Walk down ONE FLIGHT OF
stairs to enter Ye’s Apothecary—a
Szechuan-inspired cocktail bar
located on the border between
Chinatown and Manhattan’s Lower
East Side—and it feels like you’ve
stepped into a Wong Kar-wai film.
Tasseled lamps hang like lanterns
from the ceiling, and wooden drawers are stacked to the roof behind the
bar, evoking the inside of a Chinese
pharmacy. There is also an intoxicating scent in the air of something
herbal and intense. This is baijiu
(pronounced bye-joe), a liquor with
thousands of years of history. And
here at Ye’s, they’re mixing it up in
potent and delicious combinations.
I grab a seat and ask for my favorite
cocktail, the Fallen Angel, which also
happens to be the most popular
drink on the menu. Beverage director Jake Babich created it with flavors
that complement the flavor profile
of Ming River baijiu, using green-tea
gin, lemon juice, and peach liqueur.
It’s bittersweet and tropical, with a
tangy aftertaste.
You may not have heard of baijiu,
but it’s the most widely drunk spirit
in the world. It’s a colorless yet
intensely aromatic liquor, mostly
made from sorghum, that hails from
China. Baijiu has a reputation for
being funky and pungent. But it’s
actually a diverse drink that defies
generalities. According to Derek
Sandhaus, the author of Baijiu: The
Essential Guide to Chinese Spirits, it
has “been in the making for 9,000
years. And the varieties of baijiu are
as distinguished from each other as
the different spirits of Europe.”
To give you an idea: There’s a
light-aroma version that’s popular
in Northern China, and another style
that tastes similar to soy sauce. One
style distilled from rice is comparable to sake. Then there’s Szechuan
Province’s strong-aroma baijiu, the
most popular of them all.
Traditionally, Chinese people
serve the liquor neat at room tem
-
perature, toast one another with
blessings, and shoot it. But amid the
Western world’s craft-cocktail
boom, baijiu is getting incorporated
into exciting new concoctions at the
most innovative bars. At Red Sorghum in Long Island City, Queens,
beverage director Kevin Xue goes
hard with the formula for Absinthe
Minded, tossing baijiu in with
absinthe and rum for a knockout flavor explosion. Back in Chinatown,
Peachy’s nightclub is serving a
cocktail that’s reminiscent of Thai
iced tea. There’s no end to where
you can take baijiu, so give it a shot—
or take one.
The flavor profile of the spirit varies
widely by brand. Here, from left:
Ming River, Kweichow Moutai Bu Lao Jiu,
and Xi Feng Jiu.
32
THREE WAYS TO
MIX YOUR BAIJIU
We asked two top N.Y.C.
bartenders for their best
cocktail recipes—and
added one of our own.
FALLEN ANGEL
(by Jake Babich,
Ye’s Apothecary)
• 3/4 oz lemon juice
• 1/2 oz sweet vermouth
• 1 oz Campari
• 1 oz Guilder’s green-tea gin
• 1/2 oz Ming River baijiu
• 1/4 oz Marie Brizard
peach liqueur
Directions: Pour all ingredients
into a cocktail shaker with
ice. Shake until well mixed
and chilled. Strain into a
tumbler glass.
LI’S NEGRONI
(by Robert Lam-Burns,
Red Sorghum)
• 1/2 oz Ming River baijiu
• 1/4 oz Mei Kuei Lu Chiew
(rose-infused baijiuA
• 1/4 oz Espadín mezcal
• 1 oz Campari
• 1 oz sweet vermouth
Directions: Stir all ingredients
together in a cocktail shaker.
Strain over a big block of ice.
Garnish with an expressed
orange peel.
BAIJIU ON THE BEACH
(by Sirena He, Esquire)
• 1 oz baijiu
• 1 oz Jamaican rum
• 1 oz pineapple juice
• 1/2 oz Chinola mango liqueur
• 1/2 oz cranberry juice
• 1/2 oz lime juice
• Amaro floater
Directions: Pour all
ingredients except the floater
into a cocktail shaker with
ice. Shake until integrated
and strain into a glass. Pour a
tablespoon of amaro on top

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