As we enter 2021, one thing that’s clear is that people will still like to drink, but exactly what they’ll drink is something mixologists are breaking out crystal balls — or perhaps crystal highball glasses — to try to figure out.
Bartenders are cautiously optimistic about what the new year will bring. They can’t wait to see the mezcal drinks flowing, a continued interest in canned drinks and possibly the ability to continue offering to-go cocktails, but they’re still aware of how the novel coronavirus pandemic might continue to upended the drink industry completely.
In 2020, bars were forced to greatly modify their operations during the times when things weren’t so bad and completely shut down in-person service in the times when the pandemic has been at its worst. Bars in Southern California remain closed to on-premises drinking.
Nick Hirsch, the lead bartender for San Diego’s Huntress who previously worked at Pechanga Resort Casino, likened 2020 to the Prohibition era, saying that bartenders last year found themselves stripped of a certain level of creativity due to restrictions and the financial hit on the industry, but that also led to innovation and paved the way for what 2021 will look like.
“I think we’re setting up for somewhat of a next golden era of cocktails,” Hirsch said.
1. Less paper means more experiments
Because of the pandemic, more restaurants and bars have gone paperless with their menus, offering them digitally instead. Often there might be a QR code at a table or a bar top that a guest would scan with their smart phone in order to pull up the menu.
Hirsch said he expects that trend to continue and because the menus can be updated simply with a push of the button, bars can update the menus much more frequently than they have in the past.
It would allow bartenders to experiment with fresher, local ingredients that they might not have except for a one- or two-week window, he said.
“They’re going to be more willing to bring it in and put something new and exciting in front of the guest,” he said.
2. A return to the classics
Though lots of bars and distilleries say they want to play with ingredients and get creative in 2021, they also don’t want to skew too far from the traditional.
Pasadena’s Magnolia House, which is currently closed, plans to offer a lot of its classic drinks such as old fashioneds and some cool riffs on the classics as well when it reopens, said Soraya Kabbaj, Magnolia House’s general manager.
“So they’re still comfortable, but also feel like they’re being adventurous and also feel like we’re giving them a cool experience while they are finally getting to leave their house,” Kabbaj said.
Mike Lamantia, who operates The Daisy, a bar at the Cookhouse Food Hall in Temecula, said menus have gotten Bible-thick and really heady and that not all the ingredients are accessible for people. That’s why some cutting edge bars have gone back to more familiar favorites.
That’s what The Daisy has done, too, over the last year and a half since it opened. He said the bar might take a classic cocktail like a sazerac and figure out how to do a spin on it with an ingredient changed.
“Where we’ve seen things go in recent years is that instead of diving deeper into this huge catalog of cocktails where we feel like we go over people’s heads, we make it simplistic,” he said.
3. Tequila, mezcal and rum, oh my
What spirits are taking off? Agave based spirits are at the top of the list.
According to the 2020 BevAlc Retail Report conducted by online alcohol delivery service Drizly, tequila experienced 22% growth on the Drizly over the last year while mezcal’s share grew 57%.
Brenda Rivera, the liquor program director for Lolas Mexican Cuisine, The Social List and Portuguese Bend Distilling in Long Beach, said she’s seeing a big interest in mezcal with people requesting certain brands such as Madre Mezcal and Yola.
Rivera said that with tiki drinks still popular, rum will continue to take up a chunk of the market. Hirsch said that this year could see a little bit of rum crossover, with barrel-aged rums that appeal to whiskey drinkers.
But Lamantia cautions that those fancy, high-end spirits may not be so practical for many bars that are still relying on big batches of cocktails for Capri Sun-like pouches.
“The reality is that you’re going to see a slightly lesser quality of product because people aren’t going to be willing to make large batches of quality mezcal and fresh juices,” he said. “It’s just not cost effective when your bar is closed.”
4. Drinks to-go and ready-to-drink products
Though they can’t serve on-site, many bars have embraced to-go cocktails after being allowed to do so by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
Dustin Adams, the bar manager at The Cellar in Fullerton, said to-go cocktails have been popular there and what he’s hoping for is that when people can return and actually drink inside, they may be able to take a packaged cocktail for the road.
“That will definitely open a whole new revenue stream for us,” Adams said.
The Daisy has been selling singles and four packs of super rare beers, local bottles of wine and some 750 milliliter bottles of already prepared cocktails for guests to take home.
Lamantia said to remain in compliance with regulations, the container has to be sealed and so far it’s been easiest to do the bigger bottles that someone can get multiple servings of a cocktail from, but he’s possibly looking into a format where he can do individual cocktails and seal them as well.
5. The canned stuff
Lamantia said that when The Daisy first opened, not everyone understood that some of the best, limited edition beers were in cans and instead preferred to order draft, but more recently people are starting to understand that some really great beer can come in cans and bottles — a trend that the pandemic may have helped to accelerate.
The Drizly report notes that hard seltzer is expected to take up more shelf space at retailers. The report says that 64% of independent retailers surveyed said they plan to make more room for hard seltzer.
Hirsch said canned cocktails and seltzers exploded and they’ve gotten so big that they’re past the point of no return. It will now be normal in 2021 to go to a bar and order a seltzer or canned cocktail where those weren’t popular options before, he said.
6. Supporting local
Hirsch said that one way that trend will continue to evolve is a lot more bars and distilleries will start to offer their own unique canned cocktails, something that will be spurred forward by a desire to support local businesses.
Kabbaj, the general manager at Magnolia House, said in 2021 you might go to a bar and see an increased emphasis on local and smaller batch spirits in general as you sidle up to the bar.
“I think since people have kind of had this time to be at home and kind of maybe read the news, and see how much local places are struggling, I think there will be more of a focus on trying to support the smaller businesses,” she said.
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What’s shaking (and stirring) in 2021: 6 predictions for drink and cocktail trends - OCRegister
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