The Japanese Art Of The Cocktail

by Masahiro Urushido, Michael Anstendig

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

The mixologist at the lauded Katana Kitten in NYC has perfected the art of the surprise with all of his cocktails. Whether it's an unusual blend of flavors or an unexpected presentation, what is guaranteed is a great drink — with a bit of theater to boot. Adding to that is the fine art of tending bar the Japanese way, which doesn't get enough press despite how many culinary leaders love what he and other Japanese cocktail wizards do on a daily basis. A must-have for any spirits devotee.

Winner of the 2022 Tales of the Cocktail Best Cocktail or Bartending Book

Finalist for the 2022 IACP Cookbook Award: Wine, Beer, or Spirits

Finalist for the 2022 James Beard Foundation Beverage with Recipes Award

The first cocktail book from the award-winning mixologist Masahiro Urushido of Katana Kitten in New York City, on the craft of Japanese cocktail making

Katana Kitten, one of the world’s most prominent and acclaimed Japanese-American cocktail bars, was opened in 2018 by highly-respected and award-winning mixologist Masahiro Urushido. It recently earned the #10 spot on The World’s 50 Best Bars list, making it the Best Bar in the U.S. Before Katana Kitten, Urushido honed his craft over several years behind the bar of award-winning eatery Saxon+Parole. In The Japanese Art of the Cocktail, Urushido shares his immense knowledge of Japanese cocktails with eighty recipes that best exemplify Japan’s contribution to the cocktail scene, both from his own bar and from Japanese mixologists worldwide. Urushido delves into what exactly constitutes the Japanese approach to cocktails, and demystifies the techniques that have been handed down over generations, all captured in stunning photography. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780358362029
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	06/01/2021
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	320,954
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Born in Japan’s Nagano Prefecture and based in New York City, MASAHIRO URUSHIDO is one of the most recognized and beloved unofficial “ambassadors” of Japanese bartending techniques and drinkways in the US. An ace bartender with twenty years of experience, he is managing partner, head bartender, and director of deliciousness at Katana Kitten, a groundbreaking Japanese-American cocktail bar in New York City’s West Village co-created with Cocktail Kingdom Hospitality Group’s Greg Boehm and James Tune.

Michael Anstendig is editor in chief at Hanna Lee Communications, an award-winning, international hospitality and travel PR agency based in New York City. He is also a freelance writer who has reported for the New York Times, New York Observer, Time Out New York, Nation’s Restaurant News, and others. Michael has reviewed more than 200 restaurants for New York magazine’s website and is a contributor to David Wondrich’s Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails. In addition, he co-hosts Hospitality Forward with Hanna Lee, a podcast dedicated to the hospitality and travel industry. Michael is a founding board member of the Museum of Food & Drink (MOFAD).

Editorial Reviews

05/03/2021

In this titillating debut, Urushido, head mixologist at Manhattan’s Katana Kitten, cracks the code of Japanese craft-cocktail-making with 80 mouthwatering recipes. He lays out the precision and techniques needed for mixing the perfect drink, but, often, the work feels like a promotional piece for the Greenwich Village establishment—especially in the first 50 pages, which cover Urushido’s biography, his bar’s history, and the emergence of cocktails in Japanese culture. The recipe section begins with a sampling of highballs including melon-lime soda or a yuzu spritz and the recommendation that they be served in beer mugs so that warm fingers only touch the handle, ensuring the drinks stay icy cold. Among Urushido’s creations, the Panda Fizz exemplifies the conundrum of a drink that is popular at his watering hole, but tricky for the home bartender who doesn’t have pandan leaves or Calpico concentrate on hand. (Though a resource guide for tracking down obscure ingredients is included.) A chapter of drinks created by his friends is set apart from his own inventions, meaning, for instance, that two negroni recipes are separated by some 100 pages. This collection will be catnip for those who like their tipples with an Asian twist, though finding one’s favorites will require some clawing. (June)

Publishers Weekly

Like the New York bar he joyfully presides over, Katana Kitten, a drinking den that effortlessly balances high and low aesthetics, Masahiro Urushido embodies both the precise artistry of Japanese bartending and the sunny generosity of pure hospitality. He is, in other words, both the diamond and the shine. You couldn’t hope for a better guide through the intricacies and delights of Japan’s many contributions to artful drinking. — Robert Simonson, The New York Times 

After you’ve visited the world’s best bars, discover some new cocktails to make at home with this new cocktail book, from Masahiro Urushido and Michael Anstendig. Inspired by the joyful and vibrant cocktail culture in Japan, the book offers unique spins on classic drinks (like a ‘Meguroni’, their take on the classic Negroni) and easy-to-follow instructions for new libations as well. The book has been nominated for and won a ton of awards, including a 2022 Tales of the Cocktail Award. Everything is showcased through beautiful photographs and housed in a hardcover tome that wouldn’t look out of place on your bar cart or coffee table. If you’ve got a cocktail lover or bartending enthusiast in mind, this book makes the best Christmas gift of the season. — Tim Chan, Rolling Stone

One of the best cocktail books to come out in years, The Japanese Art of the Cocktail will have you creating fabulous drinks with new-found ingredients. You'll learn to make the perfect Highball and even whip up some great drinks-friendly bar snacks en route. — Mark Stock, Men’s Health

Even wine lovers like a good cocktail now and then, especially when presented in a meticulous, beautiful way, which is why The Japanese Art of the Cocktail is a worthy gift that both inspires and whets the appetite….Part memoir, part travelogue, part recipe book, this piece will long make a fashionable statement on the coffee table or bookshelf. — Jessica Dupuy, Forbes

