i’m on drink detail and trying to come up with some sushi-appropriate cocktails.

idea one: vodka, cachaca, lime, honeydew syrup, shiso. maybe a drop or two of luxardo maraschino
idea two: vodka, gin, lemon, tea syrup, yuzu

i experimented with idea two tonight. i used darjeeling tea; this flavor combination was inspired by the charlie trotter desserts cookbook in which he has a recipe for a trio of tea sorbets, one of which is a darjeeling-lemon-pear combination. and so i muddled a quarter of a fragrant pear which i don’t think added much.

yuzu. i sprung for an expensive-as-fuck bottlette of the stuff. annoyed and seething with self-hatred for not buying and freezing a few fresh ones back when they were in season.

i added eight dashes of the juice which might have been enough were it not for the addition of muddled lemon peel which possibly overwhelmed the yuzu.

2 oz vodka
1 oz gin
1 1/2 oz meyer lemon
1 oz darjeeling syrup
yuzu juice

verdict, it works. i’m going to try again with green tea.

…both cocktails have a similar citrusy profile, if i had any balls i would make a sangria or some other kind of red wine based thing. red wine paired with salmon nigiri is delicious.

i’m toying with the idea of topping the yuzu drink with black asahi to make a sort of nipponese shandy.