Retro can lemon sour

Kodawari sakaba Lemon Sour

Brand: Suntory

Price: 160 yen

Place of purchase: Belx Supermarket

Rating:

One of the things you'll notice right away is the retro font and the exclusive use of Japanese characters on the cans of Suntory Kodawari Sakaba Lemon Sour. It brings to mind drinking with buddies at the old-fashioned izakaya. The drink is made with lemon and shochu at two different alcohol volumes, 5% and 7%, some soda, and sweetener. The two drinks are priced the same. It's a reasonable price, a little lower than similar canned chuhai drinks. It's a little on the sweet side so it's easy to drink.

I have few complaints about it. As I'm accustomed to ordering lemon sours at izakaya I know what I'm getting - sweeteners are part of the deal with lemon sours. If you're avoiding sugar, go for some of the unsweetened shochu highballs, "chuhai", that I've reviewed recently. And that raises a question. What's the difference between a shochu highball and a sour? Sours are a category of cocktail mixing spirits, lemon or lime, and a sweetener. Chuhai are perhaps best categorized as a kind of sour. The two terms are used pretty freely in Japan. Kanpai!