Nowadays usually discarded, the starchy water produced from washing rice has had a number of uses throughout history, from a popular hair care treatment during the Heian Period (794-1185), when it was common for women to keep floor-length hair, to being used as a gentle relief for gastric distress.
If you’re willing to forgo a little clarity, using uncooked rice as an additive for mixing cocktails is a fun way to uncover subtleties in your favorite sips. For me, the washing adds just the lightest amount of starch, which comes across as subtle silkiness. The smoothness and increased drinkability is, in food science terms, due to rice particles capturing volatile, alcoholic compounds and aromatic esters leading to a cleaner finish.
This softening somewhat mimics the mellowing that occurs during the aging process of certain liquors, meaning that midrange drops may, with just the addition of a little rice, taste more premium. It is similar to how a hazy, high-gravity beer might drink more smoothly than a crystal-clear version.
My spin is to update the Rusty Nail, said to have been Frank Sinatra’s favorite cocktail in the Rat Pack years of the 1950s and ’60s. By adding rice, we don’t need aged liquor so, rather than scotch and Drambuie, I’ve gone the American corn route: good ol’ Jack Daniel’s whiskey along with Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey liqueur (both widely available in Japan).
Finally, not every cocktail needs a name, but a good one can be just as effective a conversation starter as the alcohol itself. Often a pseudonym for things that embody a Japanese aesthetic or ethos, the Japanese term “wa” fits a drink soothed with rice. “Sabi” is the Japanese word for rust, an allusion to the classic from whence this recipe is adapted.
Put them together for a “wa-sabi” cocktail guaranteed to turn heads at your next get-together — if not when you announce the name, then surely when you dump in the rice.
Serves 1
Prep time: 5 minutes
Ingredients:
- 10-20 grams uncooked japonica rice
- 25 milliliters Jack Daniel’s whiskey
- 25 milliliters Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey liqueur
- 1 dash angostura bitters
- Ice cubes for mixing and serving
- Lemon zest
- Optional: Soda water
Directions:
1. Mix together your dry rice, whiskey, liqueur and bitters until it becomes cloudy, then add a cube of ice, stirring to cool.
2. Into a wide tumbler with a large cube of ice, pour this mixture through a strainer to separate the rice, then garnish with lemon zest. Optionally, serve in a tall highball glass, topped with soda water.
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