The “Red Carpet” was designed to celebrate the work of two Academy Award contending filmmakers Carol Nguyen and Bao Nguyen, our guest panelists for this show. Inspired by the Moscow Mule recipe, this drink features cranberry and red grapefruit juice to evoke the iconic color of award season. The addition of starfruit garnishes will have you seeing stars on the red carpet!

With this event taking place on the heels of Tết, the “Firecracker” cocktail combines the treats and tastes of Lunar New Year in a glass: Mandarin oranges, lime, honey, and candied ginger. The addition of Thai chili peppers infuses the drink with a spicy kick, reminiscent of the firecrackers lit in celebration for a joyful and prosperous year ahead.

The “Spring Equinox” blossoms with the taste of spring, with its mixture of tea-steeped vodka, grapefruit, lemon, and honey. This drink can be made with either oolong tea or green tea, depending on what you love most about the change in seasons. Use oolong tea for an earthy flavor, or use green tea if you prefer a more floral, grassy note. Grapefruit and lemon lend the drink a bright, citrusy pop to balance the warm sweetness of the honey.

Tales from the Margin took place during the month of April, a time known for spring showers. It also took place in the midst of a very difficult time for our Asian American community. With a mix of rum, pineapple, ginger beer, and jalapeno, “Weathering the Storm” was designed to reflect the warmer weather to come and hope for brighter days, after the rain. Like the fire in our hearts, the cocktail’s spicy twist is a spin-off of the Dark & Stormy, and it’s meant to express the solidarity and resilience of our community coming together to stand against anti-Asian hate.

The Cyclist is a tea and citrus-based cocktail that is designed to appear like beer. Since the event’s discussion focused on themes of reconciliation between opposing perspectives on the war in Vietnam, this drink was created to capture the idea of the dialectic – the idea that two contradictory things can exist together. Inspired by two common refreshments from Vietnam – trà đá and bia – The Cyclist combines the concepts of tea and beer into a single glass by shaking up a mixture of vodka/gin, jasmine tea, orange, lemon, and honey. The name “cyclist” is the English translation of the German word radler, also known as the German version of the shandy.

The Golden Hour is inspired by the Tequila Sunrise cocktail. It includes a mix of bright and tropical flavors, including mango, orange, lime, and lychee. The addition of hibiscus tea syrup reflects the glow of a sun on the horizon. As we close out on our spring ACCENTEDiRL season, this drink signals the end of one season and the rise of a new one as we look forward to future programs and events that DVAN may have in store next!

Based on the standard sour recipe, the Writer’s Cup combines the flavors of cognac, coffee, orange, and ginger for writers (and readers!) of Vietnamese diasporic literature. Cognac was chosen as the liquor base as a nod to our Vietnamese heritage. As a spirit that originated in France, cognac was also chosen to acknowledge the original language in which Line Papin’s novel, Les os des filles, was written (French). The coffee, orange, and ginger ingredients of the Writer’s Cup are meant to complement the delicious cà phê carrot cakes that the panelists received from Radical Joy Bakery for this event.

The Leading Lady cocktail is a spin-off of Sam Ross’s Grapefruit Collins (which is itself a variation of the Tom Collins cocktail). This drink incorporates floral notes of jasmine and rose, like a bouquet of blossoms on opening night for the leading ladies in our lives.

Thuy created this hot toddy-inspired winter pear drink that can be served hot or cold based on preference. The pears are mixed with festive flavors like cinnamon, star anise, and maple syrup for a little cozy in a cup! Pears are incorporated into this recipe as a playful nod to a “pair” of rhymes in a couplet.

It’s almost Oscar season! To get ready for the red carpet, the Red Velvet combines pomegranate, ginger, lemon, tia to (Vietnamese perilla), and bourbon, to celebrate all the AAPI excellence both on and off-camera. This drink is for all the AAPI artists and producers who are bringing our stories to life on the screen.