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If there's one dominant recent cocktail trend across the nation, it's the use of Asian ingredients -- most notably green tea, kafir lime and lychee (pronounced lee-chee). Most Americans have no idea what a lychee looks or tastes like, but that hasn't stopped two companies from creating a liqueur based on this sweet tropical fruit, native to China, Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia.
Lichido, from Transatlantic Spirits, comes in an artisanal-looking, multicolored bottle that opens with a cork -- the glass has a purple layer on top, orange at the center and green on the bottom. The liquid itself is pink. Rather than using 100 percent lychee, they've added guava and peach flavors. The result is smooth, sweet and aromatic -- you'd have no idea there's any alcohol in here. It tastes best on the rocks, or with sparkling water.
Pernod Ricard's Soho, on the other hand, comes in a standard screw-cap bottle. It looks like a vodka, and there are no other flavors besides lychee. The taste is less sweet, and it can be consumed as-is over ice. The liqueur could also benefit from the addition of other fruity accents. Don't count on getting anyone drunk on the stuff. Both spirits are substantially weaker than most vodkas: Lichido is 18 percent alcohol; Soho is 21 percent alcohol. Consider either of these if you know you like lychee, you want to try an exotic flavor, you need an instant fruity cocktail, or you want to impress someone with your knowledge of the Asian palate.
-- James Oliver Cury
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