Mixologists use fresh veggies, herbs and spicy touches from the kitchento put a culinary spin on drinks

T A L E S O F T H E C O C K T A I L

At last summer’s Tales of the Cocktail industry event, an egg-white-topped Lavender andCucumber Sour took center stage.

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t the recently openedCopa d’Oro bar inSanta Monica, Calif.,customers ﬁnd one of the latesttwists in the evolution of drinkmaking: the market menu.Arrayed before them and listed ingreat detail on the menu are allthe fresh ingredients bar ownerVincenzo Marianella gatheredthat morning at a local farmers’market, much as chefs have beendoing for years.Conspicuous among the usualfruits — strawberries, grapes,oranges and such — is a rainbowof herbs and vegetables: basil,thyme, rosemary, sage, parsley,habenero peppers, wasabi, ginger,bell peppers, cucumbers, carrots.What happens with these farm-fresh ingredients is quite culinaryin style. Customers pick a spiritby price, select a few freshingredients and watch as Copad’Oro’s bartenders custom-make their drink.“It’s the most popular part of our menu,” says Marianella,adding that many of the drinks are made with the mostsavory of available ingredients.

A SAVORY SPECTRUM

At many other bars and restaurants across the country, thecocktail renaissance is taking a distinctly savory turn, withmixologists employing ingredients and culinary techniquesthat expand the flavor options of mainstream drinking.“Working with savory ingredients treats people to anentirely different flavor spectrum they may not be used to,”says Jamie Boudreau, bar director for Seattle’s Tini Bigs anda spirit and cocktail consultant. “When I first startedmaking cocktails, my inspiration was pastry books, but thenI started looking at chefs and what flavors they make worktogether.”Bartenders who feature culinary cocktails return oftento savory touches. Last winter, at Eastern StandardKitchen & Drinks in Boston, Bar Manager JacksonCannon created a roasted-beet, tarragon and Greek-yogurt-based drink he called theRussian Tea Room. Anothersavory concoction he created wasa gimlet with salsify puree. JoeDoe, a restaurant in NewYork City’s East Village, got somerecent press for a sweet-savorycocktail recipe called TheMaryland Crab Boil, a blend of Old Bay Seasoning, lime, honeyand Siembra Azul tequila.Mixologist Gina Chersevani’sspring menu at PS 7 inWashington, D.C., includedThai’s the Limit, essentially apotable rendition of a spicy, Thaicoconut curry with gin and gingerliqueur. Recipes like these walk afine line between food and drink,but mainly they sharpen theappetite, which cocktails aremeant to do.“It’s important to create a tastematrix on your drink menu, withsomewhere for everyone to go,”says Chersevani. “Not everybody likes the same thing, sowhy not create a menu that appeals to everyone? Spicy,fruit, sweet, bitter — you can have all these flavors.”

HISTORICALLY SAVORY

There’s no lack of precedence for savory cocktails: Gin’sbotanical mix of juniper, citrus peel, cardamom and otheraromaticsmakesitthesavorygo-tospiritinbothtraditionaland modern mixology. The same sorts of flavorfulcomponents found their way into herb- and spice-infusedvermouth. The two together gave us the sublime martini,and even if the 20th-century version differs from theoriginalrecipe,thedrink’scrisp,herbaceouspungencyisthepure definition of savory.Other drinks, such as the Bloody Mary and its relatives— the Bloody Caesar, made with clam broth, and theBloody Bull, made with beef broth — have longmaintained brunch-time appeal. In fact, as brunchbecomes an affordable way to continue dining out whiledisposable income dwindles, signature Bloody Marys arecoming on strong, with regional flavors, herb-infused

BEVERAGE TRENDS

BY JACK ROBERTIELLOCopa d’Oro’s beverage menu lets dinerschoose from Santa Monica’s best farm-market goods to create savory, herb-laced cocktails.

