In bold new takes on the drinks cocktail sippers have come to crave, a growing number of restaurant operators are remixing old favorites in variations intended to combine familiarity with a walk on the wild side.
Flavorful tweaks abound in the drinks of Summit, an American brasserie at the Broadmoor resort in Colorado Springs, Colo. For example, the Star Anise Lemon Drop uses the licorice nuances of the star-shaped spice to overlay Hangar One Buddha's Hand Citron Vodka, fresh lemon and Grand Marnier, creating a next-generation Lemon Drop. In the Summit Smokin' Marg, a float of smoky Del Maguey Chichicapa Single Village Mezcal adds complexity to a top-shelf margarita. The Summit even dares fiddle with a venerable classic: It spikes the Churchill Manhattan with vanilla-infused Old Overholdt Rye Whiskey, Tuaca Liqueur and Dry Sack Sherry.
"We're always offering new things for people to try, but we try to keep it in a comfort zone," said Summit lead bartender Robert Leavey.
Hitching a new creation to a "name" drink is more than a nice gesture. There's a strong business case for it as well. For the clientele, such a drink is enticingly novel yet not so far removed from their experience to be risky. Customers are more likely to try it than a drink outside their frame of reference. For the operator, the motive is profit. The more elaborate a drink's flavor profile, the more justifiable a price point of $9, $10 or above.
Such flavor flaunting is increasingly common in a culture that loves the cocktail. One of the drivers is the skyrocketing popularity of vodka. Super-premium vodka volume increased 38.6 percent, to 4.1 million cases, last year, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, Washington, D.C. Much of the growth was in flavored vodkas. Bartenders have great opportunity to use the eminently mixable spirit, along with a growing array of juices, mixers, bases, herbs and spices, in creative specialty drinks.
"Definitely, all types of ingredients and flavors are being used," said Todd Thrasher, general manager, sommelier and partner of Restaurant Eve, a modern American restaurant in Alexandria, Va. "It's not like you can just put two or three liquors together and call it a cocktail."
Also layering flavors with abandon is the W Bar of Earth & Ocean, a Pacific Northwest-cuisine restaurant in Seattle. It features the W Emerald Drop, made with orange vodka, Midori Melon Liqueur and fresh orange and lemon juices, and the W Rose Drop, with cranberry and citrus vodkas and fresh cranberry, orange and lemon juices. While both drinks have Lemon Drop DNA, the latter resembles a Cosmopolitan, with its cranberry essence and rosy hue.
At Paragon Restaurant & Bar in Portland, Ore., one of the six casual eateries of the Mill Valley, Calif.-based Paragon Restaurant Group, beverage director Bob Brunner has several new signature cocktails that take favorite drinks in novel directions. The Pompelmo Negroni modifies the usual Negroni formula of gin, sweet vermouth and Campari. Out goes vermouth; in goes Punt e Mes, a bitter Italian aperitif, and fresh grapefruit juice. Brunner's Thai Basil Mojito parts company with the textbook Cuban mint-and-lime cocktail, substituting the aromatic Asian herb for mint and adding house-made ginger-lemongrass syrup. For its part, Interstate Hotels & Resorts, based in Arlington, Va., offers a Coconut Mojito laced with coconut rum, club soda and muddled fresh mint and lime.
Martinis with compound flavors are signatures of Quince at the Homestead, a contemporary American restaurant in Evanston, Ill. The Quince Tini combines pear vodka, pear puree and a slice of quince. "It's a cocktail for those who don't like very sweet drinks but can't hack a classic martini, either," said assistant general manager Donna Lee.
The Buddha Tini unites the liquid and the frozen in a martini glass. It's a mix of citron and clementine vodkas, Grand Marnier and a scoop of the daily sorbet. "We make intense sorbets in flavors like grapefruit, orange and yuzu," said Lee. She expects the libation to be especially popular at Quince in warm weather.
At Restaurant Eve, Thrasher creates his flavor layers via the "bar chef" route. In other words, he uses the ingredients and techniques of the culinary world along with customary bar supplies and practices. His bias is for fresh, local ingredients and scratch preparations. One of his current specialties, the Mona Lisa, has a base of locally grown gooseberries that he cooks with New Zealand sauvignon blanc and purees. The drink is built with the puree, more sauvignon blanc, gin and juniper berries.
"I'm just doing what chefs have done for years," says Thrasher. "So many people have looked at bar ingredients as an afterthought."