Behind the Bar

BEHIND THE BAR: GARNISHES Let’s talk GARNISHES

Over-the-top garnishes are trending.

A focus on what goes on top— rather than in— your cocktails.

BY ASHLEY BRAY

The saying goes that you eat and drink with your eyes first, and that’s just one reason why the right garnishes are so important when crafting a cocktail.

“I think it completely dresses up any cocktail and just makes it a lot more attractive,” says Mark Traaseth, national sales manager at Stone Gate Foods, which makes Tater Kegs. “People like to look at a drink and see the elegance of it.”

Kevin O’Brien, president/owner of Frescolive—a maker of fresh, ready-toserve olives for garnishing—sees garnishes as playing a supporting role. “The garnish is the character actor to a cocktail. It has to be subtle, yet add to the leading booze in the cocktail,” he says. “Taste and color are all very important characters of a supporting role in all cocktails.”

Katherine Foley, brand manager at Infinium Spirits, a family-owned spirits company including brands like Seagram’s Vodka, believes garnishes can add both taste and color to a cocktail. “As the final touch and usually the last step in the method of crafting a cocktail, a garnish plays two roles: adding color and a decorative visual to the drink, as well as enhancing flavor,” she says. “That said, the importance of

a garnish is to evolve the look of the drink and make it more visually appealing to the consumer by adding a premium and craft-like element. Additionally, depending on the type of garnish, the flavor it adds to the cocktail can enhance and complement the recipe’s other ingredients. A garnish can also simply add flavor to more standard cocktails such as vodka sodas.”

Foley says wedges of fruit are the most common garnish, like lime, lemon, or orange wheels. “The added citrus from the lime/lemon can help balance out sweeter notes or bitter notes in the case of a vodka tonic,” she says. “It can also add more flavor to more straightforward cocktails, such as vodka sodas, as mentioned prior.”

Aside from citrus wedges and wheels, Foley says not to discount the power of mint. “I will always recommend mint as the best garnish for a variety of cocktails,” she says. “I even started adding mint to my margaritas and lemon drop martinis! For most standard vodka cocktails, mint can add a new spin of flavor to a recipe that doesn’t normally include it but adds a cool and refreshing taste that becomes present in the drink.”

While fruit wedges and mint leaves represent the simpler end of the spectrum, what’s been trending lately has been a move toward over-the-top garnish options.

“People seem to respond well to new and innovative ways of enjoying a classic cocktail,” says Foley. “Over-thetop garnishes can bring new elements to life in these fixtures. There is even more experimentation with crafting cocktails with new spirit categories, such as a tequila Old Fashioned versus the classic whiskey spirit. This reflects in standard cocktails as well, such as the classic Bloody Mary. We have created several signature Bloody Mary recipes for our Seagram’s Vodka that have different sets of overthe-top garnishes, each adding different types of flavor components to the drink—whether it’s heaps of meats to add more substance, maple butter to add more sweetness, or even green-based vegetable garnishes to make it more herbal.”

Traaseth views the over-the-top trend as a way for establishments to set themselves apart. He also says there are good margins to be made by charging more for these extravagant cocktails. “You can look at the margins that you can make on a cocktail by dressing it up. I have actually paid $30 for a Bloody Mary before. It was called The Tacklebox, and it had a little bit of everything on there—you had a meal in itself,” he says. “Really, the cost of it would have been more if I had appetizers and a drink.”

In fact, when it comes to choosing garnish ingredients, Traaseth says it can be beneficial to use items that are

The Overachiever Bloody Mary

2 oz Seagram’s 100 Proof Vodka 1½ oz Tomato Juice ½ oz Lemon Juice 4 dashes Worcestershire sauce Garlic salt 1 tsp Carolina style BBQ sauce ½ oz Beef broth Cracked black pepper

Rim the highball glass with garlic salt and smoked paprika. Combine ingredients into rimmed glass over ice, stir. Garnish with skewered linguica sausage, torched peppers, cocktail onion and olive, and pickled veggies.

Basically Vitamins Bloody Mary

2 oz Seagram’s 100 Proof Vodka ½ oz Puréed spinach ½ oz Green tomato juice ½ oz Carrot juice ½ oz Lemon juice ½ oz Aloe vera juice ½ tsp Minced garlic

Rim highball glass with celery salt and fill with ice. Combine ingredients in glass over ice and stir. Garnish with a celery stalk, sliced carrot, parsley, cucumber, lemon rounds, and edible flower.

