The perfect summer cocktail used to include “enough sugar to make a dessert blush”, said The Times. Now, though, “Britain’s drinks cabinets are taking a decidedly saltier turn” as people opt for a “splash of pickle juice” or a sprinkle of chilli flakes in their cocktails.
Waitrose has enjoyed “rising sales of sauces, citrus juices and seasonings” as shoppers turn to savoury cocktails, said Grocery Trade News. With shopping lists full of items like hot honey and chilli crisp, it's only natural that drinks follow suit.
Savoury cocktails are far from new but their “recent momentum is impossible to ignore”, said Rachel King on Forbes. Not confined by any rulebook, these drinks can be “earthy, briny or smoky”, and all are complex and bold. While one may be tempted to dismiss savoury drinks as “gimmicks, they have “moved from the margins to the spotlight” because of the “steady refinement of ingredients and techniques”.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Latest Videos FromThe Week
Many drinks highlight East Asian flavours through ingredients like “nori, sesame, soy, dried mushrooms and teas”, which have become “common in modern bar programmes”. Other savoury ingredients like “pickled vegetables, spices like basil and thyme and bacon fat” are also appearing in cocktails that appeal to “adventurous” bar customers, Jen Jackson, from Thompson Restaurants, told Forbes.
If you want to delve into the world of savoury cocktails but don’t know where to start, try the gibson cocktail. The “punchy tipple” is “garnished with a pickled onion that’s been charred in a hot, non-stick frying pan”, said Good Food. Similar to a classic martini, the drink is made by mixing dry vermouth and gin. Pour them into a glass or jug and add some ice cubes. Give it a stir “for around 30 seconds” before straining into a “chilled cocktail glass”.
Another twist on a classic is a Mediterranean savoury gin and tonic, which adds tomatoes and ginger to the traditional recipe. Add a halved cherry tomato on a cocktail stick and sprinkle in some drops of “good-quality extra virgin olive oil” before serving for an “elegant finish”.
