Meat me at the Bar

The steaks have officially been raised: cocktails around India are embracing their inner carnivore. This is the delicious world where fat-washing meets fine drinking, and your martini suddenly has a meaty point of view.

- — By Indu Joshi —

Picture this: you're reclining in a plush velvet chair in a swanky bar, glass in hand, expecting the usual citrus-twist or herb infusion. Instead, you catch a smoky whisper of bone marrow, a hint of bacon fat, or the savoury richness of chicken broth. Unexpected? Absolutely. Sophisticated? Undeniably. Welcome to the haute world of meat-flavoured cocktails -where steak meets stemware, bacon meets bitters, and the discerning drinker embarks on a deliciously bold journey of savoury sips.

This isn't just your glorified Bloody Mary. This is an entire culinary movement. Fat-washing, clarified broths, marrow reductions; techniques that sound like they escaped from a fine-dining kitchen, are now swirling in your martini glass with alarming confidence. And while the rest of the world has been fat-washing spirits for years, India is finally sharpening its knives and jumping into the game. So, let's dive deep into the trend and where to get it in India.

A Brief History

Savoury cocktails began charming bar-goers when mid-20th-century steakhouse bars served up the classic Bullshot - vodka or gin blended with beef bouillon, Worcestershire sauce, a splash of Tabasco and sometimes lemon.

Then came fat-washing, the trick of infusing alcohol with bacon fat, duck fat or beef tallow, and then magically removing the solids so the drink is clear but loaded with flavour.

Bars in Tokyo, Bangkok and Singapore began embracing broths, seafood distillates and organ-meat infusions, turning the notion of "what belongs in a cocktail" upside-down. India is now catching up on the trend with savoury cocktails using bacon fat, mushroom stock, ghee, even clarified meat broths are increasingly visible and may be coming soon to your friendly neighbourhood bar.