Forget the Year: The Green Tea Whiskey Soda
If ever there was a time for a stiff drink, it’s now. In fact, in Japan, the start of a new year has a reputation for being the perfect time for a little excess. Bōnenkai (meaning “forget the year party”) is a time-honored tradition that takes place among friends and coworkers at the end of the year. The purpose, as the name suggests, is to shake off the troubles of the year and loosen formal relationships with the help of a few rounds of warming drinks. In keeping with the spirit of bōnenkai (and to send off 2020 in good taste), we share our recipe for a refreshing whiskey soda with a twist.
The unassuming Whiskey Soda is one of the most popular drinks in Japan. This version brings a bit more flavor and sweetness through the addition of warming ginger beer, and an easy-to-make green tea simple syrup.
Simple syrup requires little instruction and is quite unremarkable on its own. Add equal parts sugar and water in a saucepan; heat and stir until dissolved. Simple right? Well… yes, but why stop there? We like to think of simple syrup as the perfect blank slate to experiment with flavors and infusions to further use in any creation that needs just a touch of sweetness.
Being Rikumo, we’ve found that infusing green tea in simple syrup is an easy (or simple) way to add the slightly grassy and floral notes we’ve come to love in our line of green teas to drinks and desserts.
Green Tea Infused Simple Syrup
Ingredients:
1 cup white sugar
1 cup water
5g loose Japanese green tea - When choosing a variety of green tea to use, we suggest sweeter or milder styles like sencha or fukamushicha. From the Morihata collection, we would suggest either our Kanayamidori or Kirishima varieties.
Directions:
Brew the tea using whatever method or brewing vessel you prefer (we made ours with a kyusu teapot. Click here to review our kyusu guide)
Once you have 1 cup of brewed tea, add both the tea and sugar to a small saucepan
Bring the mixture to a slow boil while stirring
Once the sugar has dissolved completely, remove from heat and let cool. Simple syrup can be stored in a squeeze bottle in the fridge for up to one month
The Green Tea Whiskey Soda
Ingredients:
1.5 oz Japanese whiskey
3.5 oz ginger beer (we used Reed’s brand as it has a very pronounced ginger flavor and a bit less sweetness)
.5 oz green tea simple syrup
1-2 dashes of angostura bitters
Directions:
Fill a highball glass with crushed ice and stir vigorously for 30 seconds to chill the glass
Pour out any melted water
Add whiskey, green tea syrup, and bitters
Stir vigorously with a bar spoon until thoroughly chilled
Add ginger beer and stir gently a few times more to preserve fizz
Top with more ice if desired
Serve immediately and enjoy!