Starfruit Sake Spritz

This is a lightly sweet, floral, and fizzy low-alcohol cocktail to ring in the new year.

A friend of mine recently gave me a box full of fresh starfruit from her tree. They were so juicy and delicious that I just had to make a cocktail with them. Starfruit has a lightly sweet floral flavor, perfect for pairing with sake. Starfruit is juicy when ripe with edible skin. The fruit does have seeds, but they are large enough to be put in the blender. Blend the fruit on low to keep them from being broken down.

There are many different types of sake to choose from. Check out the picture above. Sakes are graded on how much the rice has been polished and if alcohol has been added. The flavor becomes delicate, fruity, and floral with more polishing. I used junmai daiginjo for this recipe. Any type of sake honjozo and above should have enough floral notes to blend with this cocktail. There are good sakes in the futsushu tier, but this category will be hit and miss.

There are also subcategories of sake. These categories are defined by how the sake is produced. Taru and Nigori are two examples. Taru is brewed with cedar and probably not right for this cocktail. Nigori, on the other hand, would be a nice addition. It is coarsely filtered, giving it a cloudy appearance. Nigori has a sweet, delicate flavor and is usually served chilled. There are also sakes with fruit added to them. I do not recommend this type, the fruit flavors might clash.