Last year, acclimating to cold-weather cocktails was as simple as switching from G&Ts to Manhattans. This year? It’s a more drastic switch. For fall 2012, bartenders are skirting sweet syrups and embracing the savory side. They’re taking a gamble on ingredients you may not be accustomed to sipping in a glass. And they’re using celery. Lots of it.
“The idea is balance,” says
Carriage House’s Michael Simon, whose Chartreuse Elixir cocktail’s ingredients—cucumbers, fresh mint, fennel fronds, celery—could just as easily appear in a salad. “I’m using quite a lot of savory things. The thing I hear most is, ‘I don’t like sweet drinks.’ The sweet element in drinks should be present in that it’s soft and balanced, but you don’t taste the sugar, per se.”
Subtlety is key. Today’s savory drinks don’t resemble Bloody Marys; instead, vegetables and peppers are used sparingly for unexpected flavor, nuts and spice are accents, and herbs are ever-present. And it’s not just a trend at bespoke bars such as the
Violet Hour (which has three savory cocktails on its fall menu): High-volume venues like
Drumbar are churning out drinks like the Savor, which blends gin, cardamom syrup and—what’d we tell you?—celery bitters. “It’s quite often more rewarding as the creator to construct a drink that surprises and takes a little risk,” says Drumbar mixologist Benjamin Newby. These are a few of those risk-taking drinks.
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