The Art of Infusing Spirits

Adding flavor to your cocktail

Flavored spirits are a huge part of the alcohol beverage industry, produced in ever-increasing quantities. Restaurants and bars that are serious about their cocktail programs, however, often make their own flavor infusions with distinctive combinations of fruits, shrubs, spices and more. Ross Kupitz, beverage director for D’Amico Restaurants in Southwest Florida and Minnesota, says, “We first started to see a cocktail revolution in the mid-2000s. More experienced bartenders started to come up with unique renditions of classic drinks using quality ingredients and homemade items rather than just processed items. It got people to come back.” At The Continental in Naples, he helped design one of the most impressive bar features you’ll find in Southwest Florida. Giant orbs full of spirits and house-made mixes for the most popular craft cocktails hang above the bar for mixologists to pour from. The glass containers, typically used in chemistry labs, are custom made for The Continental, and they look cool. One orb contains a mix of Bulleit Bourbon and Nonino Quintessentia, used in the restaurant’s Italian in NYC cocktail, a mash-up of a Manhattan and an Old Fashioned. “When we let those two things marinate together they almost become a new spirit,” Kupitz says. “They really marry together well.” The flavor is notably different than when the two spirits are added individually to the cocktail. When it comes to DIY infusions, vodka is a perfect place to start because it has a milder flavor profile that adapts well to other ingredients; think of a painter with a blank canvas. Sean Ramsey, restaurant manager at Thistle Lodge on Sanibel Island, says, “If I want to use vodka for an infusion,

Giant orbs full of spirits and house-made mixes for the most popular craft cocktails hang above the bar for mixologists to pour from.