More than just mint, and a wedge of lime

Bars are experimenting with creative cocktail garnishes to elevate their drinks with finesse 

- Suman Quazi

It's hard to pin down who thought of putting garnishes on cocktails, but for a long time, it lingered as an afterthought-some mint leaves and lime and orange wheels lying at the edge of the bread plate, almost as perfunctorily as they were added. A shift became palpable when roughly five years ago, cocktail culture's global boom trickled down to India, coinciding with the rise of sensorial dining in the country. Bartenders began smoking rosemary, and mason jars filled with dehydrated fruits started appearing on the bar counter. Now a renaissance comes on the heels of a heightened and studied approach towards mixology that's determined to make the garnish indispensable.

From salt air foams willing a breezy afternoon in a fishing village into imagination, and wafer papers (edible paper made from potato starch and olive oil) mimicking LSD blotters and indigenous artworks, to embellishments fashioned out of mini desserts, like doughnuts-the cocktail garnish has become a work of art.