Restaurant chain managers and beverage directors are being empowered to buy locally produced beverages that are popular in their communities. Franchisees are, too, said Tom Lewison, CEO of 36-unit Wild Wing Café.

“We allow franchisees to work on their own drink specials,” he said. “We want to be local. We have savvy, engaging bartenders. That’s a real part of who we are.”
*Photo: Thinkstock

Chefs and bartenders are sourcing their own barrels, making large batches of cocktails and aging them in-house, allowing them to give their customers something unavailable elsewhere.

Peter Kreidler, sous chef of Clay Pigeon Food and Drink in Fort Worth, Texas, uses a charred three-gallon white American oak barrel from local Rebecca Creek Distillery and fills it with four bottles of whiskey, one bottle of vermouth and bitters, and lets it age for six weeks, resulting in a barrel-aged Manhattan.

“It’s kind of harsh up front, but after about two weeks it takes on that charred flavor and changes color a little bit,” Kreidler said.

The New York City location of 14-unit Tommy Bahama Restaurant & Bar also offers three barrel-aged cocktails, as well as a Negroni with house-aged sweet vermouth.

Three-gallon barrel at Clay Pigeon Food and Drink.
*Photo: Peter Kreidler

Just as food with backstories sells well, so do cocktails with a history. Highlighting regional specialties behind the bar — a Sazerac in New Orleans, a mint julep in Louisville, Ky. — adds to drinks’ appeal and helps give customers a sense of place.

Omni Hotels & Resorts saw cocktail sales rise 20 percent last year when they nixed more ambitious drinks and instead added several varieties of regional favorites.

From left: Ultimate Martini, Rye Manhattan, Smoky Margarita and Moscow Mule from Omni Hotels & Resorts.
*Photo: Omni Hotels & Resorts

Bars and kitchens are increasingly sharing ingredients, which not only makes economic sense, but also lends freshness cues and culinary flourishes to cocktails.

At IO Urban Roofscape at the Godfrey Hotel in Chicago, chef Riley Huddleston has a list of “Chef’s Cocktails” that he makes in the kitchen, including a Mojito made with housemade lime soda and mint, and a margarita topped with habanero “salt air” foam.

Chef’s Margarita at IO Urban Roofscape in Chicago.
*Photo courtesy of the Godfrey Hotel, Chicago

Also called unaged whiskey, white dog or simply moonshine, these popular spirits can be sold quickly, giving new distillers cash flow while they barrel-age other spirits. Their mild flavor also makes them versatile cocktail bases.

Outback Steakhouse used unaged whiskey last spring in a line of cocktails that accompanied its Moonshine BBQ menu.

The trio of cocktails included Huckleberry Hooch, made with blackberry moonshine, muddled seasonal berries, orange juice, pineapple juice and cranberry juice; Watermelon Hooch Punch, made with blackberry moonshine, watermelon and lemonade; and Just Peaches, made with peach moonshine, Fireball Cinnamon whiskey, peach puree, apple juice and orange juice, served with a cinnamon sugar rim.

Outback Steakhouse’s Moonshine Cocktail Trio.
*Photo courtesy of Outback Steakhouse

Just as food is paired with wine, food and beer pairings are becoming more common.

Austin Carson, sommelier at Mizuna in Denver, will often incorporate beer as one or two of the drinks in the restaurant’s eight-course tasting menu, sometimes with food that doesn’t play as nicely with wine, such as high-acid salads or dessert.

Coconut panna cotta, hazelnut génoise, passion fruit crème glacée and hazelnut streusel, paired with Rogue VooDoo Doughnut Lemon Chiffon ale, at Mizuna in Denver.
*Photo: Ryan Fitzgerald

As the popularity of cocktails continues to grow, more beverage experts are pairing them with food. Austin Carson, sommelier at Mizuna in Denver, pairs sheep milk cheese with his Smoke ’em If You Got ’em cocktail, corn whiskey infused with sweet corn and mixed with quinoa whiskey, muddled basil and a smoked lager from Utah. The cocktail is shaken, finished with lemon juice and cracked pepper, and served over ice. It also pairs well with blue cheese, he said.

