Don’t think too hard about a lot of non “fufu” mixed drinks, i.e. “Bloody Mary”. You may begin to realize that ‘tastes good’ is generally one of many potential COLORS that may be applied from the drink palette. Gin and tonic doesn’t exactly “taste good”, per se, but depending on the gin it may have various felicities.

Something about this drink makes me think it tastes like, or is intended to remind one of, an Asian soup. I can imagine that you could had some hot sauce (probably sweet-hot) and not do violence to the, uh, constitution of the drink.

Vodka seems the right choice to “sharpen” the brew.