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Booze, Eat and Drink

Should These Five Cocktail Trends Go Away?

Natasha Gardner
Natasha Gardner February 3, 2014

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  • 1. Celebrity bartenders that forget how to mix A master mixologist deserves credit for crafting the perfect cocktail. However, when the bartender’s personality upstages the drinks they make, I’m not interested in going back for more
  • 2. Infused drinks This was a neat trend because even a lowly cocktail novice could make [insert fruit or vegetable name]-infused vodka at home. It was fun. And now it is overdone at home and at the bar. Candy-corn flavored liquor? Really? Bonus: I love bacon, but don’t need it as a swizzle stick or infused in everything. Moderation is key
  • 3. Low-alcohol cocktails At first, I was wooed by this trend. I loved the idea of having more than one drink at happy hour or not getting a buzz at a work meeting. Here’s the thing, though: I never order these drinks. If I’m in the mood for a low-alcohol concoction, I’m really jonesing for a non-alcoholic drink. Unfortunately, NA drinks are too often the black hole area of a cocktail menu. Bar owners: Please fix this. Now
  • 5. Pretending that Pre-Prohibition era drinks are new Don’t get me wrong: I love a flip, a fizz, or a party punch. However, it’s time to treat these drinks as classics that every bartender should know—like a master sauce recipe for chefs—not as a fleeting trend. —Images courtesy of Shutterstock Follow senior editor Natasha Gardner on Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest. Click here for our complete Month of Cocktails coverage.
  • 4. Fancy-pants ice When a mixologist spends more time talking about the frozen water used to chill the cocktail than all other ingredients, I start to worry that their obsession is not worth a $12 price tag for something I can get in my freezer
  • 1. Celebrity bartenders that forget how to mix A master mixologist deserves credit for crafting the perfect cocktail. However, when the bartender’s personality upstages the drinks they make, I’m not interested in going back for more
  • 2. Infused drinks This was a neat trend because even a lowly cocktail novice could make [insert fruit or vegetable name]-infused vodka at home. It was fun. And now it is overdone at home and at the bar. Candy-corn flavored liquor? Really? Bonus: I love bacon, but don’t need it as a swizzle stick or infused in everything. Moderation is key
  • 3. Low-alcohol cocktails At first, I was wooed by this trend. I loved the idea of having more than one drink at happy hour or not getting a buzz at a work meeting. Here’s the thing, though: I never order these drinks. If I’m in the mood for a low-alcohol concoction, I’m really jonesing for a non-alcoholic drink. Unfortunately, NA drinks are too often the black hole area of a cocktail menu. Bar owners: Please fix this. Now
  • 5. Pretending that Pre-Prohibition era drinks are new Don’t get me wrong: I love a flip, a fizz, or a party punch. However, it’s time to treat these drinks as classics that every bartender should know—like a master sauce recipe for chefs—not as a fleeting trend. —Images courtesy of Shutterstock Follow senior editor Natasha Gardner on Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest. Click here for our complete Month of Cocktails coverage.
  • 4. Fancy-pants ice When a mixologist spends more time talking about the frozen water used to chill the cocktail than all other ingredients, I start to worry that their obsession is not worth a $12 price tag for something I can get in my freezer

Natasha Gardner
Natasha Gardner

Natasha Gardner is a Denver-based writer and the former Articles Editor for 5280.

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