Photo: Heami Lee • Food Styling: Jessie YuChen. Photo: Heami Lee • Food Styling: Jessie YuChen
Morgan Robison, the beverage director at Taiwanese restaurant Wenwen in Brooklyn, New York, pairs Kinmen Kaoliang light-aroma baijiu with Rittenhouse rye whiskey in this verdant cocktail aptly named the Green Goblin. The vegetal undertones of the sorghum-based Chinese spirit complement the spice and woodiness of the rye whiskey and the peppery, licorice-like flavor of the Thai basil syrup. Robison uses a sous vide machine to make the herbal infusion at the restaurant, but for at-home bartenders, steeping the basil in hot water also works nicely.
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 Ingredients For the Thai basil syrup: 1¼ cups Thai basil leaves and stems 2½ cups sugar For the cocktail: 1 oz. rye whiskey ¾ oz. fresh lime juice ½ oz. light-aroma baijiu 1 tsp. absinthe Lemon peel, for garnish Instructions Make the Thai basil syrup: To a 1-quart jar, add the basil and 2 cups of hot water, seal, and set aside at room temperature to infuse for 1 hour. Strain the infused water through a fine-mesh strainer over a large liquid measuring cup (discard the basil),
