Beyond The Martini Cocktail, Here’s Why Your Home Bar Needs A Pickle Jar
When it comes to using pickles in cocktail craft, one of the more inevitable options is the martini cocktail recipe. A signature dirty martini cocktail is prepared with the addition of olive brine to a mix of gin and dry vermouth, which lends this drink a pungent, acidic and slightly savoury quality. Evidently, even as adding pickles or pickle juice to cocktails or the process of pickling itself is hardly a new phenomenon, the ways in which fermented and acidic elements can be used in mixology is taking on quite a creative turn. Mixologists are experimenting with different kinds of fermented vegetables and peels whose pickle juice can be employed in creative ways to craft different cocktails.
For a home mixologist keen to reinvent their humble home bar with more creative recipes, a pickle jar can go a long way in making drinks that are beyond just the classic martini cocktail. Different fermented pickle juices can bring versatile flavour elements into cocktails, ranging from sweet to savoury to acidic, turning around the overall profile of these rather inventive mixes.
Pickle Jar As A Straightforward Option
Move over citrus peels and olives — a modern, dynamic step in mixology is turning the unassuming pickle jar on our kitchen shelves and in the fridge into a keen cocktail ingredient capable of blending interesting mixes. From kimchi-infused vodka to kombucha highballs, fermented ingredients can become the newest staples in cocktail craft, travelling from the kitchen to one’s home bar to redefine the contemporary cocktail experience.
The pickle jar can be used to craft several savoury, acidic and umami-forward blends, which means experimenting with straightforward, simple components like shrubs, brines and ferments to build more and more complexity into blends.
Pickle Brine: For Balance
The leftover liquid from gherkins or jalapeños is one of the ingredients that has several creative possibilities in mixology. A splash of pickle brine adds salt, tang and a subtle pungency into cocktails — a trifecta that balances and brightens the different notes of spirits like gin and vodka.
Cocktail To Try: A blend which can be prepared using pickle brine or simple pickle juice can be the pickle backed gin mix. Concoct this cocktail using a spoon of dill pickle brine, dry vermouth and a dash of pepper along with vodka. This is a stirred cocktail, so mix it gently in order for all the flavours to integrate well with each other. The saltiness brightens the spirit’s character, even as it softens the edges of the liquor by introducing a subtle savoury twist.
Also Read: How Using Indian Pickle Flavours Can Lift Up Desi Cocktail Recipes
Kimchi: Fermented Veggies As A Pickled Ingredient
Adding kimchi or any other fermented veggies like carrots or beets to cocktails has the potential to do more than just add a savoury, earthy touch into cocktails. When fermented using vinegar as the base, these ingredients can add tang, spice and an umami-rich quality into cocktail blends. Such an element has the ability to transform a simple cocktail into a more layered, acidic and pungent blend.
Cocktail To Try: A drink which can be prepared using kimchi is the kimchi-infused bloody mary. Use vodka as the base spirit to craft this drink coupled with tomato juice, kimchi brine, lemon and chilli. Ensure that the brine is strained to keep away any veggie residue which can become a textural snag. The cocktail will be a mix of tangy, acidic and umami flavours that bring depth and a complex character to cocktails.
Shrubs And Vinegar Cordials
An excellent souring addition to culinary sauces and dips, vinegar cordial is being reinvented as an indispensable cocktail ingredient which adds tart, sweet and acidic notes into blends. Such is the case with shrubs too, which are made by preserving fruit in vinegar, to make their sweet or tangy notes more pronounced.
Cocktail To Try: A pineapple and chilli shrub highball is a very creative alternative to experiment with at your home bar. Top the whisky off with soda and a splash of pineapple and chilli shrub to introduce a brightness into the drink which balances out the smoky or spicy element in the spirit.
Pickled Garnishes
A pro tip for preparing such pickle brine infused cocktails would be to use garnishes which bring a similar pungency and acidity into cocktails. Think pickled onions, fermented garlic or miso-rimmed glasses as ingredients which bring tangy, pungent and umami notes into blends.
Key Takeaways:
– Pickle brine is an inventive ingredient which is being used more and more by bartenders to make modern cocktails with savoury, umami and acidic twists.
– Apart from the classic martini cocktails, pickle brine opens up numerous possibilities for making creative drinks with layered savoury flavour depth.
– Ingredients such as gherkin or pickle juice, kimchi brine and even fruit shrubs or vinegar cordials could be some elements which add a pickled character to cocktail blends.
FAQs:
– Why are pickles being used increasingly in cocktail craft?
Pickles are travelling from the kitchen shelf to the home bar because of their ability to add versatile flavour elements into cocktails, ranging from sweet to savoury to acidic, which completely turn around the profiles of these mixes.
– Which are some of the cocktails that can be prepared using pickle juice or other fermented ingredients?
A pickle backed gin mix, a kimchi-infused bloody mary and a pineapple and chilli shrub highball are among some of the cocktails which can be blended using pickle juice or other fermented ingredients.
– How can cocktails be garnished using the pickled element?
Garnishing pickled cocktails using a pickled element further builds into their savoury and umami profile. Elements such as pickled onions and fermented garlic and adornments like miso rims on glasses can be among those which add a pickled flourish to cocktail garnishes.
All cocktails listed use 30 ml liquor measurements for single serves. Drink Responsibly. This communication is for audiences above the age of 25.
