In most of the world a whisky and soda is something you make without thinking. In Japan the highball is a small discipline. The glass is frozen, the ice is clear and solid, the soda is as cold and fizzy as possible, and the bartender stirs with the delicacy of someone defusing a device, to keep every bubble. Japanese whisky distillers have championed the highball for decades as the ideal way to drink whisky with food, and it is now poured everywhere from serious cocktail bars to yakitori counters and stadium kiosks.

Light, crisp and gently fragrant, it is the drink Japan reaches for alongside fried and grilled food, which makes it the natural partner for tebasaki wings, tonkatsu and yakitori. Our zero proof version swaps the whisky for strongly brewed roasted barley tea, which brings a toasty, malty warmth surprisingly close to the original.

The highball

Ingredients

• 5 or 6 large, clear ice cubes
• 1 1/2 oz (45 ml) Japanese whisky
• 4 1/2 to 6 oz (135 to 180 ml) soda water
• 1 strip lemon peel

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