Sweet, Spice And All Things Nice: 5 Ways To Master The Art Of Making Spicy Cocktails
Making spicy cocktails is more than just adding a dash of chilli powder as a garnish to a gin and tonic variation or infusing chopped chillies into a mojito mix. Spicy cocktails are actually highly layered blends. They are also aromatic, deeply flavoured and quite complex, especially when crafted with careful attention to flavour balance.
From the tasting notes of robust chillies to the subtle spice of peppers and ginger, spicy ingredients bring a lot of full-bodied flavour into cocktails. However, balancing this very spiciness that has the potential to transform a drink into extraordinary blends can be slightly tricky. There is an art to making spicy drinks, without this flavour becoming a cumbersome element in the cocktail.
Read on below to know more about some of how the spicy flavours in such cocktails can be balanced, without their pronounced notes overwhelming the palate:
Balance Spice With Sour Or Citrus
One of the best tips to master the art of making spicy cocktails is balancing spicy ingredients with sour flavours. The acidity and tang in lime juice, orange pulp and fresh yuzu juice can cut through the slightly deeper flavours of spices like muddled jalapeños or red chilli powder added to cocktails like a spiced margarita. Adding a spice alone can lead to the making of too sharp or overpowering blends, with a single flavour becoming much too pronounced. The tanginess of citrus not only balances these spicy components out, but also introduces another flavour into the cocktail, building on its complexity.
Choosing Between Fresh And Dried Spices
This is a crucial tip while getting innovative at the bar. Fresh herbs and spices bring bright flavours into cocktails, and dried or ground spices are responsible for adding more depth to blends. Ginger root slices, cracked peppercorns added to a classic gin and tonic makes for a lighter tasting experience, laced with fresh spice. On the other hand, adding star anise, smoked paprika or allspice to whisky-forward drinks like sours or Old Fashioned variations can build more robust flavours into these blends. These spicy tastes can be balanced out with the other ingredients in a cocktail when fresh and dried spices are chosen wisely.
Also Read: Make Swicy Blends With These 5 Sweet And Spicy Recipes
Syrup Or Spirit Infusions
Another way to avoid the spicy flavours in a cocktail from becoming too overpowering is infusing them into blends through syrups or spirit infusions. With this, drinks will be laced with spicy notes in a more toned-down manner. The more robust notes of the spices will be softened when they are used as infusion ingredients, creating more complexity in cocktails. Go for vodka with red chilli flakes or a spiced honey syrup with cinnamon and ginger to prepare infusions that shine bright with spicy yet well-balanced ingredient combinations.
Experiment With Spices
While the common conception might be that chillies and peppers alone lend drinks a spicy touch, there are other options out there which are more conducive additions to certain cocktails. Think pink peppercorns or cloves as interesting aromatics that build a spicy flavour in drinks, beyond the classic salt and chilli rim. Pink peppercorn gin smash with honey and rosemary or a Sichuan pepper vodka tonic with cucumber, can be some options which go beyond chillies to introduce spicy flavours in a balanced manner in drinks.
Layer, Muddle And Adjust
And what remains the golden rule in mixology to master balanced blending is to allow flavours to release themselves gradually into drinks. The best way to arrive at the perfect spicy, tangy and sweet balance is to muddle spicy ingredients. Muddling releases oils and spices slowly, so taste as you go along, adjust the spiciness by deseeding chillies before adding them to cocktails, and balance flavours out with sweet or sour additions. Start mild and build the layers of spice as you go along for a smoother flavour impression.
Drink Responsibly. This communication is for audiences above the age of 25.