Above recipes courtesy of Infinium Spirits.

Frescolive offers a sanitary alternative to serving cocktail olives.

Bu alo Chicken Tater Keg Bloody Mary

Buffalo Chicken Tater Kegs Bloody Mary mix Vodka Other garnishes

Heat oil to 350F. Fry Tater Kegs until golden and internal temperature is 160F. Mix Bloody Mary mix with vodka. Use a skewer to add Tater Kegs and other garnishes.

on your appetizer menu so that it offers guests the option to order a full appetizer if they like the sampling on their cocktail. He says Tater Kegs, which are jumbo stuffed tater tots available in a variety of flavors, are especially well suited to this tactic.

Traaseth says Tater Kegs work great as garnishes on a Bloody Mary. “They give you the sense of being more satisfied when you do have a Bloody Mary. Ours have the seasoning in it that really adds to the cocktail,” he says. “We have the Buffalo Chicken Tater Keg that works really good on top of a Bloody Mary. And the other one that works really well with it is our Crab Feast so you get the seafood in with it. You can put one or two of these on top of a Bloody Mary, and you can get an extra couple bucks for your cocktail.”

He also recommends pairing them with smoky cocktails, “Our Chorizo Burrito Tater Keg goes really well with an old fashioned or a smoky old fashioned.”

This Basically Vitamins Bloody Mary takes a standard green smoothie lineup and adds Seagram’s 100 Proof Vodka.

BEVERAGEWARE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

Never Cracks – Never Chips – Never Shatters

wonkyware.com | (715) 246-7979 info@wonkyware.com

While garnishes work well on cocktails for guests dining in (or outside), COVID-19 has led to a whole new to-go cocktail market for many bars and restaurants. Foley says while garnishes may not be able to play a role in the presentation of to-go cocktails, they can still be included when packaging up a drink. “They do have a place in takeout drinks. Some will slice up the garnishes and tie up a couple of pieces in a small baggy that comes with the drink on the side,” says Foley. “For example, many Mexican restaurants will do this for margaritas and incorporate a couple of lime wedges in a bag or small container.”

COVID-19 has also necessitated a sharper focus on cleanliness and sanitation, and the handling of garnishes is something bars should be considering. First and foremost, hand washing is a must before handling. “I would recommend, of course, washing your hands thoroughly before handling the garnishes,” says Foley. “For fruit, I always thoroughly rinse it under water before cutting.”

Aside from this, the general rule is the less handling the better. “The nice part about a Tater Keg is it goes right from your freezer to your fryer to your cocktail or to your plate. So there’s not a lot of handling with the product at all,” says Traaseth. “You can have it cooked, you can have it sitting in a warmer, and be able to take it right out and put it right on the cocktail without a lot of touching.”

Even before the pandemic, O’Brien had cleanliness on his mind when he created Frescolive as a sanitary alternative to digging olives out of a jar. “We package our olives in a food incubator to ensure all health department regulations are met. The unit is hermetically sealed to ensure the sanitation practice used during packing will last until the time you unseal it to be used,” he says. “Once unsealed, the olives sit in pods in their brine already skewered. The bartenders/servers grab the top of the skewers and attach it to the side of the drink—a totally hygienic way of serving.”

In addition to a more sanitary process, Frescolive also cuts down on waste and dried-up olives as well as enables servers to add olives to a cocktail much more quickly.

STANDARD POURER

PURE POURER

You’re using pour spouts, why not use the one that’s best for your business?

Decades of experience running bars provided foundational knowledge that the “old school” pour spout was many things, few of them good. It is illfitting, attracts bugs, rusts, and LEAKS. We knew there had to be a better, more efficient way to get booze from the bottle to the glass, without filling up the bar mat with your profit. With this knowledge, we created The Pure Pour. A clean, elegant solution to a simple problem. Manufactured right here in the US!

• Increases Profit • Will not rust • Dishwasher Safe • Lasts 3x Longer • Dramatiaclly Cuts Spillage • Functions as a grip • Includes Bug Cover • Holds weight of bottle • Protects bottle from breakage • FDA approved Food Grade Material • No Nickel Poisoning • Low Profile • Won’t injure your Bartender • Never Leaks