Julia Momose, Chicago's very own dynamo bartender extraordinaire of Kumiko, brings us a considered and thorough exploration of Japanese cocktail culture in her book, The Way of the Cocktail: Japanese Traditions, Techniques, and Recipes.
Throughout the three sections of this comprehensive, 336 page volume, Julia lends insights into Japanese hospitality traditions and craftsmanship through the lens of cocktail-making. You'll find recipes laid out by seasonality of ingredients (and the most suitable moods and seasons in which to serve them), tools and techniques of the trade, and a plethora of diverse alcohol bases from which to build these drinks. There's also ample non-alcoholic ideas in this book as well, from Chrysanthemum tea lattes to mugicha tonics.
We're excited to see so many recipes featuring sake and shochu prominently with such reverence to the diverse character and and intricacies unique in these special drinks, so often relegated to the ranks of a cheap vodka or neutral spirit. These cocktails will help you understand the full spectrum of what these libations have to offer and synthesize something greater than the sum of their parts.
Here's hoping that we'll make it to Kumiko in person soon – until then, we'll make the cocktails from this book, one by one.
