Cocktail ingredients have come a long way from tonic water, cranberry juice and soda, and it's becoming more and more common for bartenders to steal culinary techniques from the kitchen. Culinary cocktails rode into the scene on the coattails of the farm-to-table movement, carrying the focus on quality, scratch-made ingredients from the kitchen to the bar.
Beast + Barrel is one local spot that's embraced the concept, crafting all the bitters, cordials, shrubs, infusions, switchels, gomme syrups, jams, essential oils, foams and purees used in its cocktails in-house. The restaurant's bar staff makes use of culinary tools from the back of the house, such as the smoker and dehydrator, to intensify and create unique flavors. Their drinks are also inspired by seasonal ingredients, a practice borrowed from chefs.
"Something unique about our culinary-inspired bar is what we fondly refer to as our 'kitchen sink' gomme syrup," says bar manager Marcelo Nascimento, referring to the seasonal, all-purpose syrup the staff creates once a quarter. "It's crafted with the idea of highlighting the palate - tickling highs and lows, sweet and sour, giving balance to our cocktails."
The spring syrup - made with raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, lemon peels, thyme, basil, white pepper, citric acid, gum arabic and cane sugar - is highlighted in Beast + Barrel's new spring sangria. The bar crafts four seasonal sangrias a year, and this new version combines the tartness of fresh berries with strong floral and herbal notes. Nascimento describes it as "very bright, fruity, with a great sourness, similar to biting into a fresh raspberry."
Another cocktail at Beast + Barrel with culinary roots is the Fig Manhattan, topped with fig foam made by adding compressed nitrogen to egg whites and gomme syrup, creating an airy texture that's much lighter than a whipped cream. Inspired by a take on the classic cocktail made famous by Austin, Texas' Peche, where Nascimento tended bar early in his career, Beast + Barrel's Fig Manhattan is made with Afrohead Aged Rum instead of the traditional rye whiskey. "From a rum standpoint, Afrohead provides a great balance of molasses, with enough oak to trick the palate into thinking, 'Ah, whiskey,'" he says. Cynar, an artichoke amaro, helps to balance the sweetness of the foam with the booziness of the rum.
Spring Sangria
What you need:
» 1 Fresh berries and thyme, for garnish
» 1/2 ounce Cruzan White Rum
» 1/2 ounce Pierre Ferrand Dry Orange Curaçao
» 1/2 ounce spring gomme syrup
» Spring gomme syrup
» 1/2 ounce fresh squeezed grapefruit juice
» 2 dashes of B+B orange bitters
» Top with Cielo Rosé wine.
What you do:
In a large goblet, combine all ingredients and stir. Top with a "berry salad" and sprig of thyme.
Fig Manhattan
What you need:
» 1 1/2 ounces Afrohead Aged Dark Rum
» 1/2 ounce Dolin Rouge Vermouth
» 1/4 ounce Cynar Amaro
» B+B fig foam
» 7 ounces fig gomme syrup (dried figs, cinnamon, black pepper, demerara sugar and gum arabic)
» 7 ounces egg whites
» Combine all ingredients in an iSi Creamer and charge with nitrogen.
What you do:
In a mixing glass, combine first three ingredients and top with ice. Stir until well chilled and strain into a chilled coupe. Top with B+B fig foam.