EPISODE INTRO
In the 58th episode of the Japan Distilled podcast, guest host Matt Alt joins Stephen Lyman to discuss the origins of Japanese cocktail culture.
CREDITS
Theme Song: Begin Anywhere by Tomoko Miyata (http://tomokomiyata.net/)
Mixing and Editing: Rich Pav (https://www.uncannyjapan.com/)
HOSTS
STEPHEN LYMAN discovered Japan’s indigenous spirits at an izakaya in New York City. He was so enthralled that he now lives in Japan and works in a tiny craft shochu distillery every autumn. His first book, The Complete Guide to Japanese Drinks, was nominated for a 2020 James Beard Award.
MATT ALT Author of numerous books including his most recent, Pure Invention: How Japan Made the Modern World, is an exploration of Japan’s incredible post-war rise to commercial diplomacy juggernaut. He’s also an accomplished drinks writer and cocktail historian.
If you have any comments or questions about Japanese cocktail history or culture, please reach out to Stephen or Matt via Twitter. We would love to hear from you.
SHOW NOTES
Upheaval
The opening of Japan by Commodore Matthew Perry threw the country into chaos and the early days of western involvement in Japan was nothing like the civilized experiences of the later Meiji and Taisho eras. The first cocktails served in Japan were in western hotels catering to foreign businessmen, but the real establishment of a Japanese cocktail cultures would have to wait several decades.
The professionalization of Japanese cocktails really came with tourism and the establishment of international bartending in the hotels catering to foreign visitors. These bartenders focused on their craft, making the best cocktails available from the ingredients available.
The Japanese Cocktail
The first Japanese cocktail was not created in Japan nor did it represent Japan in any meaningful way. It was created by legendary bartender Jerry Thomas in 1860 in honor of the Japanese legation, the first Japanese diplomatic mission to the United States. However, until this mission, complete with samurai sword wielding dignitaries, came to the US, there was no Japanese presence in the country.
The cocktail, also known as the Mikado, is a weird one. Adapted from David Wonderich’s wonderful, Imbibe!
Ingredients:
15ml orgeat syrup
2.5ml bogart’s bitters
30ml brandy
1 or 2 lemon peels
fill tumbler 1/3 full of ice, add syrup, bitters, and brandy, stir well with a bar spoon.
Originally, this was a rocks drink, so pour the concoction over a fresh glass of ice, garnish with lemon peel(s). However, Dr. Wonderich recommends serving it up after its well chilled with stirring.
It’s believed by Tokyo-based cocktail historian, Kadzuo Ishizura, that Thomas was trying to create a version of Chinese shaoxing wine, which he may have been familiar with due to the large number of Chinese immigrants working in the US at the time.
The Bamboo
Rightly understood as the first cocktail created in Japan that is still sometimes consumed today. The bamboo was created by German-born barman Louis Eppinger who created the drink at the Grand Hotel in Yokohama no later than 1890. May even be weirder than the Japanese. Again, from David Wonderich’s wonderful, Imbibe!
45ml French vermouth
45ml sherry
2 dashes of orange bitters
2 drops of angastora bitters
stirred over cracked ice, strained into a stemmed cocktail glass, squeeze and twist of lemon peel, serve with a pimola or olive.
The Professionalization
Post-WW2, the Japanese bartending community professionalized under guilds dotted throughout the country. Just as with other crafts, apprentices learned international bartending under the watchful eye of their mentors and the masters were every bit as strict as in other disciplines. Today hundreds of cocktail bars throughout Japan can trace their roots to proteges of these post-war pioneers.
As with cruise ships and grand hotels, the bartenders are almost always clothed a tuxedo or at least a bow tie and are nearly always men. But these things are changing, and for the better.
The winner of the 2022 Diageo World Class Japan final was Yui Odata of Wine&Bar Mugiya in Miyazaki City down in southern Kyushu. She has proven once and for all that women are every bit as capable of being world class bartenders in Japan. Highly recommend a visit and strongly suggest you go early and order whatever she wants to serve you.
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