Have a little Salt in your Drink

LINE SOLUTIONS | From left: Little Valiant; the Song of Solomon; No Stone Unturned Armando Rafael for The Wall Street Journal, food styling by Heather Meldrom, Prop Styling by Stephanie Hanes



The problem back in the pre-cocktail-renaissance era—and even now, at places that have yet to catch up—is that many cocktails were too sweet to do anything but obliterate the taste buds. Meanwhile, at more craft- and retro-leaning spots, the pendulum has swung too far to the bitter side.


Bartenders have found that a sprinkle of salt is a way to work around these issues and create drinks that complement dishes rather than cancel them out. Indeed, salt can serve many purposes in cocktails, said Will Thompson, bartender at Straight Law in Brookline, Mass.


“It will make other flavors [in the drink] pop,” he explained. “We’ve been seeing the use of salt and bitter together more and more in the last few years.” The first he can recall was at Boston’s Drink, in a cocktail called Little Giuseppe, made with Punt e Mes vermouth; Cynar, a bitter artichoke liqueur; lemon juice; Angostura bitters; and a pinch of kosher salt.


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Arunas Bruzas, lead bartender at Acadia restaurant in Chicago, uses salt in everything from the smoked-Tahitian-vanilla-and-saffron syrup in his Sazerac and Old Fashioned to various mezcal, campari and cucumber cocktails. He said he was inspired by reading food scientist Harold McGee’s “On Food and Cooking,” which posits that salt inhibits our ability to perceive bitterness. Mr. Thompson concurs: “Using salt as a way to friendly up some of these interesting drinks is an awesome thing to have at your disposal. Bitter can be overwhelming, especially the way a lot of bartenders use it.”


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“The first time you use salt in a cocktail it’s like a light bulb goes off,” said David Kupchinsky of Eveleigh in West Hollywood, Calif. “It makes sense in all the same ways that it makes sense for a chef to use salt. It’s a flavor enhancer. It definitely works better with some things than others, but you almost start to wonder why you don’t put salt in all drinks.”


For example, Mr. Kupchinsky offered, salt enhances the smokiness, viscosity and brine of mezcal. But he’s not talking about salting the rim on a margarita, where you get the same mouthful of salt with every sip: Introducing saline into the liquid itself makes for a complex, layered cocktail whose flavor evolves somewhat as you move toward the bottom of the glass—just the thing to accompany a meal worth lingering over.

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And now the 3 bartender's Salty Drinks:

Little Valiant

“We’re not looking for a drink that’s going from not-salty to salty, but one that starts out as overly bitter, then balances out over time through the introduction of saline,” said Will Thompson of Straight Law in Brookline, Mass. Here the aggressive bitterness is “sanded off and quieted down,” allowing the vegetal components of the gentian liqueur to assert themselves.



Pour 2 ounces Salers gentian liqueur,

2 ounces Cocchi Americano, 

3 dashes orange bitters and 

1 barspoon fresh lemon juice over a large chunk of ice in a double Old Fashioned glass.

 Stir and then garnish with a small pinch of salt.
—Adapted from Straight Law, Brookline, Mass.

The Song of Solomon

In this drink, the artichoke flavor of the Cynar, the herbs in the vermouth and the celery of the bitters all pop thanks to a few drops of salt tincture (essentially, salty water).


Make salt tincture: Combine ⅓ cup salt with ⅓ cup warm water and stir until salt dissolves completely.

Combine ice with 1½ ounces overproof rye,

 ½ ounce Cynar,

 ½ ounce dry vermouth, 

½ ounce maraschino liqueur

 2 dashes celery bitters and 2 drops salt tincture in a cocktail shaker.

 Stir and strain into a coupe glass.
—Adapted from Eveleigh, West Hollywood, Calif.

No Stone Unturned

“I feel like it’s a smart way to round out the cocktail while adding umami, which really makes it craveable,” said Ran Duan of Sichuan Garden II in Woburn, Mass. Here the salt brings out the chocolate notes of the vermouth and the dark raisin of the Sherry, and rounds off the bitterness of the Fernet.

Combine 1½ ounces Carpano Antica,
 ½ ounce Fernet Branca
, ½ ounce Pedro Ximénez Sherry
and ½ ounce absinthe in a rocks glass.

 Add 1 large ice chunk and stir. Garnish with pinch of salt.
—Adapted from Sichuan Garden II, Woburn, Mass.