Japanese Highball
Whisky and soda, built with care over clear ice
Whisky and soda is the simplest long drink there is, and Japanese bartenders have turned its making into a quiet ceremony. The glass is cold before anything touches it. The ice is clear and large. The whisky is stirred alone until it chills, then the soda goes in along the side of the glass so the bubbles are never bruised, and the spoon moves once. The result is bright, dry and very cold, a drink that rewards attention without ever asking for it.
Japanese whisky and chilled soda water built over large clear ice in a frosted highball glass, at roughly one part whisky to three or four parts soda, with an optional lemon peel.
Ingredients
- 1.5 oz / 45 ml Japanese blended whisky, chilledKeep the bottle in the refrigerator or freezer for at least an hour before service so the whisky needs almost no stirring to reach temperature.
- 4.5 oz / 135 ml Soda water, strongly carbonated and very cold
- 1 strip, optional Lemon peeloptional
- Technique
- Built
- Glass
- Highball
- Ice
- Large Cube
- Prep
- 3 min · Easy
- Garnish
- Lemon peel, expressed and dropped in, or none at all. A thin grapefruit slice is Suntory's house alternative.
- Approximate strength
- about 9% ABV in the glass (Estimate. Ethanol from 45 ml whisky at 40% is 18 ml; 135 ml soda and about 10 ml of melt from large ice during a short stir give roughly 190 ml total and 9 to 9.5% ABV. At 1:4 (180 ml soda) the drink is about 7.5%, close to the 8% Suntory's research targeted.)
- Allergens
- None listed
Method
Chill a tall highball glass in the freezer for at least 10 minutes, or fill it with ice and water while you prepare the rest, then empty it. The glass should be frosted.600s
Begin with cold. Everything that follows is about keeping it.
Fill the glass with large, clear ice cubes or one spear cut to fit, stacked so the ice reaches above the rim and leaves a narrow channel along one side for a barspoon.
Clear ice, cut large; small cloudy cubes melt into the drink before it is finished.
Pour the chilled whisky over the ice. Stir with a barspoon for about 10 to 15 seconds, roughly 12 to 15 turns, until the outside of the glass frosts further and the whisky is ice-cold. If the ice has sunk, top it up with another cube so it again reaches the rim.15s
Stir the whisky alone, so it arrives at the soda already cold.
Open a fresh bottle of cold soda and pour it slowly down the inside wall of the glass, away from the ice, until the glass is full to about a quarter inch (6 mm) below the rim. Use 3 parts soda to 1 part whisky; 4 parts for a lighter drink.10s
Soda down the glass wall, never onto the ice; the bubbles are the whole reason for the drink.
Slide the barspoon down the channel to the bottom of the glass and lift it straight up once, slowly, to fold the whisky and soda together. Do not stir in circles. Remove the spoon.3s
One lift of the spoon, from the bottom to the top. Then leave it alone.
If using the lemon peel, hold it skin-side down over the glass and pinch it so its oils mist the surface, then drop it in or discard it. Serve at once on a coaster, without a straw.
A pinch of lemon oil over the top, like a window opened on a cold morning.
Flavor notes
Clean and very cold, with a faint honeyed grain note from the whisky, a light vanilla and oak thread, and sharp carbonation that keeps everything dry. The lemon oil adds brightness without juice. Short, refreshing finish that leaves the palate ready for food.
Variations
- Suntory Kaku Highball: 45 ml Kakubin over ice, stirred, 3 to 4 parts chilled soda, one stir bottom to top, grapefruit slice or lemon twist. source
- Engawa Highball: Per Punch: 1.5 oz freezer-chilled whisky, 3 to 4 oz cold seltzer, cracked clear ice stacked high, whisky and soda poured without touching the ice, spoon lifted then swizzled out for a froth, no garnish. source
- Torys-bar Style 1950s: Whisky and soda over ice with a lemon slice, per Drinks Trade; the mug serve is the 2008 Kakubin highball per Nomunication. source
- Mizuwari (cousin): 1 part whisky to 2 or 2.5 parts still water over ice, stirred, no soda.
Substitutions
- Japanese blended whisky: Blended Scotch whisky (a soft, unpeated blend) · Engawa itself names blended Scotch as the stand-in where Kakubin is unavailable. Avoid heavily peated blends; the smoke dominates at this dilution.
