Recipe report: 7 on-trend beverages

The beverage menu is seeing a lot of innovation lately, as operators move away from sugary soft drinks and toward housemade recipes crafted with fresh, natural ingredients. These beverage recipes tap into the trend by incorporating fruits, vegetables, herbs and more.

Savory ingredients are a refreshing counterpoint to the sweetness that characterizes many mocktails. Here, bartender Gen Longoria combines red bell pepper juice with a chili-spiked strawberry syrup to create a well-balanced drink with spicy, sweet and savory notes.

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Flying Biscuit Cafe, a 14-unit Southern-style chain based in Atlanta, is taking its menu in a healthy direction with a new lineup of fresh-pressed juices and smoothies. This kale drink is sweetened with fruit and honey and spiked with ginger.

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Jim Hoban, executive chef at Four Corners Tavern Group in Chicago, serves this soothing tea in the late afternoon and early evening. To create the beverage, he steeps warming spices of cinnamon, turmeric, ginger, peppercorns and honey in almond milk, then stirs the mixture into brewed Earl Grey for a steaming cup of spicy, milky tea. Turmeric, touted for its anti-inflammatory properties, is showing up more often in lattes and teas.

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The recipe for shrubs—mixtures of fruit, sugar and vinegar—dates back to colonial times. Recently, chefs and bartenders have rediscovered these sweet-sour mixtures and are using them as a base for inventive drinks. Since shrubs are meant to be made ahead, they can be batched and refrigerated for two weeks, a move that eases the preparation of this tart and fruity soda at The Country Cat in Portland, Ore.

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At Asbury in Charlotte, N.C., mixologist Kati Whipple combines sweet potatoes, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg to create a simple syrup with local flavor and a nutritional boost. Not only are the sweet potatoes grown in North Carolina, but they’re also a good source of beta carotene. The syrup is the base for the popular gin cocktail offered at the bar.

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For this variation on the Pisco Sour, chef Tumlin at The Dorian in San Francisco substitutes Greek yogurt for the traditional egg white. The yogurt produces the same foamy topping, and along with the addition of cucumbers, gives the cocktail a bit of a healthy twist.

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Mocktails are trending as beverage options, as consumers look for the same premium ingredients and fresh flavors in nonalcoholic drinks as they do in craft cocktails. At 312 Chicago in Kimpton’s Allegro Hotel, this sparkling mocktail pairs well with the restaurant’s appetizer menu.

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