The Katsura Cocktail

Sometimes it is just so hot in Kyoto the only thing to do is put on your jinbei and fix yourself a cocktail.

I created this drink one blazing day last summer.  There is nothing especially Japanese about it except the shiso leaf ("Japanese mint"), but 35°C (95°F) and 80% humidity are somehow a little more bearable on this archipelago with one of these in your hand.

The Katsura Cocktail

1 fresh shiso leaf

juice of 1/4 lemon

dash simple syrup

2 oz. Bombay London Dry gin (I don’t have a jigger, so this is a free-pour guess)

1 tsp Ricard pastis

soda

Muddle the shiso in a shaker.  Add the lemon juice and simple syrup.  Add the gin and pastis.  Fill the shaker with ice and stir.  Fill a highball glass half full with ice.  Strain the contents of the shaker into the glass.  Top with soda and stir.  Garnish with a shiso leaf and a cucumber slice.

Kampai!