The Japanese Art of the Cocktail is more than just a cocktail book...Mixologist Masahiro Urushido’s debut recipe book, co-authored with drinks writer Michael Anstendig, is part cocktail book, part memoir. It tells Urushido’s story while introducing readers to the cocktail recipes he’s created along the way. — Isoke Samuel, Food52

In his book, Urushido gives his ode to Japanese mixology with eighty curated recipes, each sublime enough to be served on a highball. There's also beautiful photography to boot, and the break-down of generational cocktail techniques that'll get you wonderstruck on "Oh so this is how that works". — Esquire

Considered the Oscars of the cocktail industry, the Spirited Awards recognize winners in categories like Bartender of the Year, Best Brand Ambassador, and Best Cocktail Bar. The Spirited Awards also recognize cocktail writing. This year's winner for best new cocktail or bartending book was the Japanese Art of the Cocktail.   — Town & Country

His book takes you inside a world grounded in the classics, but popping with eye-catching color and intense flavors that borrow from Japanese gardens and forests, as in his bracingly fresh Hinoki Martini, made with a tincture fashioned from cypress tree oil. A chapter on highballs displays a penchant for supercharging populist formulas with seasoned salts, infusions and an engineer’s concern for achieving maximum coldness. — Christopher Ross, PUNCH

This is the ultimate cocktail book for the man who's ready to take his drinking-making skills from great to sublime—and it's written by the bartender of an Esquire Best Bar winner, Katana Kitten in New York.  — Esquire Editors, Esquire

Part memoir, part travel guide, part recipe book, The Japanese Art of the Cocktail introduces us to the historical and philosophical underpinnings of Japan's approach to mixing drinks, and showcases more than 90 recipes from Masahiro Urushido, who authored the book alongside Michael Anstendig. — Christie's International Real Estate Magazine

A palimpsest if there ever was one, the story of the cocktail has been written, erased, and rewritten on the same sliver of land—Manhattan—for well over a century; and the author before you will leave his mark there, too. Masa Urushido’s improbable journey from Nagano, Japan, to his perch at Katana Kitten on Hudson Street is one of a growing number of influential cross-pollinations between the cocktail cultures of Tokyo and Manhattan that once bred New York bars in Tokyo and Tokyo bars in Manhattan, and has gradually hybridized into an unclassified, genre-defying, Nikkei-like approach to cocktails in each city. If you read this tenderly written, beautifully photographed text by one of America and Japan’s most rightfully beloved bartenders closely, I believe you’ll begin to see a new way of tending bar and mixing drinks emerging—undeniably Japanese, but distinguishably American, too—like a flower blossoming improbably between the tiles of a heavily trodden sidewalk in either town. — Jim Meehan, author of Meehan's Bartender Manual and The PDT Cocktail Book 

From the Publisher

…It’s definitely worth picking up a great cocktail book, like The Japanese Art of the Cocktail, by Masahiro Urushido and Michael Anstendig—the recipes are delicious, and the photography is stunning.

Brian Freedman

Masahiro is the best bartender I know. Scratch that, he’s the best bartender any of us know. Ask any bartender who their favorite is, and Masa’s name will always come up first. Every time I’m fortunate enough to be in his presence, I am constantly taking notes in an attempt to be a better bartender myself. In this book, he generously shares with us a few of the tricks that make him the best of the best.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

This is the ultimate cocktail book for the man who's ready to take his drinking-making skills from great to sublime—and it's written by the bartender of an Esquire Best Bar winner, Katana Kitten in New York. 

Esquire Editors

The Japanese Art of the Cocktail is more than just a cocktail book...Mixologist Masahiro Urushido’s debut recipe book, co-authored with drinks writer Michael Anstendig, is part cocktail book, part memoir. It tells Urushido’s story while introducing readers to the cocktail recipes he’s created along the way.

Isoke Samuel

His book takes you inside a world grounded in the classics, but popping with eye-catching color and intense flavors that borrow from Japanese gardens and forests, as in his bracingly fresh Hinoki Martini, made with a tincture fashioned from cypress tree oil. A chapter on highballs displays a penchant for supercharging populist formulas with seasoned salts, infusions and an engineer’s concern for achieving maximum coldness.

Christopher Ross

Masa says he’s obsessed with serving ‘surprises’ to his guests. That’s certainly my experience at Katana Kitten, where the Hinoki Martini arrives cradled in a wooden box, garnished to the hilt, and misted with a final aromatic spritz. He’s delivered the equivalent with this book: These aren’t standard drinks, but surprises, informed by deep dedication to craft and illuminated by Masa’s crinkly megawatt smile.

Kara Newman

Japan has long been a haven for ultra-precise, artful cocktail making, but don't let that reputation fool you into expecting anything stuffy or staid. Instead, Masahiro Urushido and Michael Anstendig fill this book with as much whimsy and surprise as the lauded NYC bar Urushido helms, Katana Kitten. Perfect for the home mixologist who loves the classics and also craves the chance to express themselves through a glass.

Lauren Hubbard and Sam Dangremond

...just having this on your shelf, bar cart, or coffee table will increase your cocktail game exponentially. Y'all spotted it in our list of the best cookbooks of 2021.

Rec Room Staff

One of the most celebrated of these drinking establishments is New York’s Katana Kitten, run by Masahiro Urushido. Now, Urushido and veteran writer Michael Anstendig have teamed up for a book, The Japanese Art of the Cocktail that gives you great insight to the country’s singular and detailed approach to cocktail-making.

Charles Passy

Like the New York bar he joyfully presides over, Katana Kitten, a drinking den that effortlessly balances high and low aesthetics, Masahiro Urushido embodies both the precise artistry of Japanese bartending and the sunny generosity of pure hospitality. He is, in other words, both the diamond and the shine. You couldn’t hope for a better guide through the intricacies and delights of Japan’s many contributions to artful drinking.

Robert Simonson