Kawahori

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (5 ratings)

Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
1 barspoon *Special ingredient #1 (see above)
1 13 oz Bacardi Carta Blanca Superior White Rum
13 oz Akashi-Tai Shiraume Ginjo Umeshu
2 barspoon Monin Grenadine Syrup
13 oz Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
× 1 1 serving
Read about cocktail measures and measuring

Garnish: Lemon zest twist

How to make:

SHAKE all ingredients with ice and fine strain into chilled glass. *Special ingredient #1: Yukari rice seasoning

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 1/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 6/10

Review:

You'll find plum wine and Yukari powder (which tastes like salty, sweet, fruity black tea leaves and looks a little like black tea) at any specialist Japanese retailer (such as London's Japan Centre). We tried making this drink a few times, with homemade pomegranate syrup as well as commercially available grenadine. How generous the spoon of yukari also greatly affected the outcome. Some of the versions we made were great but the recipe is not fool proof, or the ingredients so easily available outside of Japan.

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History:

The Japanese Bacardí Legacy 2016 winning cocktail winning cocktail by Masato Sakurai at Ginza Yaemaru in Tokyo.

Kawahori is a Japanese twist on the new standard cocktail, from its umami flavors to its insight into Japanese culture, which is hidden in the name; Kawahori means 'bat' in old forgotten Japanese.

Masato Sakurai, 2016

Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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22nd May 2024 at 07:49
I can't imagine how that would've tasted. The rice seasoning suggested is made from red shiso leaves and while it is salty, it doesn't contain fish flavours or anything like that. I hope you try again with the correct ingredient, it adds a lot and I'm sure you'll enjoy it more.
Bill Wrinkle’s Avatar Bill Wrinkle
19th September 2023 at 15:46
So I tried this. When I googled "Yukari rice seasoning", every result pointed me to "Furikake". Yukari is the brand. My furikake seems based on shredded sushi nori and other "fishy/salty/umami" flavored bits which I put in the coffee grinder to make a powder. Then I made the cocktail per the instructions.

My only recommendation is to not let the lemon juice or the grenadine get control of the flavor. Don't be afraid to dump more of the rice seasoning in than you are comfortable with.
Michael Z’s Avatar Michael Z
12th January 2023 at 02:07
Absolutely brilliant. Must try.
Though, the boozy scale should be at least a 5.