Spirit of Việt Nam: Lucinda Sterling of Middle Branch and Seaborne
Welcome to The Spirit of Vietnam, an original series in which we ask Vietnamese chefs, bartenders, and industry leaders to share what the “spirit” of Vietnam means to them — from culture to cocktails.
When discussing cocktail culture in New York City, Lucinda Sterling is one of the first names to know. A veteran of the competitive bar industry, Sterling has mentored numerous bartenders and been recognized by dozens of publications from the New York Times to Nylon. She’s even been dubbed the “First Lady of Manhattan Mixology” by Forbes.
Lucinda Sterling prepares her Hanoi Sunset cocktail.
Her story began with a spontaneous, cross-country drive from her home in Colorado to New York City. Though she’d never bartended a day in her life, Sterling found herself at the center of the cocktail revolution of the early aughts when she was offered a job by the late bar legend and pioneer Sasha Petraske.
Rising in the ranks as a server at Petraske’s beloved Milk & Honey, Sterling eventually became a bartender at Little Branch. And when Petraske opened Middle Branch in 2012, Sterling was his first pick for Managing Partner. Today, Sterling helms both Middle Branch and Seaborne, Petraske’s final, posthumous bar that Sterling finished in 2016.
Though she is known far and wide as a bartender, Sterling says she also identifies as a proud Vietnamese woman. “Being that my mother was Vietnamese, we were exposed to the culture very early on,” Sterling says. “We grew up in Nebraska, which is where many Vietnamese refugees settled after the war. Because it was such a tight-knit community, there was a lot of access to the culture.”
And she says this first-generation immigrant upbringing helped instill values of hard work and resilience. “I think there are a lot of ways to define the Vietnamese spirit,” Sterling adds. “A few words come to mind: like endurance, perseverance, hard work.” And these happen to be the traits she says are key to succeeding in the cocktail world.
In this video, Sterling shares her thoughts on the elemental freshness of Vietnamese ingredients as well as the recipe for her spirits-forward Hanoi Sunset cocktail made with Sông Cái Dry Gin — the first Vietnamese gin.
Hanoi Sunset Cocktail
by Lucinda Sterling
For this riff on the classic, spirits-forward Tuxedo No. 2 cocktail, bartender Lucinda Sterling complements the botanicals of our Sông Cái Dry Gin with accents of rose, hibiscus.