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vodkas and house-blended spice rubs forrimming (see sidebar, above).In the past few years, as bartenders havefocused on reviving classic recipes, recreatingbitters and exploring fresh ingredients, fruitsand sweeter herbs like mint took center stage.Old savory drinks like the Negroni, made withgin, bitter Campari and sweet vermouth,reawakened the need for bracing ﬂavors, andgradually, the occasional rosemary sprig andpickled-caperberry garnish gave way to sage orparsley muddles, vegetable purees and otherkitchen inspirations.Chersevani, Marianella and others cite thekitchen as a prime mover in this trend, as barsin ﬁne-dining restaurants have greater accessto back-of-house ingredients and techniques;for Chersevani’s Thai-inspired drink, a foodprocessor and chinoise are essential.Marianella learned his skills, amongother places, at The Palace restaurant inLos Angeles, where he’d visit the kitchenfor inspiration. One of those kitchenrambles, on behalf of a customer seekingsomething really different, yielded his most-intriguing cocktail: the citrusy, gin-basedSour Kraut, made with Dijon mustard andmarmalade, which just happened to beshelved together.

SAVORIES CATCH ON

Marianellalikessavoryforthevarietyofflavorsavailable, from parsley’s earthiness tocucumber’s fresh sweetness, but he warnsagainst misuse.“You need to balance the flavors, whateveryou use; that’s the most important thing,” hesays. “You can’t just put a cucumber in acocktail.”In the past two years, even chain-restaurantbeverage execs have acknowledged theattraction of the garden flavors of cucumber,now a standard cocktail ingredient in manyoperations.“Working with cucumbers is fairly easy, anda pretty good selling point for those wary of vegetables in their drinks,” says Borys Saciuk,head bartender at restaurant Michael Mina inSan Francisco. “Female customers seem to likethe idea of cucumber in drinks, and its mild,slightly sweet and refreshing flavors are fun towork with.”In addition to using earthy herbs andvegetables, bartenders are incorporating suchingredients as vinegars, fruit-and-vinegargastriques and fruit-vinegar shrubs to get atangyflavorwithouttheusualcitrus.Thelattertwo are especially popular with bartenders whoprefertouselocalproducethroughouttheyear.Saciuk says that because in-season fruits canvary so dramatically in ripeness and flavor, hesometimes poaches a batch and reduces theremaining liquid with salt and spices to dash

BEVERAGE TRENDS

Signature versions (or entire menus) of Bloody Marys are a greatstarting point for savory cocktails, and regional variations abound. Plentyof places mix up the vodka ﬂavors and spices, but why not use other vegetable juices, like carrot, cucumber or mixed greens, or try shifting the ﬂavors seasonally?

Star of the Sea Bloody Mary

With cucumber-and-dill-infused vodka and a freshly shucked EastCoast oyster —

Buttermilk Channel, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Wobble Stopper Bloody Mary

A hint of porter fortiﬁes this homemade Bloody Mary, made with a tomato-, corn- and black-bean-infused Svedka vodka, garnished withour house-smoked bacon and a salty black-bean-and-corn rim—

The Fifty/50, Chicago

Bayside Bloody Maria

With Sauza Hornitos tequila, Major Peter’s Hot & Spicy Bloody MaryMix, garnished with lime, celery and jalapeño-stuffed olive—

Bayside, Newport Beach, Calif.

The Bloody Gia

House-infused hot-pepper vodka, spiked with a shot of Guinness,garnished with hot, pickled okra, sweet banana pepper, pepperoncini,stuffed Spanish olive, cipollini onion and a caperberry, rimmed withcelery salt —

Café Lily, Decatur, Ga.

Hari Kari

A Far East version with sake instead of vodka, plus wasabi and pickledginger —

The Heights, Washington D.C.

Danish Bloody Mary

Aquavit, fresh fennel and a marinated white anchovy—

Prune, New York City

Schnockered Bloody Mary

With Plymouth gin and house-made pickled vegetables—

The Hungry Cat, Hollywood and Santa Barbara, Calif.

MARY

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