basil leaves and a mint sprig)
• Soda water to top

Method

1. Clap one shiso leaf and drop it into the glass with the syrup.
2. Add ice and the sake, then top with soda.
3. Garnish with the second leaf.

Pour it with: Kubota Senju Ginjo 720ml.

Warming sake brings out its rice-sweet, toasty side, which is exactly what you want around honey and ginger. Heat it gently: boiling drives off the aroma you're paying for.

Ingredients

• 120ml junmai sake
• 20ml yuzu or lemon juice
• 20ml honey
• 2 slices fresh ginger
• 1 star anise
• Lemon wheel

Method

1. Put everything except the lemon wheel into a heatproof jug and stand it in a pan of just-boiled water.
2. Warm to about 50°C — hot to the lip, not scalding — stirring to dissolve the honey.
3. Pour into a warmed glass and float the lemon wheel.

Pour it with: Masumi Okuden Kantsukuri Junmai 720ml.

Two ingredients, and the easiest winter drink in the house. Umeshu is around 10–12%, so a mug of this is gentler than a glass of wine.

Ingredients

• 50ml umeshu (plum sake)
• 100ml hot water
• 2 slices fresh ginger
• Strip of orange peel

Method

1. Warm the ginger in the hot water for a minute.
2. Pour in the umeshu — off the heat, so it keeps its aroma.
3. Add the orange peel.

Pour it with: Kamoizumi Umeshu 720ml.