ASIAN FLAVORS

Sip these six Asian-inspired cocktails to celebrate the last week of AAPI Heritage Month

BY CLARA WANG

Esteemed restaurant critic William Grimes labeled America “the land of the brave and the home of the martini.” In the ’80s, the ultradry vodka martini — shaken, not stirred — was synonymous with the intoxication of money and power. Today you can order a stellar wasabi martini at Virago, just one of many Nashville restaurants and bars incorporating Asian ingredients like lychee, five-spice and Szechuan peppercorn into the ultimate American art form.

Akinde Olagundoye is vice president of the Nashville chapter of the United States Bartenders’ Guild. He says Asianinspired cocktails are here to stay thanks to audiences moving toward “more well-rounded, balanced and interesting cocktails.” Asian flavors open up a whole new world of potential.

“As cocktail bartenders, we’re curious and always looking to bring new flavors to the table to create excitement,” says Olagundoye. “And taking that culinary knowledge, knowing what those ingredients and fruits are, leads to them being applied to cocktails more.”

In honor of AAPI Heritage Month, I want to highlight not just the delicious culinary possibilities of this movement, but also the arguably more important point of food culture: education. The best Asianinfluenced cocktails tend to come from white-owned, or partially white-owned, restaurants. That’s largely because they have the resources, know-how and aim to make Eastern flavors accessible to Western audiences. While the food at spots like Two Ten Jack is great (and the cocktails are even better), it’s important to keep in mind that first-generation immigrants of color often lack the media training and capital to invest in the kind of ambience and service that attracts Middle America.

Do we really need another Japanese or Chinese fusion spot when there are so few restaurants serving the cuisines in their original format? The market will decide. But as Middle America is introduced to diverse fruits, flavors and ingredients through the digestible format of tasty cocktails, I hope Nashville’s appetite for exotic fruits and ingredients will eventually expand to learning more about the cultures they’re connected to.

Refreshing Lychee

Sunda, Lucky Rabbit: Altos Plata Tequila, ginger liqueur, muddled strawberries, lime, lychee, watermelon liqueur, Red Bull

Watermelon

Small, fleshy and delicately sweet lychee fruit grows on a tropical tree native to South China, and has been cultivated in Southeast Asia since 1059 A.D. Lychee bears subtle floral notes that pair well with the more acidic tones in Sunda’s refreshing Lucky Rabbit. The cocktail features pureed fresh lychees and comes in a tall mug decorated with a purple flower — it tastes like a fruity lychee soda, and goes down dangerously quickly.

SAVORY, SWEET AND SPICY KIMCHI AND GOCHUJANG

Noko, Kimchi Bloody Mary: fish sauce/soy sauce blend, kimchi juice, gochujang, lemon juice, Charleston Bloody Mary Mix, mezcal

Fermented sauces and pickled vegetables

— like the spicy Korean red chili paste gochujang and savory napa cabbage kimchi — play a huge role in many Asian cuisines, and they are well-balanced with smoky mezcal in Noko’s bloody mary. For ages, humans used fermentation not only to preserve food, but also as a way to stretch salt, which was a precious commodity up until the past few centuries. Asian cooking often uses fermented sauces and pickles to add savoriness and umami rather than directly adding pure salt.

TINGLY, COOL SZECHUAN PEPPERCORN

Xiao Bao, London Flower: Sichuan peppercorn gin, Pimm’s, lemon Sichuan peppercorns offer a uniquely numbing sensation that leaves your tongue feeling tingly, adding an electrifying dimension to Xiao Bao’s delightful gin-andtonic. These tiny peppercorns ubiquitous in Sichuanese cuisine are berries of the prickly ash tree that, when dried, open up into a flower shape, lending the name “hua jiao” (flower pepper). Take a sip of Xiao Bao’s London Flower and feel the peppercorn kick the back of your mouth, almost like the lingering fizz of Pop Rocks on your tongue.

Burning Wasabi

Virago, Wasabi Martini: Finlandia Vodka, lime, wasabi, burnt lemon

Like Xiao Bao, Virago adds dimensionality to a classic drink, this time with the burning, pungent properties of wasabi. They reduce the wasabi into a simple syrup of equal parts sugar water and wasabi before shaking it into a cocktail, and the subtle hint of lemon makes the martini almost reminiscent of a sour. The umami of wasabi replaces the bitter saltiness of a traditional olive and lends each sip a pleasant ending kick without being overwhelming.

SPICED MASALA CHAI

Two Ten Jack, No. 3: masala chai spiced rum, pear juice, pear liqueur, lime, cream soda

Two Ten Jack infuses rum with masala chai, a South Asian tea with spices, sugar and milk, by steeping the tea and then letting it sit in rum for a week until it gets bitter and holds the flavor of strong chai. The sugar and the dairy flavor — a remnant of British colonization that was incorporated into Indian tea to make chai — in the cocktail come from the cream soda. Despite the dairy and tea components, it still lands light and sparkly with a chai finish.

BRIGHT YUZU CITRUS

Virago, Flaming Dragon: Lunazul Blanco

Tequila, cucumber, agave, yuzu, shiso leaf, habanero bitters

Yuzu is a citrus fruit originating in China that tastes like a sharp cross between a lemon and a grapefruit. Virago’s Flaming Dragon counters the acidity of yuzu with the clean, almost meaty notes of shiso leaf, an herb commonly used in Japanese cooking with the fragrance of fresh rain.

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