Takahiro Okada, a manager of the TriBeCa bar Shigure, said there were two ways customers could enjoy the distilled spirit shochu, a specialty of the house.

Lightly flavored shochus, like the barley-based Iichiko, are good mixed with soda water made on the premises with fresh lemon ($8) or in a cocktail like the Natsushima ($13), with muddled cucumber, honey, tonic and Kinmiya shochu (made with sugarcane). Both of these are refreshing last blasts of summer.

But then there are times when, to paraphrase Tina Turner on “Proud Mary,” you don’t do anything nice and easy.

In which case you’ll be sipping the shochus that, as Mr. Okada put it, are more like “the single malt Scotch whisky-type drink,” like a glass of Satoh on the rocks ($13). Satoh is a sweet-potato shochu, and the aroma will be familiar to anyone who has had peeling duty in late November. It makes for a drink that could accurately be described as savory.