From the excitement of experiencing a new cocktail concoction to hitting a cocktail tap, bars in India are stirring up a storm. Here are the key trends that have been keeping the mixologists and bartenders on their toes.
By Vidhi Puri
With the bustling bar culture in India, especially the metropolitan cities, people not only visit bars on a weekend but even during the weekdays. It has only been a year or two, that the profession of ‘bartending’ is seen as something more than the usual; no longer do we expect a bartender to showcase his flair skills, instead we expect different concoctions from him.
The emergence of concept bars and approval of it by the millennials has become quite a popular story now. According to a recently survey, Instagram’s newest category of star is the chef. Undoubtedly, with all the menu updates, collaborations and pop-ups, chefs have become the trendsetters. But 2019 is the stepping stone for the bartenders as India is witnessing a massive bar takeovers all around the country, brand ambassadors are launching exciting campaigns and mixologists are creating some amazing bar menus in consideration to the aspect of ‘experimentation’.
The cinema is definitely to be blamed for introducing us to Whiskey Sours, Daiquiris and Cosmopolitans of the world, but it’s time to pause and observe that the age of classics is coming to an end, paving a way for unique cocktail experiences.
People here in India, now travel a lot, have greater knowledge about the various varieties of drinks and are more informed, hence the market for drinks is increasing as the beverage industry is evolving. 2019 is witnessing some shocking and unusual bartending trends; no bar and mixologist is leaving any stone unturned to put the Indian mixology on the global map.
Bartenders, the new Storyteller
Every bartender is coming up with out-of the-box concepts, now focusing on a story and associating it with the theme of the bar to develop a cocktail menu. The most loved Goan restaurant bar in Mumbai, O Pedro recently changed their bar menu to an exciting cocktail book based on the theme of ‘Sea creatures’. Rahul Raghav, the Head Mixologist says “a cocktail book in a fun way is more experiential for the guests and has high possibilities to become a trendsetter.”
Rahul has taken inspiration from the sea shore to showcase the menu in a fun way, narrating a simple story to the consumer for further engagement. “The portrayal of the menu is rather exciting with our imaginary friend ‘Pedro’ (so Portugal!), who went on a voyage under the sea and found a whole new world of sea creatures. With plenty of mystical creatures and some wonders of our wonderful waters, Pedro decided to celebrate what he saw and the ‘Susegad’ spirit of the beach in the true Goan sense.” Labelled as “DRINK LIKE A FISH & OTHER SEA-CREATURES” it is a toast to the spirited sea creatures, the Goan Way including some exciting creations such as Flying Fizz, Mr. Fenny Tastic and a lot more!
Going Local
There is a definite emphasis on using local ingredients. The influence of ‘Made in India’ and ‘buy local’ is quite visible in the Indian bar industry. There was a time when bar menus consisted at least one ‘elderflower’ concoction, a foreign ingredient used in abundance in India but a major shift in its usage has been observed during the recent bar hopping excursions of The Cocktail Story. Mixologists are now experimenting with ingredients like Seabuckthorn, curry leaf, kokum and turmeric. The biggest example is Chef Sujan’s one-of-a-kind gastro bar, Baar Baar, sourcing seabuckthorn especially from Ladakh for its bestseller cocktail ‘Leh Berry’.
Unusual Ingredients
Who knew chorizo, perennial grains, or even something as common as coconut could make their way into a cocktail? Beyond these bizarre ingredients, bartenders are further working with vegetable cocktails using spinach, beetroot and even an entire bell-pepper! Yes, Byg Brewski in Bengaluru has ‘The Root to leaf’ concept well-defined in their menu under which they serve a cocktail ‘Valkyrie’ which uses and entire bell pepper in the drink. The flesh is infused in the vodka for 24 hours and then the same flesh is paired with the seeds which also go into the drink.
Focus on Sustainability
Sustainability has long been a global issue, so it’s natural that food and beverage businesses are actively looking to reduce bar waste. Aside from considering sustainability during the design process for new drinks, many bartenders have come up with different ways to use their resources more wisely, such as incorporating more edible garnishes, creating single ingredient concoctions, and portioning fewer ingredients in multiple items. The perfect example for sustainable cocktail is ‘Coconut Wine’, a unique concoction at Thirsty City 127 in Mumbai created by Santosh Kukreti using different parts of coconut and also served in the coconut itself.
Everything In-House
India still doesn’t have access to major liquor, beverage or bitter brands as are available in other countries due to various legal and excise reasons. Mixologists in India have no other option than to create their in-house supplies, which surprisingly has become quite a popular trend within the community. Bartenders are creating their own homemade syrups using local ingredients, making bitters and even infusions. Almost in every restaurant bar you can spot infusions, which have become as basic as stocking up liquor in a bar. Infusions are an easy DIY kind of an option for the audience wherein they have to choose infused spirit base and pair it with flavors ranging from sweet herbs to spices.
Health is Wealth
Surprisingly, bartenders care for your health too! As wellness is the new religion of millennials, Indian bartenders are adopting new techniques and methods to make drinks as healthy as possible. There is more use of natural ingredients and vegetables, the addition of sugar syrups and artificial sweeteners is very rare and even the rise of low ABV cocktails concludes that bartenders are playing a bigger part in our lives than just being our therapists.
Latest Techniques
Mixologists are known to be no less than scientists, and bars being their laboratory. Internet being a major support for experimentation, no bartender is swaying away from creating something new and interesting for the audience.
Sous Vide
From the basic shake to make cocktails, we have restaurant bars like Comorin in Gurugram creating cocktails through ‘sous vide’, which is a cooking technique generally used in kitchen as it is an easy, affordable method and it captures the flavors of fresh fruits and herbs in their most natural form. Varun Sharma, the Head Mixologist of Comorin used the sous vide technique to provide an experience to his consumers by ‘cooking’ such cocktails right in front of them. He also describes the technique to have reduced the time of the liquid infusions possessing a fresh and strong flavour from a week to just 20 minutes. Comorin create such cocktails with the spirit base of vodka, gin and rum using some interesting flavours like Juniper & Khus, rose and hibiscus.
Pre Batch Cocktails
This is the perfect solution for all the busy bars and impatient people! The trend of pre batching cocktails is scaling up abroad and in India bartenders are now seeing this as the future. The popularity of pre-batching cocktails speaks to the increasing need for the speedy service, precise measurements and perfect temperatures while serving. The Brand Ambassador of Monkey Shoulder India, Pankaj Balachandran has popularized “lazy old fashioned” (pre-batched cocktail) in the entire Indian bar industry. While in Kolkata, the famous bar consultant, Shishir Rane who is known for the creation of Social’s most loved LIIT’s, has launched the first ever concept of ‘Taptails’ in India which is basically ‘cocktails on tap’. The newly launched bar, Episode in Kolkata has a ‘tap room’ with a bespoke cocktail tank of a 200 litres capacity where they stock their cocktails and serve it directly through the tap.
Despite all these trends cropping up, the Indian bars still need to uncover a lot of possibilities that are available. Mixology has a huge scope and with the beginning of craft mixology and bartenders pushing their limits, soon we will have Indian mixology on the global map.
(The author Vidhi Puri is the Founder of TheCocktailStory which is India’s first ever virtual space. It started as an Instagram blog to now have expanded as a community, and an exclusive experience curator for alcohol enthusiasts.)
