Science Of Ginger’s Spice: How This Flavour Impacts Cocktails
Mixologists incorporate a number of different spices in cocktail recipes to imbue them with a flavour note that contrasts the sweet and acidic tastes of syrups and citruses. One such ingredient used in different spritzers, fizzy drinks, highballs and other cocktails is ginger.
This spice adds a lot of zing and juicy, sharp tastes into drinks and infuses them with bright flavours which rather make the cocktail stand out. Coupled with other savoury, citrus and sweet ingredients, drinks acquire a flavourful complexity when ginger shavings, syrups, candied ginger chunks or even ginger beer are incorporated into blends.
Contrasts Sweetness And Builds Spice
One of the more significant impacts that ginger’s flavour has on drinks is that it provides opposing spicy and sharp tastes that undercut some of the excessive sweetness coming from syrups and sweeteners. As well, ginger also compliments citrus ingredients like orange, lime or grapefruit juices so that its acidity integrates with similar sour tasting notes to create a synchronised flavour blend.
Additionally, ginger builds a lasting spiciness into drinks which in turn lends sharper and more pronounced flavours to a cocktail enabling it to reveal more depth. When such complex flavours mix with sweeter notes in the blend, they also bring forth tasting notes that become much more highlighted in the presence of a spicy contrast. For instance, when a honey flavoured ginger sour is crafted using 30 ml Johnnie Walker Black Label or any other premium whisky of choice, adding a spoonful of ginger honey syrup spotlights the sweet notes in the blend as a result of the contrasting spicy flavours.
Builds More Carbonation
Spicy flavours blended in fizzy drinks like the moscow mule topped with ginger beer have a role to play in retaining the carbonation of these blends. The compounds that give fresh ginger its spicy flavour also become that much more pronounced when they are mixed with a fizzy drink like sparkling water or ginger beer.
Adding ginger shavings to a classic moscow mule crafted using 30 ml Ciroc Ultra Premium Vodka or any other premium vodka of choice not only amplifies the spice’s flavours in the blend but also retain the carbonation in the fizzy drinks so the bubbles last for a longer duration. This mix of carbonation and spice also gives drinks a very crisp finish that retains fresh flavours in blends and gives them a textural layer that builds additional complexity.
Moreover, when ginger is infused in drinks containing smokier spirits such as mezcal, or more aged spirits, they further build on these smoky and caramelised flavours to craft cocktails like a ginger-infused classic dark and stormy made using 30 ml Captain Morgan Dark Rum or any other premium rum of choice.
Adds Mellowed Spicy Flavour To Warm Cocktails
Often, many warm drinks such as the famed masala chai are prepared with the addition of shaved ginger that is chopped up and infused in freshly brewed tea. The spiciness of ginger plays a crucial role in integrating it with the earthy notes in warm, non-alcoholic drinks like tea as well as alcoholic mixes such as hot toddy crafted using 30 ml quality brandy or 30 ml Johnnie Walker Black Label Whisky or any other premium whisky of choice.
Sharp flavours of ginger in warm cocktails interact with hot water or brews in such a way that their zing gets slightly toned down to release more caramelised and mellow flavours. Nonetheless, these tasting notes retain their spiciness to the extent that hot drinks acquire peppery tastes with the addition of ginger syrup, shaved ginger or even aged ginger infusions that are warmed up and added to blends.
Drink Responsibly. This communication is for audiences above the age of 25.
