How a cocktail bar on Taiwan’s Quemoy island tells Cold War stories through drinks made with local ingredients

Powei Lee, owner of the Vent Bar on Quemoy island, Taiwan, uses local spirits and flavours in his cocktails, named after events in the area’s recent past

One such drink, Pick and Eat, is named after a propaganda campaign that followed a foiled attack on Quemoy by mainland Chinese forces

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Powei Lee, 31, owner of Vent Bar, on Quemoy, Taiwan, with his Pick and Eat cocktails. His drinks celebrate local ingredients, and are named after historical events on the island near mainland China. Photo: Reuters

Published: 11:15am, 29 May 2024

On Taiwan’s Quemoy island, less than an hour’s boat ride from the mainland Chinese cities of Xiamen and Quanzhou, bar owner Powei Lee draws crowds by blending the tiny island’s battle-scarred past into cocktails.

During the height of the Cold War, mainland Chinese and Taiwanese forces regularly clashed over Quemoy – also known as Kinmen – and other islets controlled by Taipei along mainland China’s coast.

While today Quemoy is a fashionable tourist destination, drawing visitors to see its endangered otters and stark natural beauty, it has been back in the news after China last week included areas round the island for its latest war games near Taiwan.

Quemoy native Lee’s cocktails at his Vent Bar, in Jincheng township, in the west of the main island, showcase Quemoy flavours, such as the firewater Kaoliang, made with sorghum grown on the island.

Powei Lee, owner of Vent Bar on Quemoy Island, Taiwan, is a champion of local produce. Photo: Reuters

Lee, 31, has designed one cocktail inspired by an extensive propaganda campaign that followed fighting in 1958, when Taiwanese forces fended off a Chinese attack on Quemoy, whose closest point is only around 2km (1.2 miles) from mainland China.

Called “Pick and Eat”, the cocktail is made with a base of soy milk, ginger and whisky, and topped with a cookie.