Lou Bren raw sheep milk cheese paired with the Smoke ’em If You Got ’em cocktail at Mizuna in Denver.
*Photo: Ryan Fitzgerald

Like modern-day Jell-O shots, restaurants and bars are serving more cocktails that are meant to be chewed, such as the boozy marshmallows at the Shadow Mountain Lounge at the St. Regis Aspen Resort, in flavors such as Dipped Strawberry, Candy Apple, Hotty Toddy (with butterscotch schnapps) and Candy Cane. Some customers drop them into hot cocoa with an additional shot of liqueur, a resort spokeswoman said.

Do or Dine in Brooklyn, N.Y., serves gelatinized pickleback shots, and Green Russell in Denver serves a foamy Butter Beer made with butter-infused rum, Scotch, bitters, vanilla, half and half, cream and egg white, dispensed from a nitrous oxide canister.

Spiked marshmallows at the Shadow Mountain Lounge at The St. Regis Aspen Resort in Aspen, Colo.
*Photo: C2 Photography

Although the craft beer boom continues, some restaurants are choosing to brew their own.

Besides brewpub chains such as Rock Bottom Brewery, Gordon Biersch and BJ’s, independent restaurants are also making their own beers.

Some restaurants, such as Blackberry Farm, the luxury property in Walland, Tenn., have set up their own breweries . Others are teaming up with local breweries on proprietary beers. That’s the approach Mark Romano, Adam Randisi and Nels Benton are taking with Bill Baker’s, a restaurant slated to open in Brooklyn, N.Y., next month. They’re working with Spider Bite Beer in Holbrook, N.Y., to brew their own recipes.

“We want our own beer,” said Romano, the restaurant’s beverage director, who noted that a lot of craft beers tend to be high in alcohol — in the 8 percent to 10 percent range. He will offer a vanilla porter, a wheat beer, an India pale ale, and a brown or red ale, all with alcohol levels between 5 percent and 6 percent, because such “session” beers are easier to enjoy in higher quantities.

Bill Baker’s vanilla porter.
*Photo: Mark Romano

The Brewers Association, a trade group for craft brewers, said there were 2,822 breweries in the United States in 2013, an increase from 1,485 in 2003 and 89 in 1978. That includes 54 breweries that the BA considers “non-craft.” Although non-craft beers account for almost 86 percent of the beer market, craft beer, which now accounts for $14.3 billion in sales, is growing 20 percent annually, according to the association.

Craft beers don’t have to be local to be appreciated, and many, especially those based on the West Coast and in Colorado, now have national distribution.
*Photo: Thinkstock

Many bartenders are seeing the growing appeal of bitter, herbaceous elements in their cocktails. They are highlighting them and adding to their drinks’ visual appeal with herb and flower garnishes.

One such drink is the Caprese Martini at Crop restaurant in Cleveland. Only on the menu during tomato season, beverage director Steve Schimoler infuses vodka with “very good” heirloom tomatoes, then adds muddled fresh basil and shakes it with a few drops of balsamic syrup. The drink is garnished with a ball of fresh mozzarella, tomato soaked in balsamic vinegar and a basil leaf.

Caprese Martini at Crop restaurant in Cleveland.
*Photo courtesy of Crop restaurant

Just as consumers during the low-carb craze of 2004 shifted to cocktails without sugar, they are now seeking drinks without gluten, particularly beer.

Both Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors now offer gluten-free beer, meaning they don’t contain beer’s traditional backbone, barley. MillerCoors’ Coors Peak Copper Lager uses brown rice instead of barley and peas for protein.
*Photo: Thinkstock

Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc are all well and good, but adventurous consumers — which Constellation Brands estimates is about 22 percent of wine drinkers — are looking for new varietals, particularly those that go with the cuisine they’re eating. So Tempranillo and Albariño might go with Spanish tapas, while Sangiovese or Vermentino might be appropriate for an Italian meal. Sweet wines, particularly Moscato, are also on the rise.
*Photo: Thinkstock

As of spring 2014, 43.1 million Americans said they buy organic food, according to Statista.com, an increase from 38.8 million in 2010. Chefs surveyed by the NRA said they also see growing demand for organic alcoholic beverages, and particularly for beer. According to the Organic Trade Association, U.S. organic beer sales grew from $9 million in 2003 to $79 million in 2013.
*Photo: Thinkstock