The Art Of The Japanese Cocktail

A new book by master mixologist MASAHIRO URUSHIDO of Katana Kitten shows that innovation and tradition make a powerful cocktail...

- Jared Paul Stern

In 2018, Masahiro Urushido and his business partner James Tune opened Katana Kitten, a Japanese-American bar on Hudson Street in New York City. The name reflected their unique approach to mixology — katana being a samurai sword, embodying “an almost mystical level of precision and craftsmanship,” while kitten was a nod to their “sense of playfulness.” While it may have seemed like a novel, and even contradictory, concept at the time, Katana Kitten rapidly gained recognition as one of the world’s finest cocktail bars; and just one year later, won the coveted Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Award for Best New American Cocktail Bar, as well as a spot on the The World’s 50 Best Bars list.

“Our basic concept was a full-throttle Japanese-American bar,” Urushido, who was born in Minowa, a small town in Japan’s Nagano Prefecture, writes in his beautiful new book, The Art of the Japanese Cocktail, co-authored by Michael Anstendig and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. “Not a Japanese bar in New York, not a Japanese-inspired or -themed bar, but rather a hybrid of two formidable drinking cultures, with each given equal respect and prominence.”

From Japan, he notes, “we bring exactitude and a relentless quest for perfection, and a respect for classic cocktails, combined with selfless hospitality. Into this, we infuse a decidedly American penchant for diverse creativity, unique house-made and garden-fresh ingredients, and a touch of playfulness…. Japanese bartending’s reverence for tradition and ritualisation still leave room for experimentation, innovation, and kaizen, which means ‘continuous improvement.’ ”