“Imagine being a painter,” says Bartender Bryan Bruce of the Overland Bar in Redlands, California, “and you are tasked with trying to paint a sunset but only given two colors. That painting won't be fully realized or enjoyed with only two colors. The painting would suck. The painter needs more colors!”
Bryce is talking specifically about how infused simple syrups elevate a cocktail. But the same could be said for any well made mixer whether it’s a syrup or a high-quality, commercially made tonic water.
One of Bruce’s painterly strokes is the green bell pepper syrup that he uses in his house-made ancho verde liqueur. The liqueur itself is a combination of blanco tequila, sotol, pineapple, jalapeño, cilantro, poblano, green bell pepper syrup, and lime. As used in Bruce’s Cactus Dance, the brightness of the green pepper syrup provides a vegetal counterpoint to the kick of the jalapeño and the warmth of the poblano.
While the green pepper simple syrup in Bruce’s liqueur is technically a mixer in and of itself, liqueur acts in a similar way, fleshing out a cocktail. Technically, all liqueurs are spirits, but they usually function as a modifier. Bruce uses liqueurs in almost every one of his cocktails, citing how they can bring a vibrancy to a drink that is missing an extra special something. “A small bar spoon of Menthe Pastille here, Crème De Peche there, and the final cocktail now sings with complexity,” he notes. “The other little thing that liqueurs can add, and lots of times gets overlooked, is viscosity. Next time you make a Tom Collins, slip a barspoon of Crème De Peche in there and see how it can heighten the overall complexity of your cocktail.”
Like Bruce, Joe Intiso, head bartender at Blue Hound in Phoenix, makes a liqueur in-house. His orange cordial, essentially a triple sec, pulls double duty. Originally, the reasoning was to find a way to curtail waste: “With all the oranges we peel every week for garnish, we wanted to find a way to utilize the spent oranges instead of simply tossing them in the garbage,” explains Intiso. Blending orange and lemon juices with vanilla, the mixture is balanced with citric acid and stabilized with a bit of xanthan gum, which also adds a textural element. Used in a margarita, the cordial brings depth, and, thanks to the xanthan, more body. Intiso’s team is currently workshopping a lemon cordial to repurpose the lemons used each week. He expects the lemon liqueur to find its way into the bar’s Corpse Reviver in the fall.
Longtime bartender and Speed Rack winner Yael Stormborn has spent four years working with event-planning company Stranger Than, known for its ability to source unique venues. During this time, she took on a role that encompassed bar, VIP, and front-of-house operations. Because the company focuses on large-scale events that serve thousands of people, drinks need to be produced á la minute with consistent, easy-to-use ingredients. Stranger Than Owner Tal Ohana approached her to collaborate on the creation of Strange Water, which has become a backbone for many of her current drinks.
As one of Yael’s go-to mixers, she frequently substitutes it when soda water is called for. She tweaked the traditional aperitivo spritz (amaro, prosecco, soda water) by adding the coconut note of the sparkling Strange Water. The still version features in her Princess Zora cocktail, a combination of blanco tequila, elderflower liqueur, Cocchi Americano, and hopped grapefruit bitters. And recently, she has been riffing on a Texas staple called Ranch Water, which combines tequila, lime, and soda. As with her spritz, the coconut water replaces the soda water, morphing it into a coconut Ranch Water.
The versatility and quality of Strange Water has been a delight for Yael, who says, “We did something sick here. It should be in hotels. It should be in every bartender’s arsenal.”
And, in fact, that has happened. What started as a “let’s-make-our-own” coconut water initiative has turned into a commercial product used in bars and sold on its own across the country. It’s one example of many that demonstrates how a commercial product can offer multiple benefits behind the bar, whether it’s a time saver or a guarantee of ingredient consistency.
While Intiso makes his cordial in-house, he recognizes that “both commercial and in-house mixers have a place behind the bar today, and bartenders know when to choose one over another. When it comes to things like tonic and sodas, there are plenty of great options out there that I don't think it's worth trying to make those ingredients in-house … it takes a lot of time, and I don't think the end result is going to be that much better that it's worth committing that time and money to something you can easily purchase.”
Today, with premium mixers available on many store shelves, consumers are starting to embrace premiumization. When they see such mixers on a menu, it signals a mark of quality. And, in turn, informed bar patrons have started to expect natural ingredients and flavors, as well as organic sweeteners, which are the calling cards of these mixers. Intiso’s go-to products are the Fever-Tree line: grapefruit soda in palomas; ginger beer in Moscow Mules; tonic water in gin and tonic. Numerous other brands exist as well from Q to Fentimans, and many of them, including Fever Tree, offer a diverse range of flavors. Tonic waters can range from elderflower to cucumber to lemon. Some brands are even creating flavored ginger beers.
For multiple reasons, basic, workhorse commercial mixers like tonic and ginger beer make sense. At the same time, the in-house products conceived by bartenders allow for experimentation, as well as a way to entice guests with unique flavors customized for the characteristics demanded by that bar’s specific cocktails. A house-made grenadine, orgeat, or falernum not only reflect the bartender’s individual palate, but set his or her drinks’ flavor profiles apart from the competition.
When a drink needs more nuance is when bartenders should and often do use their creativity. Whether it’s Bruce’s bell pepper syrup, Stormborn’s use of coconut water, or Intiso’s orange cordial, house-made ingredients are akin to a painter mixing his own paints. As Bruce reminds us, “We are now like the painter, creating extra colors for us to help paint a more dynamic sunset.” And, like the magic of a fiery sunset, a meticulously conceived cocktail is just as transformative.
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