In 2018, well-known bartender Masahiro Urushido opened craft cocktail bar Katana Kitten on Hudson Street in NYC’s West Village.
His Highball program has perfected the art of making the classic cocktail constantly and as it should be, extremely cold and exceedingly bubbly. His expertise in Highball making along with his minimalist cocktail philosophy has led to his art being imitated globally.
In his relatively short time as a bar owner, Urushido won some noteworthy awards and accolades including being named Best New American Cocktail Bar at the Spirits Awards at Tales of the Cocktail and landing on the World’s 50 Best Bars list. He also co-authored a book titled The Art of the Japanese Cocktail. Chilled chatted with Masa about the best way to make the perfect Highball, every time.
Tell us about the Highball program at Katana Kitten.
It’s everyone’s everyday bar. It’s a place that combines Japanese culinary and drinking culture in an American dive bar setting. We have a minimal menu, it’s a conceptual menu and always has a Highball highlighted, using different or seasonal ingredients in the recipe.
What makes a perfect Highball?
At Katana Kitten, we use a quality base spirit, very highly carbonated soda water and a garnish we want to profile. I recently made a Japanese Whisky Highball using Dewar’s Japanese Smooth, hand cut ice, quality carbonated soda water and garnished with a Nashi pear. I thought the aroma of the Asian pear, like any orchard fruit, would pair well with the Japanese component in the whisky. We keep the Highball recipes simple.
Talk to us about making a Highball with Dewar’s Japanese Smooth.
I was asked to try Dewar’s Japanese Smooth, which is a part of its series of experimental cask releases. Japanese whisky is so popular now and Japanese Smooth finishes Dewar’s Scotch whisky in Mizunara oak, which is found in Japan and is a very rare and special tree, making these casks much more expensive and scarcer than other casks. When I tasted Japanese Smooth and made a Highball with it, I thought it was so unique and it really reminded me, very delicately but very distinctly, of Japan and Japanese Whisky.
Please share with other bartenders a few tips for making the perfect Highball.
A Highball like a Martini has minimal ingredients. So, if it’s done right, it’s like art, simple and beautiful. You can make an amazing drink, perfectly stirred, and diluted. But when you have a drink with minimal ingredients you can’t hide it when something goes wrong. As simply as things can go so right, they can also go so wrong.
At Katana Kitten, we make our Highball consistently the same, exactly the same, every time. Our Japanese Smooth Highball is absolutely freezing cold from the moment it leaves the bar to the time it’s delivered to the guest to the very last sip. The glass is freezing. We use great ice, but also chill the glasses, we might keep the whisky in the fridge, along with the soda water. Everything must be kept very, very cold.
As far as the soda water, we use highly carbonated soda water from a bottle not the guns, which could be flat. Keep it cold because the low temps will help retain the carbonation which is important. The soda must be bubbly like a champagne with bubbles coming up from the bottom of the glass for the entire duration of the drink. The strong bubbly, effervescence needs to last until the very last sip.
Any kind of ice is fine. If your ice is white with frost on it, let it sit in the glass and melt for a little bit to help chill the glass. Use absolutely freezing whisky and ice-cold soda water. Just give it a gentle little stir to combine ingredients together. As you drink the Highball over time the ice melts and dilutes giving more flavor to the drink.
The post The Art of the Japanese Highball with Masahiro Urushido appeared first on Chilled Magazine.
Source: Mixology News
