Easy Ways to Update Your Cocktail Menu

Creating a well-balanced, exciting cocktail menu takes time and the occasional adjustment. Keeping things fresh and exciting for your regulars can keep them coming back, and it’s a great way to attract new customers to your bar. Staying aware of changing trends in bars can help you keep your offerings feeling modern while staying true to your brand. If you’re looking for a few easy updates, try incorporating the suggestions below into your drink menu.

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Create Savory Culinary Cocktails

Culinary Cocktails

Taking the savory route allows mixologists to balance flavors similar to how a chef creates a plate of food. While this isn’t necessarily a new concept (think of a spicy bloody mary and salt-rimmed margarita), bartenders are finding new and creative ways to play with savory flavors. Cocktails featuring vegetable juices, like carrot or beet, not only look great, but they can add unique flavor elements to your menu. You’ll even see cocktails that incorporate ingredients like roasted red peppers or spicy jalapenos.

What Is Fat-Washing?

Fat-washing is the process of using a fat such as butter, duck fat, or oil to infuse savory flavors into a cocktail. To fat-wash, mix a liquid fat (such as melted butter) into your spirit of choice. Allow the mixture to sit out at room temperature for several hours before chilling in the refrigerator. Once the fat solidifies, skim it off the top of the drink. The spirit is now infused with the fat flavoring.

Here are a few savory cocktails to get you started:

  • Bullshot: vodka, beef bouillon or broth, Worcestshire sauce
  • Rosemary Salty Dog: gin, grapefruit juice, rosemary syrup
  • Thyme Lemonade: gin, fresh thyme, lemon juice, sugar

Cocktail and Food Pairings

Similar to the idea of wine pairings, cocktail pairings provide limitless options because of their diverse nature. Here are a few food pairing ideas for classic cocktails:

  • Margarita: ceviche, jerk chicken, samosas, or pulled pork
  • Gin and Tonic: smoked salmon, charcuterie board, curry, or fish and chips
  • Martini: shrimp cocktail, hummus and chips, grilled fish, or stuffed mushrooms
  • Mimosa: scrambled eggs, risotto, lobster, or bagel and lox
  • Old Fashioned: bacon-wrapped dates, pork chops, spiced and roasted pecans, or duck confit

Grow Your Own Ingredients

Creating a hyperlocal source for your ingredients is an on-trend way to appeal to your environmentally or health-conscious consumers. Growing your own fruits, herbs, and vegetables is cost-effective and allows you to gain total control over the handling of your produce.

If it’s feasible for your bar or restaurant, consider maintaining a small garden plot either on your property or somewhere local. You can even try breeding your plants to yield unique flavor qualities or preserve heirloom integrity. And while it may not be viable to grow enough produce to cover the needs of your entire food menu, the small quantities required for cocktails makes the endeavor a lot more manageable.

Incorporate Tea into Cocktails

Tea Cocktails

From earl gray to chamomile, teas are trickling into our cocktails with their warm, aromatic flavors. Hot or cold, tea pairs well with a variety of different liquors, and the subtle flavors won’t overpower the nuances of top shelf selections. As with many cocktail trends, tea is not a new ingredient for mixologists. In fact, most old school party punch recipes include tea as a major component. But while the old classics can serve as a nod to the past, you may also see more modern interpretations popping up on menus around you.

Here are a few tea-infused cocktails to get you started:

  • Black Tea Rum Punch: white rum, loose black tea, pineapple juice, apricot liqueur, simple syrup, lime and lemon juice, bitters
  • Green Tea Mojito: white rum, lime juice, sugar, brewed and chilled green tea, mint
  • Chamomile Tequila Sour: tequila, chamomile simple syrup, lime

Medicinal and Herbal Cocktails

Using apothecary-inspired ingredients isn’t a new concept, but rather a modern interpretation of an old belief. That’s because many believe that cocktails first got their start as mixtures intended to treat ailments.

