For This Mixologist, All’s Fair In Love And Cocktails

As I write this, it’s been more than 80 days since Taylor Swift last posted to her Instagram account. The Eras Tour ended in December; there’s been no new music from her for close to a year. Heaven knows she deserves a rest. And we’ve still got the records and the videos and the movies and the merch — and lots and lots of friendship bracelets. But where do we go to get our fix of the drama, the dishing of dirt, the litigating of past relationships, with all the details on display? Look no further than @cocktailheartremedy, the brainchild, passion project and Instagram account of a 30-something New Yorker whose Swiftian love life shares the spotlight with her love of cocktails.

There are plenty of social media accounts that show the art of mixing drinks. Some of them are tutorial in nature, some are just bartenders showing off. They’re a fun way for a drinks fan — or in my case, a drinks writer — to kill time, and occasionally discover a recipe I have both the ingredients and the technical know-how to make myself.

Which is what I thought I was getting into when I started checking out @cocktailheartremedy on the recommendation of a mutual friend. But within a handful of posts I was finding out more about its creator than I’d bargained for. I’m not talking biographical details here, I’m talking the good stuff: the juicy tales of love gone wrong; of horrible dates; of lying, cheating paramours; of skidmarks left on the couch during “spicy time” (more on that later). Miraculously, @cocktailheartremedy, also known as Vivian Hsiung, makes intricate, richly detailed, extraordinary looking and, based on the few I’ve tasted, quite delicious cocktails to evoke and commemorate each romantic misstep.

Hsiung’s artful oversharing is, unsurprisingly, inspired by Taylor Swift, the preeminent artful oversharer of our time. “I’ve always admired her storytelling skills. Her music has a way of making you feel something, something I find rare and incredibly inspiring compared to other artists.” She claims to not be a hardcore Swifty — “I don’t know every lyric or which song belongs to which album” — but she did travel to Zurich to see the Eras Tour, and tends, from my experience, to get a little giddy when talking Taylor.

Hsiung’s own creative journey began during Covid. “I was going through a breakup. I just wanted to make myself a drink at home. Then, feeling particularly bitter one day, I told myself, ‘You know what? Let’s make a bitter Manhattan.’

She quickly made the connection between flavor and feelings: “Words in mixology—bitter, sweet, sour, salty—reflected emotions. Making cocktails became a way for me to take the messy feelings inside and transform them into something I could see, taste, and hold in my hands. Little did I know, it would evolve into a blend of therapy, art, and self-discovery.” And, of course, an Instagram account, where to date more than 9,000 followers have come along for the journey.

Not bad for someone with no background in mixology. Born in Taiwan, Hsiung studied computer science, emigrating to Kansas for a tech job before landing in New York. Today, she’s leaning into the drinks gig, hosting events and teaching cocktail classes while continuing to document her own romantic ups and downs on social media (pro tip: the best place to watch all the Reels and read all the stories is on her website).

Turning tales of love gone bad into cocktails seems in many ways even more difficult than turning them into songs. And Hsiung’s cocktails, like her romances, are not simple affairs. The “But You Said You Loved Me,” for instance, is a smoked bourbon cocktail inside a clear sugar globe that’s meant to be smashed with a hammer… because the breakup that inspired the drink left her shattered. The “Whoremones Gone Wrong” is garnished with French tuile, which employs grapeseed oil and a pinch of activated charcoal, and requires some cooking know-how. Lest you feel overwhelmed, you can watch Hsiung making the cocktails herself on her Reels, including all the screwups, bloopers, and other Swiftian humanizing moments that would normally get left on the cutting room floor (or the digital equivalent).

With the recipes comes a healthy dash of uncensored commentary: “He wanted me to stay the night, but I don’t do overnights,” she says during one prep session. “I walked into the living room and thought to myself, ‘What are you doing?’ I walked back into his room. He smirked at me and said, ‘I knew you would come back.’” Surprisingly — well, to me at least — the men she dates don’t mind having cocktails made about their foibles, romantic or even sexual. “I think guys secretly really love that,” she says. “It’s like an ego boost. Every time I release a drink, usually within two business days I will get a text from the guy.” However, she adds that “I only release a drink when I know I never want to see the guy again.”

My favorite of Hsiung’s cocktails is the aforementioned skidmarks-on-the-couch classic, simply called “Flabbergasted.” It’s not so much the drink itself — which features Sichuan peppercorn-infused vodka “for a shocking taste” and soy milk and Amaretto to balance it out. No, it’s the chocolate stripe on the outer part of the glass, along with the abstract garnish meant to represent what her couch looked like after he tried to clean up the mess. It’s TMI, it’s hilarious, and to be honest, it would probably be more appealing without the story attached to it. But hey, great artists don’t shy away from the truth. (I was shocked to learn that the incident was not a relationship-breaker, though they did amicably part later.)

Hsiung is taking a break from dating, which seems a little unfair as it’s running concurrently with Taylor Swift’s own absence from the public eye. But she’s continuing to come up with new cocktail creations: “My inspirations are from all aspects of my life. Friendships and the chaotic world we live in.” She’s also trying to simplify her recipes, which have called for lots of infusions and homemade syrups and complex garnishes and the like. “I’ve been posting more easy to make at home drinks,” she says. “That’s definitely my new focus, so people can easily recreate [them] at home.”

And the ultimate, bucket-list goal? “I would love to drop a new menu for Taylor when she drops her new album.” But if they happen to encounter each other across a crowded bar before then, Hsiung has a cocktail in mind: “I would love to make her a cocktail I created called The Audacity – which is Reputation-inspired in emerald green.”

Here’s another cocktail of hers for the ambitious home bartender to give a whirl (full disclosure: it is way beyond my rather limited capacity).