Books: The Japanese Cocktail
The Civil and Diplomatic Relevance of a Well Made Drink
2010-04-02
By Terry Glover
A certain degree of civility is borne when you choose nursing a signature libation over a brew. Something about the more intricate preparation calls for giving real consideration to what’s in your glass and, by extension, the world around you. So it is, admittedly gratifying to detect a bit of decorum at a less-than-civil point in our civic interactions in the revival of the cocktail culture. Clubs with intimate, speakeasy environments have set up shop next to casual pubs, and bartenders, upgraded to the rank of “mixologists,” are concocting old school recipes like mad scientists.
The American cocktail in particular, is uniquely our own, calling for homegrown ingredients like gin, simple syrup and Kentucky bourbon. The Manhattan, the gimlet, the martini, all iconic cocktails developed with good old American ingenuity and used to lubricate the squeaky wheels of sexism, consumerism and Prohibition. Our descent into a culture of blue ribbon beer might well reflect the move toward blue states against red states, ubiquitous running suits and casual Fridays. But, if cultural climate can be gauged by the bar stock, we are, hallelujah, on the upswing.
It stands to reason, then, that the swizzle stick might well be viewed as a viable tool of multiculturalism. One such entry into the U.N. of cocktail consumption is a new book on booze, The Japanese Cocktail.
Though not as comprehensive as the venerable Mr. Boston, the 60-recipe collection is a bar guide and history lesson in one. The book divides the subject and its recipes into three distinct sections; one for sake based cocktails, one for whiskey based cocktails, a third for the intoxicating shochu, a liquor made from sweet potatoes, rice or soba that has been compared to vodka in appearance and flavor, though lower in alcohol content. Recipes ranging from the simple (Sake eggnog) to the sublime (the Mont Blanc) call for ingredients likely to be in your pantry (sugar, a raw egg) or likely to call for a treasure hunt (dried shark fin, chestnut pureé or plum paste) if you’re the more adventurous type.
The lush photography and bite-sized historical references make the read as intriguing as the recipes, such as the “Black Ship” cocktail, named for American seaman Matthew C. Perry’s successful penetration of Japan’s 250-year isolationist period. Ditto the “Love Hotel,” paying homage to the hourly “arrangements” employed by many unmarried couples still living at home with parents, the “Office Lady,” for the 9-to-5’er, or the “Brazilian Jiu Jitsu,” in recognition of the 1.3 million people of Japanese descent living there. Best are the vintage liquor advertisements featured throughout.
Of course, ordering an exotic libation while chillin’ on a velvet banquette is quite different from actually hauling out the hardware. Not sure how keen Americans will be on grating lychee nuts at home, but the Japanese penchant for artful interpretation is on display here — right down to the (Fuji) Apple Martini—and isn’t that what diplomacy is all about?
Long live cultural exchange.
Terry Glover is managing editor of Ebony magazine.
