Sometimes cocktails garner their names from a moment in time. Such is the case of the Japanese Cocktail. There’s nothing in this cocktail that would lead you believe the drink would be inspired by Japan, but rather, the cocktail was made in effort to impress dignitaries from Japan. Legend has it that these dignitaries were staying in New York in the 1860’s and this was the cocktail made to impress them. So is it still impressive to everyone else today?
Japanese Cocktail
The Japanese Cocktail is sweet, fruity, lightly caramelized, and subtly aromatic. The flavors are complex, yet integrated, showing off the distilled fruit from the cognac (hints of berries and grape), backed up by this caramelized nuttiness and a great mix of cardamom herbal-aromatics. The integration results in something slightly sweet, but overall well balanced and indulgent sort of cocktail.
Drink Notes & Recommendations
There’s a lot of bitters in this, so your cognac is going to fight for dominance. The orgeat will make a huge impact if you’re not using something natural, like Small Hand Foods. In this particular case, I would suggest using a higher end orgeat and a lower end cognac. If you can’t accomplish that, and have to use a lower end orgeat (read: artifical), think about reducing the quantity to keep the sweetness in line, and switch to brandy.
Alternate Recipe Notes
The other major note to this drink is the variation that exists in recipes. While the recipe we present here appears to be the minority, there is another popular recipe that eschews the Boker’s Bitters we used for Angostura, and adds ½ of lime juice. In the event you go this route, remember that you need to shake the cocktail under these circumstances, and will serve it up (no garnish). So why didn’t I choose this recipe? Simply put, this variation creates a rather pedestrian cocktail that muddles the cognac, bitters, and adds acidity for the sake of levity at the cost of everything else.
- Cognac – We recommend using Pierre Ferrand 1840 or Ambre for cocktails. The price is reasonable, and contributes great quality to the drink. If you don’t want to pay for cognac, feel free to substitute a brandy, such as Lustau Brandy de Jerez Solera Reserva .
- Orgeat – In this application we recommend something natural like Small Hand Foods Orgeat*, as it adds nuttiness, but not unneeded candied flavors. From what we’ve heard from fellow enthusiasts, Liber + Co might also work as a substitute. If you can’t find it, or don’t want to pay the premium, feel free to reach for something more candy almond like Ferrara Orzata Almond Syrup* (which will change the character of this drink). As such, we may recommend you even cut the amount in half to a bar spoon. Monin may also work in this reduced amount.
- Bitters – In this case, the record is disputed as to which bitters were original, and work best. We recommend you experiment with aromatics to determine which you find best. In our cocktail, we used Boker’s Bitters, which have a strong citrus and cardamom notes.
- Boker’s Bitters – There are few manufacturers of these bitters, and for a period of time, they stopped existing. The most oft recommended brand, and one we use is Dr. Adam Elmegirab’s Boker’s Bitters. Be aware they’re slightly pricey, but you’re going to be using a small portion of these most of the time.
- Angostura Bitters – These are the classic bitters for most cocktails, and we recommend you keep a bottle on hand. If you’re making the more modern variant that includes lime juice, this is the standard recommendation.
- Lime Juice (Optional) – For best results, use fresh squeezed.
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