San Diego Luxury Bars’ Spins on the Most Interesting Cocktail Trends
By: Lili Kim
We’ve officially passed the halfway point of the year. If you still haven’t checked off that box on your new year’s resolution list that says, “step out of your comfort zone”, what better way to do so than to ditch the Tito’s sodas and add some new cocktail favorites to your boozy repertoire. Gone are the days of simply ordering the house margarita or a classic old fashioned because that’s what your dad and your dad’s dad drank.
- Tini-fying everything
The martini comeback is one of my favorite trends to have come back in 2024, and not just because I feel like a James Bond character while drinking one. But things have gone way past the century long debate between olive or onion. Bars across the nation are tini-fying everything from tomatoes to pickles to sweet lychee.
THE LION’S SHARE
629 Kettner Blvd, San Diego, CA 92101
The Lion’s Share in downtown San Diego has revised the simple vodka and olive concoction into a briny and boozy glass of goodness. Just like their eccentric yet sophisticated interior, the cocktail menu colors outside the lines and invents what they call “future classics” by turning “present classics” on their heads. Their house-special Brindr includes vodka, moletto tomato gin, menegiks gin (better set out the aspirins on your nightstand now), mixed with dolin dry, house pickle brine, and curry tincture. Drink one of these and you’d out-martini Mr. Bond himself.
- The Age of Umami
Umami – the savory flavor often found in meat soy, and cheese – is a staple element in creating complex, lip-smacking recipes. The Japanese term (meaning delicious taste) has grown in popularity in the United States over the past couple decades, while remaining tethered to the realm of food and cooking. Now, however, umami has infiltrated the world of luxury cocktails. Old fashioneds are getting the tomahawk treatment and arrive in cauldrons of smoke and mystery. Soy sauce is drizzled over clear liquor. Bacon is promoted from being a mere bloody mary topper.
THE WHISKEY HOUSE
420 3rd Ave, San Diego, CA 92101
If bacon is your umami of choice, indulge in The Whiskey House’s Smokey Bacon Old Fashioned with bacon infused whiskey, smoked maple, and house-made barrel aged bitters. Savory and strong in all the best ways. Not a bacon buff? The Whiskey House has a collection of 4000+ whiskeys (a Guiness World Record!), so you can find whatever you need – no exaggeration.
- Botanicals & Blooms
Of course, botanicals aren’t new in the cocktail world, but they have recently gone through their own renaissance. Whether it’s a celebration of gardens finally reaping their harvest, or a collective desire to sip on refreshing drinks in the summer, florals and botanicals have taken over cocktail menus everywhere. Of course, you can rely on your usual suspects like lavender, rose, and elderflower for florals or thyme, basil and mint for herbs. But why not try some more imaginative options such as vivid butterfly pea flowers, yerba mate’, lemongrass, and pink peppercorns? It’ll only make your efforts to “eat more plants” that much more luxurious.
BOTANICA
3095 El Cajon Blvd, San Diego, CA 92104
What better place to look for botanical marvels than at Botanica Art & Cocktail Bar in the North Park neighborhood of San Diego. Here, you can find tons of botanical spirits and reinventions of well-loved classics, such as a gin sour, which has been recreated into the bar’s own Hidden Touch cocktail. The base liquor is Bols genever, a Dutch gin, mixed with lemon verbena, honey, aloro (bay leaf liqueur), genepy (French alpine herbal liqueur), lemon, egg white, absinthe (a high proof liquor distilled with anise, wormwood, and fennel), and sorel leaves. In other words, botanical + botanical + botanical + botanical…you get the picture.
- Good First Impressions
A good cocktail can be so much more than a tasty prop to make parties less awkward or a means to a buzz. To many mixologists and bartenders, a good cocktail is a Picasso in its own right. And like a masterpiece is presented in the finest gold frame, a special cocktail should have its own beautiful frame in the form of glasses, ice cubes, and garnishes. Today, these extra spruces of décor can give your cocktail that extra sense of poise, luxury, and creativity. So don’t be surprised if you find caviar and microgreens lounging atop your champagne, while ice cubes shaped like stars or bar logos swim in the bubbles.
THE REALM OF 52 REMEDIES
4805 Convoy St, San Diego, CA 92111
Even though speakeasies have become fairly popular, I still like to imagine I miraculously stumble upon each one like a cinematic spy or an insider of a secret society. At the Realm of 52 Remedies, however, you don’t need to use much pretending power. Located behind a hidden (fake) apothecary in a restaurant, the Realm is a 1920’s speakeasy inspired by Eastern Asian countries such as China and Korea, oozing with glamour and enchantment. Every remedy, or cocktail, has a story and draws inspiration from various Asian countries and their cultures. The 21 Assassins cocktail, for example, is inspired by the 1963 Japanese film of the same name. With a 10-year single malt scotch, alma tepec liqueur, cinpatrazzo and blood oranges amaros, honey, and smoked saline, it offers a perfect fusion of smoky, sweet, bitter and spice. But to further elevate the drink, it’s served with an ice cube branded with the Realm’s logo, and a sprig of baby’s breath, offsetting the intense flavors (and intense film the drink alludes to).
