Featured Cocktail: Japanese Whisky Highball
This episode’s featured cocktail is: the Japanese whisky highball. It’s officially summer here in the US, which means, it’s time to start breaking out the hyper-refreshing, bubbly drinks before we overheat too much.
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1.5 -2 oz of Japanese Whisky (go with something that retails for $50/bottle or less)
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4-5 oz carbonated water – you can opt for sparkling or mineral water, but the large bubbles and sodium content of club soda tend to be a great fit.
In a highball glass with the best ice you can muster (this would, in a perfect world, be crystal clear and free of imperfections), pour in your whisky, top carefully with your sparkling water of choice, garnish with a nice, expressed citrus twist, and enjoy.
Here, we need to post a large gripe. A huge one. A glaring omission on the part of Google’s algorithm (or perhaps the internet in general). It has been pointed out on many different websites,blogs, and occasions that it is traditional to stir the Japanese Whisky highball for 13.5 clockwise rotations before serving – with, by some accounts – other optional flourishes.
BUT, when we try to locate the reasoning or purpose behind this numerology, we’re met with a whole buncha nothin’ – no primary sources, no secondary sources; just a whole lot of lazy people quoting (or NOT EVEN quoting) other lazy people – which means, dear listener, our Google skills have failed you, and perhaps we’ll need Nicholas to come back on the show and demystify this widely-held, but poorly supported notion that there is a set way to stir the Japanese whisky highball and that a certain number of revolutions of the spoon around the inside rim of the glass make a meaningful or ritualistic difference.
