Exclusive! 25 New Drink Flavors to Spice up Seattle Cocktails

By Michael Badger February 18, 2014

cocktailadditions

!–paging_filter–pSome classic drink combinations seem so made for each other as to prohibit tinkering: gin and tonic, for example, even rum and coke. Yet event the best recipes can benefit from some spicy stirring up. Enter Boeing procurement manager Eric Salenski and software salesman and consultant Matt Hemeyer with their startup, strongAddition/strong (a href=”http://www.drinkaddition.com” target=”_blank”drinkaddition.com/a), to add what some cocktail lovers have been subconsciously longing for: a savory kick. The additions are alcoholic tinctures (around 45 percent alcohol by volume) used in a manner akin to bitters but instead of the traditional bittering, these deliver add-in flavors of nearly the entire spice rack. Handcrafted in Georgetown, the Addition tinctures come in 25 variations (including Szechuan pepper, jalapeño, clove and star anise). So, you can, at last, add Thai green chili and tarragon to a whiskey ginger—trust us, it’s a bizarrely good pairing. We also like the rosemary and cardamom twist on the classic GT, and the mere suggestion of curry with a peaty scotch got our taste buds salivating./p
p“We initially considered opening a distillery, but you can only have so many local vodkas and whiskeys,” Hemeyer says. “We wanted to add something new this city’s drinks.”/p
pThe keen observer will note that flavor staples such as mint, basil and ginger don’t appear on Addition’s long list of available spices, and it’s a testament to Hemeyer and Salenski’s quality control that these flavors are not—yet—produced. Flavors that are made with delicate herbs tend to stay on the cutting block for a while longer. Getting the first 25 spices exactly how they wanted them took more than a year. “I sacrificed nights at a local craft cocktail bar, asking the bartender to lay out glass after glass, teaching me the ins and outs of the discreet flavors of gins and whiskeys,” Hemeyer said. The pair has plenty of experience in home brewing and wine collecting—their business partnership is based in an appreciation of interesting and novel beverages—and so they’re no strangers to combining art and science to create a worthy taste experience./p
pimg src=”/sites/default/files/newfiles/photo_31.jpg” style=”float: left; margin: 10px;” height=”300″ width=”400″After creating their line of cocktail-specific additions, a friend dabbed some of the Jalapeño Cocktail Spice into a can of beer, setting a new course for the company. Being beer connoisseurs themselves, they well understood that with mass-produced domestics, affordability, not flavor, is not the primary factor. So they put together a trio of Beer Sauces with smoke and spice to dress up lackluster cans of PBR and Bud. While they discourage using the beer sauce in the craft brews, nothing is really off-limits.nbsp;/p
pThese spices are not only for cocktails. As Salenski has advised, rosemary and clove are welcome additions to a simple glass of seltzer. And though the tinctures have alcohol in them, the amount in a few drops is negligible./p
pWe’re happy to say that the new spice road is here and it’s leading us to drinks unexplored./p
pemCocktail Spice, $20 per 4-ounce bottle, available at Savour in Ballard (2242 NW Market St.; 206.789.0775; a href=”http://www.savourspecialtyfoods.com” target=”_blank”savourspecialtyfoods.com/a) and Picnic in Phinney Ridge (6801 Greenwood Ave. N.; 206.453.5867; a href=”http://www.picnicseattle.com” target=”_blank”picnicseattle.com/a). Beer Sauce, $12/bottle, available at Full Throttle Bottles in Georgetown/em em(5909 Airport Way S; 206.736.2079; a href=”http://www.fullthrottlebottles.com” target=”_blank”fullthrottlebottles.com/a) and the Lake City Beer Authority (12716 Lake City Way NE; 206.417.9629; a href=”http://www.seattlebeerauthority.com” target=”_blank”seattlebeerauthority.com/a) Wine World (400 NE 45th St.; 206.402.6086; a href=”http://www.shop.wineworldspirits.com” target=”_blank”shop.wineworldspirits.com/a)/em/p
pspan style=”font-size: large;”strongDrink Addition Recipes/strong/spanembrNote to home mixologists: One “blast” equals a dropper-full of the flavored Addition./em/p
pspan style=”font-size: large;”strongSimple Additions/strong/spanbrstrongbrCoke with Clove/strongbr1 can of Cokebr1 blast of Clove Cocktail SpicebrPut in ice-filled glass or drink out of the canbrbrstrongRosemary Water/strongbr1 ice-filled glass of sparkling waterbr3–4 drops Rosemary Cocktail SpicebrGarnish with cucumberbrstrongbrApple Cider and Cinnamon/strongbr1 pint of Apple Cider (hard or virgin)br½ blast of Clove Cocktail Spicebr1 blast of Cinnamon/p
pspan style=”font-size: large;”strongCocktail Additions/strong/spanbr1 ice-filled rocks glassbr3 blasts of Curry Cocktail Spicebr2 ounces ScotchbrTop with soda water/p
p1 ice-filled highball glassbr1 blast Rosemary Cocktail Spicebr3 blasts Szechuan Pepperbr2 ounces GinbrTop with tonic/p
p1 ice-filled rocks glassbr2 blasts Tarragon Cocktail Spicebr2 blasts Thai Green Chilibr2 ounces WhiskeybrTop with quality ginger beer/p

 

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