Beverage

It’s summer. You’ve got your Shibumi sunshade. You’ve got your platform flip-flops. But one trendy accessory is missing: the drink in your hand.

A few years back, the must-have summer cocktail was the Aperol Spritz. Then came the summer of frosé, the summer of White Claw, and the summer of the espresso martini (and other coffee cocktails). But summer 2022 hasn’t found its One Drink to Rule Them All — and that’s OK! We’ve found some possible candidates.

Dessert or a drink? How about both in one glass?

There’s something delightful about a frozen drink that’s as pretty, palate-pleasing and carefully constructed as a fancy dessert. They don’t have to be overly sweet. The key difference is thoughtfulness: “taking something basic that everyone understands and building it out to a memorable experience. In this case, sometimes less is more, but a balanced recipe, great ingredients,

 elevated glassware, and creative presentation tells a story in itself,” Andrew Pollard, Beverage Innovation Director at Monin,tells Bar Business.

Bartenders are creating sophisticated new takes on frozen cocktails that incorporate fresh, plant-based and housemade ingredients. A high-performance commercial blender is the last ingredient you need to craft frozen dessert drinks with the perfect consistency: no grainy texture or chunks of ice. Consider putting your own spin on a few of these drinks and adding them to your menu.

Put all the hottest food trends in a blender — hyperlocal sourcing, natural ingredients and local produce. Give them a quick whirl, and voila: You get a farm-to-table cocktail. The concept has been around for a few years, but drinkers show no sign that they’re tiring of creative produce-based concoctions. Here are a few ideas for innovative, fun and fresh garden cocktails.

Customers at Waterman’s Surfside Grille in Virginia Beach, Virginia, know the best way to quench a thirst is to order the beachside bar’s famous Orange Crush. This signature frozen drink is made with fresh-squeezed orange juice, orange vodka, triple sec, and a splash of Sprite.

According to Waterman’s owner Mike Standing, the drink was created 20 years ago, but took off in 2002 when a friend suggested Standing make the Orange Crush with fresh-squeezed juice. Today Waterman’s is one of most popular places on the boardwalk, and Standing said that the bar and restaurant have had an increase in revenue every year.

For dieting or diabetic customers, or simply for the growing number of Americans concerned about their sugar intake, sugar-free virgin drinks offer a sweet indulgence. The key to making a mocktail taste good lies in the primary ingredients, particularly the sugar-free syrups used to make the drink taste like the real thing.

The difference between a perfect cocktail and a mediocre one often comes down to ice, which, once melted, can account for half of a drink’s volume. With so much riding on frozen water, it’s not surprising that there’s more than a little ice mythology in the mixology world. Add a blender into the equation and it becomes necessary to call on science to make sense of it all.

  
The idea of a sweet digestif to round out a meal has gone into overdrive. Bartenders and chefs are teaming up to create after-dinner drinks more decadent than many selections traditionally featured on dessert menus. Whether driven by budget-conscious consumers trying to combine dessert and an after-dinner drink into one indulgence or by calorie-conscious diners believing that it’s better to drink than eat their cake, the trend is taking the sweet cocktail well beyond a simple glass of Bailey’s.

Gourmet syrups and specialty liqueurs can save time and make dessert drinks highly profitable, and sugar-free syrups are also available for lower-calorie or low-sugar dessert cocktails. Imaginative syrup flavors make it easy to serve up dessert martinis like these created by Monin.