Happy Hour: Tokyo 75

Photos by Mariko Yamasaki

Happy holidays everyone! What a year! I hope you are all able to relax during these last days of 2015 and reflect on joyful memories. It's been a hectic holiday season here at Umami Mart, and I'm thankful for everything we've done in the past year. Namely, we opened our Bottle System, featuring sakes, wines and the largest selection of Japanese beers in the U.S.! In August, we launched our Sake Gumi, a subscription service where we ship two sakes to members every month. To date, we are 113 members strong, from NYC, Michigan to Portland!

AND we were mentioned in the New York Times! Yes, it was a fulfilling year indeed.

Can you believe 2016 is just around the corner?

With that, here's a bubbly cocktail that will be a lovely way to ring in the new year. Why don't we use our Goldfinger Set to get us in the mood?

The Umami Mart Goldfinger Set features a 24K gold Cobbler shaker, gold jigger, 2 coupes, 2 cocktail pins and a Queen Elizabeth cocktail stirrer.

As usual, I like to play on classic cocktail recipes and tweak them just a bit. So here's my riff on the French 75, which I've dubbed the Tokyo 75. The French 75 contains gin, and I subbed umeshu (plum wine) for a low-alcohol alternative.

INGREDIENTS
One serving

3 oz umeshu (I used Choya)
0.75 oz yuzu juice (sub lemon if yuzu is unavailable)
2 oz sparkling wine