# Japanese Whisky Highball

Japan's precise, food-friendly whisky-and-soda ritual turns chilled spirit, dense ice, and fierce carbonation into a dry, aromatic highball.

Strength: 10% ABV before dilution

## Ingredients

- 45 ml [Japanese whisky](https://stirred.fyi/ingredients/japanese-whisky.md) — Chill the whisky before building the drink.
- 135 ml [Soda water](https://stirred.fyi/ingredients/soda-water.md) — Use very cold, highly carbonated soda water.

## Glassware

Highball glass

## Garnish

- Lemon zest — Lightly express a narrow strip over the drink and insert it.

## Method

1. Fill a chilled highball glass completely with dense cubed ice, stir until the glass is thoroughly cold, then drain any meltwater.
2. Add the chilled whisky and stir briefly.
3. Pour the soda gently down the inside of the glass without striking the ice.
4. Lift once from bottom to top with a bar spoon and do not continue stirring.

## Related drinks

- [Gin Rickey](https://stirred.fyi/cocktails/gin-rickey.md): The austere Washington highball brightens dry gin with fresh lime and cold soda, preserving the Rickey's defining absence of sugar.
- [Absinthe Frappé](https://stirred.fyi/cocktails/absinthe-frappe.md): A bracing New Orleans cooler that softens absinthe’s anise and herbs with mint, sugar, soda, and crushed ice.
- [Presbyterian](https://stirred.fyi/cocktails/presbyterian.md): A dry Scotch highball in which equal parts ginger ale and soda soften the whisky while keeping ginger firmly in the background.
- [Rock Shandy](https://stirred.fyi/cocktails/rock-shandy.md): Equal sparkling lemonade and soda make South Africa’s brisk, bitters-striped long refresher, finished with lemon.
- [Hot Toddy](https://stirred.fyi/cocktails/hot-toddy.md): A spare whisky warmer softened with floral honey and scented with the oils of a broad lemon peel.
- [Orchard Street Cel’ry Soda](https://stirred.fyi/cocktails/orchard-street-celry-soda.md): Amor y Amargo’s first menu stretched apple brandy and genever with saline celery, gingersnap bitters, and a dry charge of seltzer.
- [John Collins](https://stirred.fyi/cocktails/john-collins.md): A cooling gin, lemon, and soda highball with gentle sweetness and plenty of ice.
- [Parisian Dispatch](https://stirred.fyi/cocktails/parisian-dispatch.md): Sother Teague turns blanc vermouth, absinthe, orgeat, and soda into a pale, mint-crowned highball that is long, aromatic, and genuinely low proof.

## References

- Canonical page: https://stirred.fyi/cocktails/japanese-whisky-highball
- Photograph: https://stirred.fyi/assets/cocktails/japanese-whisky-highball-7b337bf0.webp
- Recipe source: https://house.suntory.com/cocktails/kaku-highball