Guava Japanese Highball
This Guava Japanese Highball is light and refreshing. The guava nectar adds a fruity sweetness that pairs beautifully with the smooth Japanese whisky, making it the kind of drink you’ll want to make on repeat.
If you visit Japan, you’re likely to find a highball on the cocktail menu. They’re literally everywhere, arguably the most popular cocktail in the country. Unlike a regular highball, a Japanese highball uses Japanese whisky and club soda, and is sometimes flavored with lemon, yuzu, or ume (plum). It’s a refreshing drink that pairs particularly well with food like yakitori (chicken skewers), okonomiyaki (savory pancakes), and chicken wings.
My version is made with guava nectar. I’ve been thinking about guava a lot since our Hawaii trip. Guava is very common in Hawaii. Beyond eating it fresh, you’ll find it in drinks, shave ice syrups, and all kinds of desserts. I knew I wanted to incorporate guava into a recipe, and since there are so many Japanese influences in Hawaiian culture, combining guava with a highball felt like a natural fit.
Here are a few things to pay attention to:
Japanese Whisky:
A regular highball can be made with many different spirits, like rum or bourbon. But a Japanese highball specifically uses Japanese whisky, which is lighter in flavor. I used Suntory Toki, which is very affordable. If you have leftover whisky, you can use it to make caramel sauce, like this one.
Guava Nectar:
Nectar is more intense than juice, so I decided to go with nectar. I found this one at Trader Joe’s, but you can easily find other brands at most supermarkets.
Simple Syrup:
In a traditional Japanese highball, there is no syrup. But during recipe testing, we found the flavors to be a little flat without it. Once we added simple syrup, the guava flavor became more pronounced and the drink really came together.
Lemon:
A lemon peel may seem like a small gesture, but it adds a really nice citrus aroma to the cocktail. Just make sure not to cut into the white pith, as it can turn the drink bitter.
Chilled Ingredients and Glass:
This drink doesn’t use many ice cubes. Some versions don’t use any at all. So make sure your guava nectar, club soda, and simple syrup are all well chilled before you start. You can also pop the glass in the fridge ahead of time too.
Once you have everything ready, it comes together very quickly. It’s a little sweet and fruity from the guava, refreshing at the same time, and you can still taste the whisky coming through. This one is my little love letter to both Japan and Hawaii, two places that have inspired so much of my cooking lately. Serve it alongside chicken wings, or anything off the grill, and I promise it won’t last long. I hope you enjoy it!
Guava Japanese Highball
Ingredients
- 4 ice cubes
- 1¼ ounces Japanese Whisky, (like Suntory Toki)
- 4½ ounces guava nectar, (chilled)
- ½ ounce simple syrup, (chilled)
- 2½ ounces club soda, (chilled)
- 1 fresh lemon
Simple Syrup:
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ cup water
Instructions
- Prepare the simple syrup first. In a small saucepan, add sugar and water. Cook over medium heat and stir until sugar is melted. Remove from heat and cool completely. Transfer to an airtight glass container and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
- Place guava nectar and club soda in the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours. If you can want, you can also chill your serving highball glass (8 – 12 ounces) in the fridge as well.
- Rinse lemon under water throughly and pat dried with paper towel. Set aside.
- In the highball glass (8 – 12 ounces), add ice cubes. Pour in whisky, guava nectar and simple syrup. Stir until blended. Add club soda and give a quick stir.
- Using a vegetable peeler or sharp paring knife, peel 1 thin strip (about 2 x ½ inch) from the lemon, trying to get only the yellow part and avoiding the white pith. Hold the peel over the drink with the shiny side facing down, then pinch to release the citrus oils over the drink. Rub the peel around the rim of the glass, then drop it in.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
- Leftover syrup can be stored in the fridge for about a month. It can be used in other cocktails, coffee or tea. If you want, you can definitely make more syrup. The ratio is 1 part water and 1 part sugar.
- Guava nectar that I used was from Trader Joe’s. It may not be available all year round, but there are many other options in supermarkets. I recommend using nectar instead of juice. Nectar has a stronger flavor than juice, so you can use less without diluting the drink too much.
- Once you added the club soda, just give a quick stir. Stirring too much could reduce the carbonation.
