In Japan, the whisky highball is a lifestyle. There are particular strategies developed to good the two-ingredient drink, and specialised machines devoted to dialing in its effervescence; there has even been a six-years-running tv miniseries dedicated to the simple highball. The 2-part serve is crucial ingesting, and so, too, is the ready-to-drink model, in canned iterations that may be present in shops and merchandising machines throughout the nation.
Now, the crisp, transportable and handy cocktails can be found with out the journey to Tokyo. Following within the footsteps of the spritz and Ranch Water, canned whiskey highballs—out there from massive spirits producers like Jim Beam, together with a few of Japan’s oldest distilleries and a handful of home upstarts—are gunning for a spot in your cooler.
However not all RTD highballs are created equal. When the Punch crew not too long ago tasted by way of 10 choices which can be out there stateside, only one stood out. (Although, it ought to be famous, Suntory’s cult-favorite Kaku Highball and brand-new Hakushu Highball couldn’t be sourced outdoors of Japan.) The choices ranged from extraordinarily gentle (“like whisky-flavored seltzer,” in keeping with one taster) to excessively boozy. One of the best of the bunch met the core standards: It was refreshing, well-carbonated and balanced straight from the can. In different phrases, it was actually ready-to-drink, no want for ice, a twist or another modifier to be loved.
Produced by the spirits subscription service Flaviar, HaiBall is a refreshing “exhausting seltzer for whisky lovers,” in keeping with the model. At 5.9 p.c ABV, the cans are crushable, and aren’t weighed down by further flavoring that makes different examples available on the market really feel too far faraway from the unique drink. Flaviar model supervisor Amy Yakuboff says the mix of whiskeys on the base of the drink—numerous Scotches, bourbon, rye and Japanese whisky—is impressed by the worldwide attain of the drink, with totally different riffs calling for various whiskeys. However regardless of the complexity that comes from the blended base, the drink stays at first a lightweight, bubbly refreshment that we’d be pleased to tackle the go.
Merely put, HaiBall is probably the most highball-like of the RTD variations, and it proves that the easy-to-make drink could, actually, be made even simpler—by having fun with it straight from the can.
