The Garnish Revolution: What’s On Top Of A Cocktail Has Never Mattered More
Long gone are the days when garnishing was the finishing touch, the final flourish added to highballs, spritzers and sour cocktails. In a garnish-first movement, Indian bartenders are actually bringing about a transformative shift within mixology by conceptualising drinks that actually revolve around creative garnishes meant to finish them off. From microgreens to dehydrated fruits to even edible flowers, cocktail cultures are witnessing a gradual garnish revolution that lends these elements the central role in blending drinks.
In fact, garnishes are no longer simply about making cocktails look pretty. Along with adding an aesthetic touch to blends, they also act as a bridge between this visual embellishment and layered cocktail flavours, leading to the creation of rather imaginative, dramatic yet thoroughly balanced blends.
Here’s more on how Indian bartenders are actually leading this garnish-first movement as they experiment with drinks wherein garnishes are more than just a flavourful afterthought:
The Visual Hook
In a paradigm-shift, garnishes in Indian bars are now one of the central elements in planning craft cocktails. They are the visual hook, the element that will make a patron look at a stunning drink across the table from their own and ask the bartender what it was. Cutting-edge Indian bars have turned garnishes into the anchor of a drink such that smoked cloches, mint sprigs and dehydrated lemon wedges often become the core ingredients which set the overall tone of what the drink ought to look like.
Local Ingredients As Sculptural Statements
For Indian bartenders, the garnish-led cocktail movement has meant turning to local ingredients for incorporating them as eclectic, one-of-a-kind, regional flairs in cocktail craft. Local, seasonal elements like brined raw mango curls, sun-dried hibiscus wings, candied tulsi leaves and even carved citrus peels have become sculptural statements that stand out atop drinks. These adornments tell stories of the terroir and tradition of a region and ultimately influence the interplay of other ingredients that go into the making of the cocktail – reimagined for the modern palate.
Garnishes As Flavour Accents
For contemporary Indian cocktail craft, flavour matters most, as a vibrant GenZ attempts to zero down on the tasting experience of a blend. Garnishes have never mattered more, in this space, where every element of the cocktail must have a flavourful role to play. While a citrus slice or an errant olive atop a classic cocktail did do a lot in terms of adding flavour into many mixes, Indian bartenders are taking this concept a step forward, in terms of the flavour potential of these adornments. Now, they are choosing more robustly flavoured elements like tangy kokum petals, fresh coriander foam, ice spheres dusted with coconut ash such that garnishes become pronounced flavour notes in cocktail blends.
Also Read: How Cocktail Garnish Elevates Cocktails – Key Tips & Variations To Know About
Flavour Meets Visual Drama
And one of the most significant features of this garnish revolution by Indian bartenders remains the bridging of the gap between flavour and visual drama. As mixologists experiment with aromatics like sandalwood smoke or fruity, colourful aesthetic ices, so too they use advanced mixology techniques to craft drinks that strike a balance between the visual and sensory appeal of the cocktail and the flavours these garnishes attempt to bring into blends. This means, it is now possible to craft complex, intricate mixes with pronounced flavours emanating out of garnishes, that are also complete with a distinct visual flair of their own.
Experience-led Cocktails
For the modern patron, experiential mixology remains a striking characteristic in cocktails. This is where garnishes in the form of floating rose ice cubes, smoked cloches that reveal edible flowers, butterfly pea flowers which change colour and sugar sculptures that melt into drinks become experiential elements – immersive experiences seeped in watching, tasting and revelling in Indian mixology drama.
Drink Responsibly. This communication is for audiences above the age of 25.
