There’s no better feeling than seeing your drink come towards you at the bar. We definitely miss that feeling right now! While we love a classic cocktail, there’s something exciting about getting a drink that’s more fun, colorful, whimsical than the others. Since we haven’t been to a bar in a while, we felt the need to experiment with some garnishes and unexpected ingredients in our homemade beverages. And who better to team up with for that than Lo-Fi Aperitifs! This California-based brand provides home bartenders and mixologists with the perfect tools (think premium vermouths and amaros) for creating delicious cocktails. Feeling inspired? Read on to check out some unique garnishes that will bring your cocktail game to the next level. Make some room on your bar cart for these unexpected picks!
Salt
Add a pinch of salt to any cocktail to amp up the flavors within it. This trick really does work for almost any drink, but it’s especially good with drinks that already have some sort of sweetness to help that flavor pop. Think about a chocolate chip cookie: delicious on its own but when you make it a salted chocolate chip cookie, it’s next level. Try it!
Aquafaba
Next time you whip up a batch of hummus, consider saving the liquid from your chickpeas, aka aquafaba. This works just like egg whites in a drink. Rather than adding an egg white to your whiskey sour, try using the same amount of aquafaba instead. (Pro tip: 1 egg white = 2 tablespoons of aquafaba)
Everything Bagel Seasoning
If you love Trader Joe’s as much as we do, you may have picked up TJ’s Everything But The Bagel Sesame Seasoning Blend. It’s awesome! Definitely get that in your life pronto — you’ll be asking yourself what you did before you had this. For our purposes, you can use this as a glass rim for those weekend bloody marys! Not only is it a really cute look, but it tastes so much more complex than just salt. Sesame, poppy, dried onions, and more all come together in a super fun way that’s both appeasing to the eyes and the palate. What more could you want?
Coconut Water
Coconut water is super hydrating, has a delicious, sweet flavor, and is texturally more interesting than water. I have two hacks for this. Try this with the Lo-Fi sweet vermouth, which has coconut in the botanical mix. You can also try making coconut water ice and adding in spices like anise pods to level up the flavor. Add the cubes to classic drinks like Margaritas or Negronis to infuse coconut into your drink as the ice melts.
Grapefruit
Everyone knows you can juice a grapefruit, but consider using the peel as well for a beautiful cocktail ribbon garnish. You can also zest it into your salt for an exciting twist on salt rims for margaritas and palomas. To do this, get yourself a bowl of salt and zest the peel into it. Once the grapefruit zest is where you need it to be, take a pestle and mortar or a spice/coffee grinder and grind them together. This breaks down the salt so it’s smaller and easily clings to the rim, but it simultaneously releases all of those fragrant oils from the grapefruit peel so the mixture pops!
Maple Syrup
Maple syrup is not just for pancakes. Use this in place of other sweetener for your old fashioned or daiquiri for a richer, deeper sweetness that adds a lot of complexity.
Celery Leaves
Save your celery leaves and muddle them lightly into a tin before you create a gimlet or margarita. The leaves have a bit more of a savory and green aspect than the stalks, and can create a really nice switch up in flavor profile from the traditional daiquiri and margarita recipes. For an added pop, pinch some celery salt in there too. Like I said above, salt makes a big difference and heightens any drink. Just don’t use too much; a little pinch will do.