Tonic water and bitters are two extremely common cocktail ingredients, and they both found their beginnings in medicine. The juniper flavor of gin likely wound up there because juniper was traditionally used to treat a wide array of health problems. It's the same story with Fernet and Sambuca, which both originated as digestifs and are still believed to play some role in aiding digestion after meals

While the herbal remedies that find their way into today’s cocktails are more for flavor than anything else, the folkloric quality of the ingredients contributes to the mood of the drink and tone of the overall experience. There’s any number of reasons for the resurgence of interest in medicinal cocktails including the uprising of health drinks like kombucha or the desire to incorporate unconventional ingredients into culinary cocktails.

Here are a few common medicinal cocktails:

  • Hot Toddy: bourbon, honey, lemon juice, hot water
  • Bees Knees: gin, lemon juice, honey
  • Hot Buttered Rum: spiced rum, brown sugar, butter, honey, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, hot water

While drinking alcohol isn’t necessarily healthy, indulging in the occasional artisanal cocktail can be good for the soul. A focus on high-quality ingredients, new flavor combinations, and a touch of herbal remedy can help boost profits from your drink menu. Offering unique cocktails that can’t be found anywhere else can be a big draw for your establishment. So, while you may want to keep some of the old classics, embracing some new approaches to the way you develop your cocktails can provide guests with an exciting experience.

