Lychee Martini

There's no official recipe for the Lychee Martini, which explains why you might come across delightful versions that call for Grand Marnier, vermouth, lime juice, or even club soda. Ultimately, the final drink should represent the delicate, almost floral flavor of the lychee fruit, and at New York City's Holiday Bar and American Bar, the Lychee Martini is always a smooth, crowd-pleasing hit topped with a generous garnish of peeled lychee fruit.

What makes the Lychee Martini work?

With its floral aromas and nutty, dry flavor, Manzanilla sherry is a surprisingly perfect complement to the sweetness and aromatics this Martini gets from lychee cordial.

"Our Lychee Martini recipe calls for sherry for a few reasons," says recipe developer Simon Sebah, beverage director at New York City's Grand Tour Hospitality. "First and foremost, we use a very specific sherry, Lustau Manzanilla Papirusa, which brings a rich expression of lemon and grapefruit. It's also very soft, simple, and light."

Sebbah says that the original idea behind this cocktail was to combine a light white wine to cut the syrupy sweetness you can find in lychee. After multiple tests and measurement adjustments, the drink came out perfectly with this particular sherry. "This allows us to use that mix in even lighter types of cocktails than Martinis, such as cold Highballs topped with soda water or even fruity Gimlets."

While many recipes call for the juice from canned lychee fruit (which is easy to find at many Korean and Japanese specialty grocers), Sebbah's version of the drink adds a little extra booze to the mix, by calling for Giffard's lychee cordial. During happy hour, Holiday Bar serves a lower-ABV Lychee Martini with Body Vodka, which contains 25% less alcohol than the standard 80-proof vodka. — Oset Babür-Winter