The Way of the Cocktail

A richly transportive guide to the world of Japanese cocktails from acclaimed bartender Julia Momosé, featuring 85 drink recipes.

With its studious devotion to tradition, craftsmanship, and hospitality, Japanese cocktail culture is an art form treated with the same kind of spiritual reverence as sushi-making. Now, Julia Momosé, a Japanese American bartender and partner of Kumiko and Kikko in Chicago, presents an enchanting journey into the realm of Japanese spirits and cocktails with eighty-five drink recipes.

In this essential guide, Julia elegantly breaks down master techniques and provides in-depth information on cocktail culture, history, and heritage spirits that will both educate and inspire. The provocative recipes, inspired by the twenty-four micro-seasons that define the ebb and flow of life in Japan, include perfected classics like the Manhattan and Negroni, riffs on some of Japan's most beloved cocktails like the whisky highball, and even alcohol-free drinks inspired by traditional ingredients, such as yuzu, matcha, and umé. As micro-seasonality shapes the flavors and ingredients used throughout the year, readers will become enveloped in this hypnotic cycle, enjoying the spicy, woodsy Autumn's Jacket that evokes the smoldering burn of smoking rice fields in fall or the invigorating Cherry Americano whose bittersweetness could quench even the most oppressive thirst in early summer.

Delving into the soul of Japanese cocktails-from how tradition and philosophy impact drink-making to more cocktail-specific fundamentals like technique, tools, and elements of hospitality-readers will gain a deep understanding of the layered elements that make this cocktail culture so specialized and significant.