Bartenders
SET TRENDS

Johnny Pålsson
Communicator

The South American spirit Pisco, infused bourbon and craft-distilled spirits are all predicted to become the next trends in the US bar trade the coming year. Bartender Jonny Pålsson digs into the new stuff, and ends up in San Francisco.

While the hierarchy of big brands and overall market sales remain static, US bartenders are driving the spirits market into new territories. Some bars are serving bourbon infused with fruit, a follow-on from the 1990s trend of doing the same thing with vodka. It looks like bartenders have become the catalysts of the spirit business.

We are living in a time when people want new experiences all the time. At Bourbon & Branch in San Francisco, the bartender Todd Smith tops his version of a Pimm's Cup with a cucumber-mint foam thickened with soy lecithin, a technique similar to that developed at El Bulli in Spain, recently voted the world's best restaurant. He also serves a Deconstructed Negroni – gin with sweet vermouth and Campari caviar(!) on the side. The caviar is made by squeezing Campari mixed with sodium alginate from a syringe on to a dish of calcium chloride solution, which forms a skin around the "caviar eggs".

Smith also says such activities are bringing a renewed appreciation of quality spirits such as 100 percent Agave tequila and single malt whisky.
– I like the challenge of working with these spirits, but you don’t have to think a when you work with vodka. It’s probably the easiest spirit to work with.