Say “hai” to the Highball.

Japanese Highball + Improved Highball.

I am recently returned from a trip to the land of the rising sun and it would be remiss of me not report on Japanese drinking culture. It’s not, at least in the mainstream, a very cocktaily culture but aside from the sake and beer staples there is a mixed drink that merits some discussion: the Japanese Highball. This simple drink is just a Scotch (or sometimes Japanese whisky) and soda and is served in literally every bar and restaurant as well as the ubiquitous Seven Eleven store in a can. Unsurprisingly this just tastes like watered down, fizzy cheap scotch which may sound a bit uninspiring but in the heat of late summer/early autumn was pretty welcome when served ice cold with plenty of clear ice*. In the years following the Second World War Japan was occupied by American forces and certain small chunks of American culture became popular with some of the youth. Denim jeans, Rock ‘n’ Roll, beer and whisky being perhaps the most notable. The thing with whisky was that during the war America largely ceased production leaving barely enough Bourbon and rye for the home market. Winston Churchill on the other hand allowed the distillation of Scottish whisky to continue. Some say as a way to lift morale but more likely because he was drinking a sizeable slice of the production himself. Thus the occupiers of Japan were awash with Scotch and over time the locals also found a taste for it too eventually deciding they could probably make it just as well as the Scots. They were not far wrong. At this time Americans often called a long mixed drink a “highball”, a phrase which dropped out of favour in the US but stuck in Japan coming to mean specifically a Scotch and soda.

Improvey time!

But I think we can take the Japanese Highball and elevate it somewhat. I’ll take my inspiration from the fact that there is sometimes a variation on offer where ginger ale is subbed for the fizzy water (which 100+ years ago would have been called a Mamie Taylor in the west but let’s not worry about that). I wondered about splitting the difference and adding a bit of garnish flavour and came up with this tweaked Highball which I quite like. The first step was to upgrade the whisky from a base level blended scotch to a base level single malt. I picked some Glen Moray which in Scotland we might call a “supermarket malt” which is not super exciting but for just a few more currency units provides a little more smoothness and sophistication which I think is important here given the nakedity of this mixed drink. Of course you can use any damned whisky you like in your Highball and definitely should. A very small amount of ginger syrup takes the edge off that raw scotch flavour as does a swathe of nice fresh lemon zest and a a slice of fresh ginger. While the changes are minor I found the taste more approachable whilst staying fairly true to the original recipe. Kampai!

Improved Highball.

1.75oz / 50ml Japanese or Scottish whisky (see text).

0.25oz/ 7.5 ml ginger syrup

Pour into a well iced Collins glass.

Top up with good quality sparkling water and stir gently.

Garnish with a slice of fresh ginger and a swathe of lemon peel.

Toast the films of Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998).

*Japan has no truck with cloudy ice and nice clear cubes fresh out of the Hoshizaki are found everywhere.