- Japanese blended whisky: Japanese single malt or a light bourbon · Single malt makes a more aromatic, pricier drink; bourbon shifts it sweeter with vanilla and corn. Keep the 1:3 ratio.
- Soda water: Mineral-rich sparkling water · Harder waters give a slightly saline, rounder highball; choose a strongly carbonated one. Tonic makes a different drink entirely.
- Lemon peel: Grapefruit slice, or a squeezed lemon wedge dropped in the glass before the ice · The wedge-first method is the Nomunication serve and adds visible juice to the drink; the peel-only version stays dry.
Without alcohol
Build the same way with 1.5 oz (45 ml) of a zero-proof whisky alternative, or with 1 oz (30 ml) cold strong barley tea (mugicha) and 0.5 oz (15 ml) of a 1:1 honey syrup, stirred over clear ice and topped with 4.5 oz (135 ml) cold soda. The barley tea gives a toasted cereal note that stands in for the whisky's grain character.
Batching
A highball should not be pre-mixed in an open vessel; the carbonation is lost within minutes. For a party, pre-chill a bottle of whisky and a dozen small bottles of soda and a tray of frosted glasses, then build each drink to order; the whole sequence takes under a minute. For true batching, carbonate a diluted mix (1 part whisky to 3 parts filtered water, chilled to near freezing) in a soda siphon or a counter-pressure keg at 40 to 45 psi and pour over ice; this is how Japanese highball dispensers work. Please enjoy responsibly: the drink is designed to be easy to drink and is still a full measure of whisky.
Origin and sources
The highball, whisky lengthened with soda over ice, is older than Japanese whisky, but Japan made it a national drink. Suntory released its square-bottled blended whisky on October 8th, 1937; drinkers called it Kakubin, the square bottle, from the shape, and the company later adopted the nickname as the product's name. In the 1950s Torys Bars sold the Kakubin highball, whisky and soda over ice with a slice of lemon, as a new way to drink whisky in Japan. Whisky then fell out of favor: by 2007 Japanese whisky consumption was about a sixth of its 1983 peak. From 2008 Suntory rebuilt the category around the highball, pitched as the first drink of an izakaya evening. The company's research pointed to a drink near 8 percent ABV, strongly carbonated, easy to drink quickly with food; it installed high-pressure highball dispensers in bars such as a standing bar in Ginza, ran television commercials with the actress Koyuki showing how to order one and make one at home, and saw Kakubin sales rise 17 percent within a year. By 2010 the company was managing whisky volume to keep up with highball demand, and bars across Japan codified the serve: chilled glass, hard clear ice, whisky stirred before the soda, soda poured away from the ice, one stir.
Contested: Three points are soft. First, the name: a 1932 product labeled Suntory 10 year whisky Kakubin appears in some records, so the square-bottle nickname may predate the 1937 release that Suntory counts as the brand's birth. Second, the invention of the highball itself: the nomunication article credits Dewar's in 1905, while most English-language cocktail histories place whisky and soda in the nineteenth century; the question is outside this record and the claim is not relied on. Third, the ritual: Punch notes that bartenders at Washu Bar Engawa concede the exact sequence is hard to distinguish from other methods in a blind tasting, so the technique is presented here as hospitality and consistency rather than measurable flavor. Ratios also vary: Suntory's own page gives 1 part whisky to 3 or 4 parts soda; Engawa gives 1.5 oz to 3 or 4 oz; some Japanese guides give nearer 1 to 4. The headline 1:3 spec follows Suntory.
- Kakubin Whisky Highball, House of Suntory · primary source, retrieved 2026-10-11
- Engawa's Japanese Highball, Punch · secondary source, retrieved 2026-10-11
- 10 ways to drink Japanese whisky, 1: whisky highball, Nomunication (Tokyo drinks journal) (2018-04-24) · secondary source, retrieved 2026-10-11
- Kakuhai, How to Japanese (Daniel Morales) · tertiary source, retrieved 2026-10-11
- Kakubin 80th anniversary Kakuhai Highball Garden, Dentsu-ho (2017-09-01) · tertiary source, retrieved 2026-10-11
- The rise of Japanese whisky and the Kakubin highball, Drinks Trade (Australia) · tertiary source, retrieved 2026-10-11
- Suntory Kakubin 80th anniversary pop-up bar, Roppongi, Nomunication (Tokyo drinks journal) · tertiary source, retrieved 2026-10-11
Fact check: verified · Credit: The Fabled Pour editorial team