The drinks industry is going through a period of great creativity and innovation at the moment.
Between them, they continue to launch a steady stream of great new products. Something I’m very pleased about. So no criticism there.
The other great trend at the moment is the move towards small scale independent producers : both brewers and distillers. One of many things about this trend that is great for us consumers is that it encourages new flavours and variants. The small scale producers stimulate the industry giants to respond with new competitive products.
Nevertheless, I do sometimes think about new products that would help me when developing new cocktails.
What we want is..
Generally for me, it’s about additional flavours. Vermouths have got a lot more interesting in the last few years, but I still think there’s a way to go yet. There aren’t many flavoured vermouths. I know they’re all flavoured but you know what I mean! Chamberyzette is an excellent, fragrant strawberry vermouth. But where are the others? How about lemon vermouth? Or perhaps raspberry, peach or spiced vermouth?
Barrel-aged spirits are generally a great way of smoothing spirits out. While vermouths don’t need the same thing because the base product isn’t harsh, nevertheless it would be an interesting experiment. You can already buy barrel-aged Negronis, so why not?
Vermouths are already a key ingredient in many classic cocktails. Martinis and the Manhattan for starters, so there would be plenty of scope for developing these classics with more nuanced vermouths.
Cognac v. Whisky
It’s interesting that within my collection, I have many more whiskies than I do cognacs. I even have more scotch whiskies than I do cognacs. Why do the cognacais not get more of my hard earned … than the Scots? It’s all to do with variation. I have nice French brandy for mixing in cocktails, plus a couple of nice cognacs at varying price points. Plus some armagnac but that’s it. With scotch whisky you can have the soft lowland malts, the traditional highland and or Speyside malts and then there are the peaty island malts from Islay. Plus the other variations from the other islands : Skye, Jura, Orkneys etc.
The cognac producers could also experiment more with barrel finishes for their cognacs. Sherry, whisky (even), orange etc. Why not? Grand Marnier is a fantastic liqueur that marries cognac and orange well. Why not dial that back in a base spirit? I’m sure the cognac industry wouldn’t want to try a little smokiness in their cognacs. That would be copying their scotch whisky rivals. Zut alors! But I’d be interested in trying it, if it was very gentle.
Liqueurs
Most of the innovation currently is from the spirits distillers. It hasn’t always been this way. When I started my personal journey in the mid 80s it was about liqueurs mainly. Spirits were (generally) the base that you simply developed your cocktails around.
We could do with a wider selection of liqueur flavours. An obvious omission seems to be a lime liqueur. We have liqueurs for many other fruits, but not lime. Why ever not? Lemon works well in the mighty Limoncello. Lime would be a versatile liqueur flavour.
Lavender is a fantastic and unusual cocktail ingredient. I like working with Monin lavender syrup. A lavender liqueur though would be great. Incidentally Briottet probably make the best range of single flavour liqueurs. And they’re great quality too. Have a look at their range if you’re into mixology. If anyone will introduce a lavender liqueur I think they’d be strong contenders.
I’ve not been introduced to new liqueurs of late with brand new flavours. The notable exception is Fortunella which is based on kumquats. It is fantastic! It is fairly expensive, only being sold currently in 50 cl bottles, but it is well worth it.
Liquorice
Yes really. Monin used to do a liquorice syrup which I loved. I developed a handful of new cocktails using this ingredient. And they were great and loved by the people who tried them. The liquorice added a beautiful rich and chocolatey depth to each cocktail. Sadly Monin have dropped this product so I guess I’m a lone voice in the wilderness. However, I would still like to work with this flavour. And we have a range of aniseed liqueurs to choose from (which I don’t like incidentally) : absinthe, Pernod, pastis, Sambuca. So why not liquorice? And the fact that it turns the drink black is an added bonus. It goes well with tequila, and coffee flavours. And floating cream on the top of a Martini glass, so it looks like a sort-of Guinness is fantastic.
Spices & herbs
Spices have a great role to play in drinks and cocktails just as they do in cooking. Spiced gins such as Opihr and the even better Sacred cardamom gin are great examples. My favourite gin incidentally is Audemus pink pepper – which is great in my spiced Negroni.
As well as cardamom, I’d be interested in things which contained coriander or cumin. It is worth giving praise to Sacred Spirits, based in London who already do a good job of providing gins based on a range of spice flavours.
The weird and wacky
I also like peanut butter. So that would be a great flavour to try. Or is it just me?! I also love Marmite, but even I appreciate that there are lines which shouldn’t be crossed!
Syrups and bitters
These are products which exist to balance out great cocktails. They may be small – but they are significant. Monin already have the syrup thing pretty much covered.
I mentioned cardamom gin above. Monin used to make a cardamom syrup. Unfortunately (for me at least), they’ve now discontinued this product. More significantly, it seems no one else is filling the gap. Seems like I’ll have to make my own.
Bitters have become a lot more interesting over recent years. Going back 10 years, it was Angostura bitters and that was about it. Now we have a great range of flavoured bitters ; orange, grapefruit, cherry, plum, lavender, chocolate, black walnut etc. They all have their place.
I developed a new cocktail a while ago, and I decided what it needed was some spiced bitters. But I can’t find any anywhere. Yes, I know that all bitters are to a degree made up of spirit and spices. But I can’t find something branded in the way I want.
English countryside flavours
This is one area, where I think the drinks industry has given me everything I want as a mixologist.
I’ve always been a big fan of English countryside flavours. Things that remind me of childhood, so I guess this is all about nostalgia. Specifically rhubarb, raspberry & gooseberry. Raspberry is already well represented in most categories of course, with rhubarb growing in popularity. Rhubarb gin and vodka is now available. I can also get rhubarb syrup, so that just leaves a rhubarb liqueur. Briottet, are you listening? Elderflower is also well covered. St. Germain being the best example of an elderflower based liqueur. Then there are cordials you can buy which add a good hit of elderflower. Don’t leave it too long in the bottle though. It discolours significantly – getting darker.
That just leaves gooseberry. I suspect that this is a difficult product to work with. It is seasonal of course, so could only be a limited edition product. I tried Chase gooseberry vodka a few years ago, which wasn’t great. Nevertheless, I admire the ambition and was glad I tried it. But now we have Whitley Neill gooseberry gin. It’s great. Personally I think it is a bit lost in a gin and tonic. The bitterness of the quinine overpowers the subtlety of the gooseberry. However, if you start to mix it with other sweet flavours in a cocktail, it really comes to life. I’ll add a link to my newly developed Gooseberry Martini soon.
To a large degree we have to work with what is available commercially, or we make our own. But for now, the drinks industry is doing a good job. Nevertheless there are some other additional ingredients I’d like please!