Beverage

An Artichoke Negroni that combines the delicate flavor of baby artichokes with gin.

Bourbon that tastes like smoked cinnamon.

Maker’s Mark flavored with roasted black sesame seeds and sesame oil.

Imagination is the only limit when you’re creating infused cocktails — that, and the time it takes to develop the flavors. But there is a  way to heighten flavor and cut the time required from days to hours: a vacuum chamber sealer.

Juice and smoothie flavor trends come and go, but the immense popularity of both juice and smoothies continues — and the power players won’t be juice bars, but restaurants that have all-day foot traffic, predicts John Craven, founder and CEO of BevNet.  

Maybe this will be the year your business adds a juice or smoothie program. But in the battle of juicing vs. blending, who wins? Is one healthier than the other, and is one a smarter choice for operators?  

Let us tell you the legend of the Kahlua Colada: a source of endless fascination for us at Hamilton Beach Commercial. After we put this frozen piña colada recipe on our blog three years ago (courtesy of Bartender Magazine), it rapidly became our most popular post of all time — and remains a hit to this day.

Why is the Kahlua Colada so popular? Maybe because it’s both simple and surprising. The combination of Kahlua, cream of coconut and pineapple juice sounds odd, but it works. In that spirit, here are a few more fun riffs on the piña colada to inspire you.

If you’ve ever had a high-performance blender conk out after many years of hard use, the culprit was probably the brushes.

“Brushes?” you might ask. “I didn’t know my blender had brushes.” Most people don’t, because busy restaurant operators never think about the innards of their blenders. But we do. For eight years, we’ve been thinking about how to design a better blender motor that doesn’t die when the brush wears out — and now we have it. It’s called Endura™ Motor Technology.

It’s not last call for cocktails in the United States yet — far from it. The sale of spirits hit a record high in 2017, claiming nearly 37 percent of the total beverage alcohol market share. That’s good news for bar operators — now, the challenge is continuing to surprise and delight savvy consumers.

Celebrity chef Kathy Casey’s favorite word is “wow.” She applies it to everything she does: cocktail creation, menu consulting, restaurant development, TV hosting and cookbook writing. She’s the owner of Kathy Casey Food Studios - Liquid Kitchen, a global food, beverage, and concept development and innovation agency.

In an increasingly competitive marketplace, how can restaurant and bar operators serve up that wow factor? “Always do something that is a little bit different, whether it’s a serving vessel, a garnish or an unexpected ingredient. Do something that sets you apart,” Casey says. “For instance, using a tiny wooden clothespin to secure a cocktail garnish; that extra little touch makes it memorable. When it comes to food, a combination of textures, unexpected flavors, and a unique presentation can make it a photo-worthy snap.”  

Does your bar blender gather dust from November through April, only to roar back to life when it’s margarita season? This winter, put the blender back to work by mixing some frozen drinks that will invigorate your cocktail program. The secret to selling frozen drinks in winter is simple: Channel customers’ seasonal moods. We’ll tell you how.

But first, remember the basics of successful drink blending: Always put liquid ingredients in the jar first. Follow by adding solid ingredients such as fruit and ice. And for a consistent blend every time, invest in a powerful, commercial-quality bar blender.

Take a trip back through all the cocktail trends of the last few years, and the variety is dizzying. Produce-driven cocktails. Revivals of classic cocktails. New twists on classic cocktails. Craft frozen cocktails. Tiki drinks. Even the once-scorned staples of college bars, like the Long Island Iced Tea, have gotten a makeover from modern mixologists.

Is there anything left to try? Oh, yes: The last frontier in cocktails is all about science. Mixologists at places like Washington, D.C.’s barmini and Chicago’s Aviary are adapting the techniques of molecular gastronomy to serve up drinks that change color, fizz and smoke. But there’s a method to this madness. Here are five principles they follow.

Dr. Thomas Campbell remembers how, in his medical-school days, he would make up for his poor eating habits by drinking a kale smoothie: “I put about 6 cups of raw, cleaned kale tightly packed in a mixer along with a little water and nothing else and made the ultimate green smoothie,” he recalls. It was, unsurprisingly, awful: “It was like a grassy tasting slime, or perhaps cow cud.”

Adding fruit would have solved the flavor problem, but that can turn a veggie smoothie into a high-sugar beverage, notes Campbell, the medical director of the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies. A typical smoothie with spinach, strawberries, blueberries, a banana and orange juice might include 32 grams of sugar, he calculates.

Many sugar-conscious consumers want smoothies with no fruit at all. What’s the secret to offering healthy, fruit-free smoothies that don’t taste like a cow’s breakfast? We’ll tell you.

Crowning the menu at Malibu-based chain SunLife Organics is the Billion Dollar Smoothie, a blend of 16 ultra-premium ingredients that some health enthusiasts promise will nourish the body and mind. It won’t enrich the wallet, though — the Billion Dollar Smoothie costs $28. (The Million Dollar Smoothie is a comparative bargain, at $15.95.)

The $28 price tag is due to exotic ingredients like goat colostrum, adaptogenic mushrooms and silica. (Oddly, the smoothie just tastes like vanilla.) While the health benefits of ingredients like these aren’t always proven, many customers are avidly seeking out ultra-premium smoothie ingredients.