Posted in: Bars & Breweries|By Jessica Wieser
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Jiggers A jigger is a measurement tool that helps bartenders obtain equal shots of liquor for their drinks. The pros and cons of measuring liquor with a jigger are as follows: Ensures consistency - Your drinks will come out the same every time. Cuts costs - By guaranteeing how much liquor is going into each drink, jiggers can reduce revenue loss. Takes longer - Measuring liquor in a jigger is more time-consuming than other pouring methods. 2. Free Pouring Free pouring is the art of pouring liquor and counting down to gauge the correct amount. The pros and cons of free pouring are as follows: Saves time - It is much faster to free pour liquor than to measure it in a jigger. The ability to serve more drinks may increase your bar’s profit margins and the number of tips you’ll earn. Multi-tasking - Because free pouring only requires one hand, you can use your free hand to prepare other drinks. Visually enticing - Free pouring adds an element of showmanship to the drink-making process. Can yield flavor inconsistencies - Free pouring liquor can produce inconsistent amounts of alcohol, throwing off the flavor of drinks. Can lead to revenue loss - It’s easy to overpour liquor when you don’t use a formal measurement system, leading to lost revenue. 3. Measured Pourers Measured liquor pourers are designed to accurately dispense certain pour increments, making it easy for bartenders to quickly serve precise amounts of liquor. The pros and cons of measuring liquor with a measured pourer are as follows. Liquor inventory management - Controls how much liquor goes into each drink and prevents heavy-handed liquor pours. Flavor control - Ensures your cocktails offer the same delicious flavor every time they’re ordered. Must purchase multiple - Because measured pourers deliver preset amounts of liquor, you’ll require multiple and will have to switch them out to accommodate different drink orders. 4. Precision Pour Bottle Rack Systems Precision pour bottle rack systems provide quick, accurate results for measuring liquor. You install your liquor bottle to the pourer head, and then mount the entire unit upside down. This allows your liquor to flow freely when you dispense it by pressing the rim of your glass against the bottom of the head. Like measured pourers, precision pour rack systems dispense preset amounts of liquor. The pros and cons of measuring liquor with precision pour rack systems are as follows: Accurate - Ensures the right amount of liquor is dispensed every time. Fast - Eliminates the extra step of measuring liquor. Multi-Bottle Units Available - Many precision pour bottle rack systems allow you to load multiple liquor bottles into the same unit for convenience. May slow bartenders down - If you have to wait for another bartender to finish using the station to access the bottle you need, it will slow your drink-making process. Less visually stimulating - For craft cocktail bars, doling out liquor from an upside-down pourer is less exciting for customers to watch than a bartender measuring or counting out their drink. Back to Top Liquor Pouring FAQ Get answers to the most common questions about pouring liquor below. What Is the Standard Pour in a Single Mixer Cocktail? The standard pour for single mixer cocktails is 1 1/2 fl. oz. of liquor. How Many Counts Is a Shot? A 3-count liquor pour equals one shot. Each count delivers 1/2 a fl. oz., so it takes 3 counts to create the standard 1 1/2 fl. oz. shot. How Many Counts for Neat/on the Rocks Drinks? A 4-count pour is standard for liquor served neat/on the rocks with no mixers. You’ll want to give patrons who order a fine whiskey a generous 2 fl. oz. pour. How Many Tablespoons in a Shot? There are three tablespoons in a shot. How Many Teaspoons Are in a Shot Glass? There are nine teaspoons in a shot. How Many Shots in a Cup? There are 8 shots in a cup. 8 fl. oz. is a standard volume cup, and a standard shot varies between 1 and 1 1/2 fl. oz. How Many Seconds Is a 2 Oz. Pour? It takes 4 seconds to pour 2 fl. oz. of alcohol. You can gauge seconds passing by counting them out. How Many Seconds Is a 1 Oz. Pour? It takes 2 seconds to pour 1 fl. oz. of liquor. Back to Top How to Free Pour Liquor To free pour, bartenders top liquor bottles with speed pourers. Also known as pour spouts, speed pourers regulate how much air goes into the bottle they’re placed into which facilitates a steady stream of liquor. With a speed pourer on hand, use the following steps to free pour liquor: Place the speed pourer on the bottle. Consider which hand you’ll be pouring with and face the speed pourer’s spout towards the cup. Hold the liquor bottle by its neck. This provides greater control over the bottle. It also prevents heat transfer from your hand to the alcohol. Turn the bottle upside down. Keeping the bottle straight and holding it upside down ensures an even stream of liquor, so you can keep an accurate count while you pour. Count out your pour. Each count should equal 1/2 a fl. oz. of liquor. Count each pour with “one one-thousand". Cut the liquor. Flip your wrist to turn the liquor bottle right side up and stop the liquor from pouring. If you gradually turn the bottle, liquor will continue to pour after you’ve stopped counting. An alternate way to cut liquor: Once you’re ready to stop the liquor flow, jerk the bottle to cut it off before turning. This method increases speed so you can pour more drinks. How to Free Pour without a Stopper While many newly hired bartenders wish they could free pour without a stopper/speed pourer, it is impossible to dispense accurate amounts of alcohol without a pourer spout. You must purchase a speed pourer if you want to count liquor measurements without a jigger. How to Count Liquor To get comfortable counting liquor, practice free pouring into a jigger and counting while you do it. This will give you confidence in how quickly you should be counting. The classic “one one-thousand" is a good way to count liquor, but you must practice your pacing to perfect your free pour. Once you feel confident in your counting cadence, follow these steps to practice counting liquor: Free pour four counts of liquor into your cup, and then cut the liquor. Test your accuracy by pouring the cup’s contents into your jigger. If it reaches the 2 fl. oz. line on the jigger, congratulations, you have mastered free pouring. If the liquor comes under or above the 2 fl. oz. line, continue practicing your counts. How to Count Ounces When Pouring The best way to count fl. oz.'s when pouring alcohol is to say “one one-thousand" for each pour count. Your cadence should allow for a 1/2 fl. oz. of liquor to dispense per each "one one-thousand". Perfecting how fast you count requires practice. Pour Counts for Bartending When calculating pour counts for bartending, keep in mind that each count should equal 1/2 a fl. oz. of liquor. We provide a cheat sheet that breaks down how high you should count to pour popular quantities of liquor below. 1 count pour = 1/2 fl. oz. 2 count pour = 1 fl. oz. 3 count pour = 1 1/2 fl. oz. 4 count pour = 2 fl. oz. 5 count pour = 2 1/2 fl. oz. 6 count pour = 3 fl. oz. 7 count pour = 3 1/2 fl. oz. 8 count pour = 4 fl. oz. Back to Top If you're deciding between getting experience or going to bartender school, practicing measuring and pouring liquor will help prepare you for either environment. Reference back to our liquor pouring guide the next time you want to create the perfect distilled drink.

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