The Black Samurai

Unlike the possible racial suggestions, no, this is not about any African-fill in the blank people playing Japanese warrior, and neither is it the title of a Japanese movie. This is about an alcoholic cocktail.

So, being the nerd I am, I was reading a Star Trek book - an old one from 1986 - called Enterprise, written by Vonda N. McIntyre, about the first adventure of James T. Kirk as captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise star ship.

In it, there was mention of a drink called a Black Samurai (page 28). Never sure if it was made-up or not, I was pleasantly surprised to find it a real drink.

Here's the recipe: one (1) ounce of sake; 1/2 ounce of soyu sauce.
The sake is poured first into a shooter glass, with the soyu joining next. Let sit for 30 seconds and voila.

Now... while people not in Japan know sake as fermented rice wine, be aware that the word 'sake' in Japanese actually refers to any type of alcohol. Sochu - now that's what the Japanese mean by fermented rice wine! Got it? Good.

Soyu - that's soy, or soya.

Well... it certainly looks black - see photo at the very top!

The first one I tried, I sipped. Initially - no bad. Then... I took another sip, and all I could taste was salty soy sauce. Gagh. Not the Klingon delicacy, but rather - who would think this is good?

Then I realized that I probably did add too much sochu.

So I made another - which was when I dug out the camera.

I carefully added the ingredients - not that I know what an ounce is... and this time sloshed it right back. Gagh! Again, not with the Klingons! Still too salty.

So... I decided to try again. But with a different type of soy sauce.

It had a citrus taste to the soy, but heavens to Betsy, after putting even a tiny bit of the lighter, golden soy, I had to eat real Gagh to get the lemon and salty taste off my tongue. My Sun-Tanned Samurai cocktail was not good.

It leads me to believe that even with sochu that may not be as highfaluting as what the average Japanese drinks, my sochu is still tasty enough to be drunk by itself. Why screw it up with soy sauce?

Friends - try it if you must, but really, leave the soy alone and boldly go to proper plain old sochu intoxication. In the morning take two ibuprofen and thank me if you remember.

And, in case you are wondering, three shooters of a Black Samurai just won't get you buzzed. Really.

Cheers
Andrew Joseph