Overview: A distinct shift toward savory and spicy flavor profiles is defining the current cocktail landscape, moving beyond traditional sweet mixes. Bartenders in New York and London are utilizing agave spirits like tequila and mezcal to create complex highballs and margaritas featuring ingredients such as tomatillo, soy sauce, and fresh chile.
The Full Story
Spicy drinks are currently experiencing a significant moment in mixology, evolving past standard spicy margs and bloody marys. Turner Greaves, bartender at New York’s Sip and Guzzle, notes that bartenders are becoming experimental to create the perfect combination with a kick. He describes his tequila highball, Doctor Green, as super-herbaceous and vegetal with a bitter edge. The drink incorporates tomatillo, green apple, shiso, and horseradish. Customers can customize the heat level using a spice dropper delivered with their serve.
In London, James Stevenson of Brutes of Mayfair cocktail bar observes a real movement toward savory cocktails. He notes that drinks were very sweet when he started out 20 years ago, whereas consumers’ tastes have shifted. His mezcal-based Bagheera is described as a turbo-spiced margarita. The preparation involves juicing rather than shaking the drink with fresh chile and coriander. A house-made tajin salt rim finishes the glass.
Alex Lyoness, bar manager at London’s FlipDog, creates a savory cocktail called Late Night that features an after-hours kebab and pickles vibe. The mix utilizes a white tequila and a Raicilla, which is an agave similar to mezcal. Soy sauce brings a deep flavor, while a homemade chile tincture spices things up. An onion and olive brine adds a dirty martini element, garnished with a bright pink pickled turnip.
Production & Profile
Technical execution varies by venue to achieve specific textural results. For the Doctor Green highball, juice is prepared from tomatillo and green apple, whisked with ascorbic powder and pectinase powder per liter until dissolved. The mixture rests for one to two hours until it splits into clear liquid and sediment layers. Carbonation occurs using a specialist drinks carbonator before combining with green tequila and Sauternes.
The Bagheera cocktail requires blending rather than shaking. A fresh syrup is made by combining simple sugar syrup, cilantro, Thai green chile, jalapeño chiles, ascorbic acid, green cardamom powder, and ginger. The drink is strained into a rocks glass over cracked ice and finished with Tajin salt on the rim.
The Late Night cocktail is stirred together with ice in a chilled martini glass. Ingredients include Tapatio blanco tequila, La Venenosa Costa Raicilla, Gonzalez Byass Tio Pepe Fino dry sherry, brine mix, and chile tincture. A pickled turnip garnish completes the presentation.
Brand & Industry History
The industry has witnessed a notable transition in flavor preferences over the last two decades. James Stevenson explains that drinks were very sweet when he started out 20 years ago, and now consumers’ tastes have shifted toward savory cocktails. Every drink on the menu that is more savory or has a pickled element or spice element tends to be the bestseller at Brutes of Mayfair.
What This Means
This trend highlights a natural kinship between agave spirits and spicy flavors. Stevenson explains that flavor profiles from agaves are fresher and more vegetal than other spirits, akin to chiles. Tequila pairs well with salt, making spice and savory flavors a natural fit. Beyond heat, bartenders like Lyoness focus on creating a mouthfeel using Sichuan peppercorns and the Timur berry for a cool, numbing quality.
Cooking ingredients such as ginger, garlic cloves, star anise, and fennel are recommended to add different elements of pepper and spice. Turner Greaves suggests adding these items to drinks to layer flavors like seasoning a steak or pork chop. The goal is to create multi-layered flavor profiles without overwhelming the palate.
Consumer Takeaway
For the drinker, this release offers customization and complex flavor profiles not found in standard mixes. Options include adding heat with a spice dropper or applying a spicy rim mixed with rock salt, coriander seed, black pepper, or cardamom powder. The focus remains on tasting, trying, and tweaking to find the right balance where the drink gives itches on the sides of the mouth but does not creep all the way down to the esophagus.
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