Oyster gin and tequila with a splash of pho: Savory drinks shake up Twin Cities cocktail scene
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It's getting easier to drink your dinner.
What's shaken (or stirred): Savory cocktails featuring ingredients more frequently seen on the food side of the menu — think dill, roasted vegetables, and Szechuan pepper — are popping up on menus across the Twin Cities.
State of play: "Meal-flavored" drinks are having a moment. The New York Times and Time magazine named them a top food trend to watch in 2024.
What to expect: Umami-forward drinks featuring lots of herbs and vegetal notes, plus twists on more traditional food flavors.
- Breva serves a wild rice Negroni, while Herbst's current cocktail menu incorporates dill, sumac, and Fresno honey. At Billy Sushi, dashes of Togarashi bitters add flavors of sesame, ginger, chile, and nori to a tequila drink.
What they're saying: "We're almost two decades into the cocktail renaissance and people are looking for a little more complexity," said Jester Concepts beverage director Mike Liay, who serves a tequila drink infused with pho spices at Char Bar.
- "A sweet old fashioned is great, but if you can work in a little more depth, it keeps people coming back for more."
Between the lines: The concept of a savory cocktail isn't new — martinis and Bloody Marys have been around for ages.
Yes, but: Mixologists and cocktail lovers are now getting even more creative in how they "blur the lines between food and drink," said Earl Giles Distillery CEO Nick Kosevich, an industry veteran.
- "It's always about that playfulness," he said, citing a martini made with clarified Bloody Mary mix. "Thinking about drinks the way that you think about the food element, and vice versa."
Zoom in: Earl Giles' cocktail-focused tasting dinner includes a root vegetable soup paired with a "parsnip daiquiri."
- At Mr. Paul's Supper Club, Kosevich's other local project, the cocktail dinner features a martini that uses gin infused with oyster shells.
The catch: Not everyone is bellying up to the bold flavors. Liay said Char's Seaside Negroni, which incorporates soy sauce, is "very polarizing." A shellfish drink they tried at Butcher & The Boar failed to attract much interest.
- "People go, 'Oyster shell, huh? Yeah, I'll have a regular Tito's Martini,'" he said.
Plus: Plenty of diners are still looking for more traditional flavors, including sweeter drinks.
- Kosevich said ice cream cocktails, including one with banana and chocolate, are hot, even in the winter. The supper club goes through 20 gallons of frozen Irish coffee a week.
Be smart: Making the jump from a sweet Cosmo to an umami-packed concoction can be jarring. Liay suggests starting with savory herbs and keeping an eye out for mentions of ingredients that might add a lot of salt or other bold flavors if those won't suit your palate.
- Those looking to try the trend at home could try mixing about four ounces of pho broth from their next takeout order with an ounce of fernet. "It's dynamite," Kosevich said.