Oriental

There's few Asian-styled drink, and maybe it is important to address the outdated name of the cocktail rather than look at the disparity of cocktails by country or continent. Now Oriental means from far away, but in the not-to-distant past Oriental meant Asian. 

Like the Shanghai Cocktail and the Mikado, there's no Asian ingredients in the drink. The Opera Mikado not even an Asian thing...it's a Gilbert and Sullivan show that mimics Japanese culture like a blackface minstral show mimics African American culture. What we have here is an attempt to exociticise cocktails by name only. What we have here is a Margarita made with whiskey. And again, like the Japanese Fizz, it's only Asian because Japanese people like American whiskey as much as anybody else does.

• 2 oz. blended whiskey
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. sweet vermouth
• 1/2 oz. triple sec

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.