With a share of the specialty cocktail market beckoning like a cool breeze on a hot day, some restaurant operators are raising freshness, seasonality and local ingredients to new heights with summertime cocktails.
Operations ranging from multiunit casual-dining chains to Champagne bars and chef-owned upscale restaurants are shaking and stirring distinctive summertime sippers festooned with unique herbs, double-barreled flavor profiles and new wrinkles ranging from popsicle garnishes to chili-laced recipes that manage to counter summer heat while warming the palate.
How do you define a summertime cocktail? “It’s crisp, refreshing, not particularly sweet and often made with local fruits and fresh herbs,” declared Michelle Quisenberry, managing partner-owner of Volterra, a Tuscan restaurant in Seattle. Quisenberry's leading summer libation, back for a second season, is the Cherry Mojito, a muddling of Washington-grown Bing cherries, fresh mint, fresh basil and lemon rum, created by Liquid Kitchen, the beverage consulting arm of Kathy Casey Food Studios in Seattle.
Aspiring cocktail creators should “look at the menus and see what cool ingredients they have in the kitchen,” advised Kathy Casey, president of the eponymous company. An Asian restaurant, for instance, may have shiso leaves for flavoring or garnishing. Or it could step out further and craft a heady infusion of coconut rum with Thai yellow curry paste and honeydew menu, as Casey did for one client. Alternatively, one might create drinks with intriguing double-barreled flavor profiles, like an Asian limeade laced with kaffir lime leaves and fresh lime juice or an Asian Lemon Drop with lemongrass and fresh lemon juice.
“In the summertime, you want really bright and refreshing cocktails,” offered Carlos Yturria, mixologist of Bacar, a Northern California cuisine restaurant in San Francisco. He noted that typically summer drinks are long and iced, but the exceptions are melon-based cocktails. “Melon dilutes very easily in long drinks, so I prefer them up,” said Yturria.
Patrons of the Atwood Café, an American-menu spot in Chicago, refresh themselves in whimsical style with Popsicle-tinis — a new line of cocktails chilled with house-made flavored popsicles. For example, there’s the Cherry Bomb Pop ($12), bourbon whiskey with a sour cherry popsicle and the Creamsicle ($10), vanilla vodka with a tangerine popsicle.
In New Orleans, summer-like heat begins around April, according to Shannon Fristoe, general manager and wine steward of Bayona, which serves eclectic global cuisine. Hence the need for cooling creations like the Bayona Martini ($8), with gin, rose water, and a slice of cucumber, and the Dauphine Iced Tea ($7), which spikes freshly brewed tea with vodka and lemon. “It’s very easy to have more than one,” noted Fristoe.
Also set for a heat wave is the 57-unit Ted’s Montana Grill casual-dining chain, based in Atlanta. Its four new summer specialties include the Mountain Breeze, a mixture of grapefruit vodka, freshly squeezed lime and orange juices and a splash of cranberry, priced at $8.
At Nacional 27, a modern Latin restaurant in Chicago’s Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises group, general manager and bar chef Adam Seger taps two sources of fresh herbs for his El HerBARio drink list this summer — an herb garden on the premises and a local greenhouse. He is breaking new ground at the bar by using unusual botanicals like epazote, a Central American herb with a bitter, lemony nuance; stevia, a sunflower family member that tastes sweet but has no calories; and Cuban oregano, which has a flavor midway between oregano and thyme. “When guests see the herbs at the bar, it automatically piques their curiosity,” said Seger. And when bartenders cut herbs directly into a drink, it sends an unmistakable message of freshness.
Showing the intensity of flavor that some customers seek in a drink today is Seger’s Mango-Ginger-Habanero Daiquiri. It’s made with rum, fresh lime, mango puree and a syrup steeped with ginger and habanero chili, served in a glass rimmed with sugar and seven ground flavorings: cinnamon, fennel, star anise, cloves, ginger, cardamom and Szechwan pepper. “Some people are tiring of ‘one-note’ fruit drinks,” said Seger. “Adding another dimension beside the fruit, like chilies, fresh herbs or ginger, makes it a lot more interesting.”
Adozen bubbly-based libations, refreshing and well-suited to summer, entice guests away from spirits at Pops for Champagne, reported Craig Cooper, beverage director of the champagne bar and jazz club in Chicago. His creations include the Classic ($9), a Champagne cocktail built in a flute glass with Cognac, a sugar cube, Angostura bitters, sparkling wine and a lemon twist, as well as offbeat concoctions like Black 75 ($11), with black cherry vodka, lemon juice, simple syrup and sparkling wine.
“Having these really helps us concentrate our efforts and our inventory,” said Cooper. “We don’t need to have apple martinis and all that. So we can focus on sparkling wine, which is what we’re all about.”
