Shiso is the herb that Japanese cuisine kept to itself for centuries. Minty, basil-like, herbaceous, with a slight anise note that Western spirits had never met before. We cold-pressed fresh shiso leaf and paired it with real yuzu — Japan's prized citrus. The result is a cocktail that stops serious drinkers mid-sentence.

From Heian gardens
to a Tokyo bar.

Shiso has been growing in Japanese gardens for at least a thousand years. A member of the mint family, with a flavour entirely its own — minty, basil-like, herbaceous, with a slight anise note and peppery finish. Japanese cuisine has used the leaf since the Heian period: wrapped around sashimi, pickled into umeboshi, layered into bento boxes.

Western cuisine met shiso properly only in the 2000s — first through David Chang at Momofuku, then through London's chef-led ingredient revolution. Cocktail bars followed slowly. Bar High Five in Tokyo — Hidetsugu Ueno's bar — was the first to put shiso into a Japanese-precision cocktail and treat it with the seriousness it deserved.

By 2015, Bar Goto in New York and Erik Lorincz at the Savoy in London were pouring shiso cocktails at the level of refinement Tokyo had been pouring for a decade. Australian production of shiso and yuzu has now caught up — both grown commercially in cooler regions, both meeting Japanese standards.

The four
non-negotiables.

Open. Close.
Shake. Pour.