Three items stand before you: a sealable container, a pile of freshly sliced fruit, and a bottle of booze. The type of fruit and category of booze can be arbitrary, but for the sake of argument, let’s say the fruit is pippin apples and the booze is vodka. You fill the container with the apple slices and the vodka, seal the lid, and wait a day or two for the fruity essence to penetrate the spirit’s soul as it absorbs some of the alcohol. Congratulations! You’re a bartender or home bar enthusiast who just made a spirit infusion. Or you’re a college kid who just made jungle juice.
The sophisticated cocktail technique and the basic frat house delight technically share space on a Venn diagram. However, the infusions dominating the current cocktail bar scene are elevated ingredients made by creative, forward-thinking bartenders as a way to riff on classic builds. A seasonal Negroni sweetened by strawberry-infused Campari, a wintry Old Fashioned intensified by rosemary-infused bourbon, or a Bloody Mary brightened by tomato-infused vodka are made possible by this trending practice.
As sophisticated as these infusions can be, they also share some low-brow origins. This begs the question: When does an infused spirit transcend the Gatorade cooler and the brimming red Solo cup and become worth of a highball glass and a $20 price tag? It depends on how they’re used.
Defining the Dividing Line
Infused spirits are liquor projects made with purpose, whether that intent focuses on slow, pleasurable sipping
