Red Sorghum

Photo: Heami Lee • Food Styling: Jessie YuChen. Photo: Heami Lee • Food Styling: Jessie YuChen

Bartender Robert Lam-Burns created this riff on the Jungle Bird, a classic tiki cocktail, for the Sichuan and Hunan restaurant Blue Willow and the Chinese-inspired speakeasy Ye’s Apothecary in New York City. It swaps out the traditional Campari and rum with Aperol and baijiu but keeps the fresh pineapple and lime juices, which enhance the tropical fruit undertones in baijiu, and adds a delicate osmanthus honey syrup. Look for a strong-aroma baijiu such as Ming River or Mianzhu Daqu. Not only is the name of the drink a nod to the grain used to make the spirit, but it also honors a Chinese book of the same name, Red Sorghum , the Nobel Prize-winning 1986 novel by Mo Yan in which sorghum is a prominent motif. To make your drink nice and foamy, Lam-Burns recommends using Ms Better’s Bitters Miraculous Foamer , though an egg white will also work well.

Featured in “ Baijiu, the World’s Most Popular Spirit, Is Coming for Your Cocktail ” by Megan Zhang.

Yield: 1 cocktail Cook Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

• ¼ cup osmanthus honey
• 1½ oz. strong-aroma baijiu
• ¾ oz. Aperol
• ¾ oz. fresh lime juice
• ½ oz. pineapple juice
• 12 drops foamer, or 1 egg white
• Dried rose buds, for garnish

Instructions

1. In a small liquid measuring cup, stir together the osmanthus honey and 1 tablespoon of hot water, then strain and discard the osmanthus flowers.
2. To a cocktail shaker, add the baijiu, Aperol, lime juice, pineapple juice, foamer, and ½ ounce of the osmanthus honey syrup. Shake to combine, about 15 seconds, then add enough ice cubes to fill the shaker halfway and shake until chilled, about 15 seconds more. Strain into a chilled rocks glass filled with a large ice cube, garnish with rose buds, and serve. (Reserve the remaining osmanthus honey syrup for another use.)