I’m a drinks writer and think everyone should give ‘fooze’ a try

Imagine sipping a cocktail that tastes like your mum’s Sunday roast. Well, now you actually can. It’s all thanks to the ‘culinary cocktail’ trend, which has had bartenders from London to Tokyo, New York and Buenos Aires getting creative with the classics.

By infusing ever more bizarre concoctions of vinegar reductions, beef stock (I know…) and dessert-inspired garnishes, bartenders are flipping the script on the traditional cocktail. From fish and chips to bone broth, they’re shaking and straining our favourite dishes into a glass.

Just when I was getting my head around the idea, I get an invite to the world’s first gravy-boat restaurant, with a menu that includes a Gravy Sour cocktail. Sorry, but gravy granules in my cocktail are a hard pass from me. More ‘Bis-no’ than ‘Ahh, Bisto’.

Whether I like it or not, though, it’s bang on-trend. What started with fat washing spirits to add texture and savoury notes, has now become a full-on drinks movement. In certain bars, there are cocktails based around the likes of a Waldorf salad, cold pizza and French toast. They’re mainly in the US though, but it has to be said we’re becoming more daring over here too.

One of the main drivers of the culinary cocktail movement (which I’ve nicknamed ‘fooze’, after booze and food) is the modern obsession with experimental dining. Eating isn’t just about staying alive anymore, and likewise drinking booze isn’t all about getting squiffy. People want an a show. They want jazz hands, in liquid form.

This is something Waitrose recently picked up on in their trend predictions for 2025, revealing that ‘multisensory mixology’ was what customers were showing interest in, with caviar and feta brine martinis being a must-try as they provide an ‘experience’, not just a drink.

I recently went to Bar Kinky in Goodge St, the downstairs bar within contemporary Georgian restaurant Kinkally (which incidentally has a ravishing menu). They’re using ingredients you wouldn’t associate with cocktails, in drinks such as ‘Diva’ which contains vodka, beetroot, walnut and blue cheese. Oh, hello, Waldorf salad. Then, there’s ‘Bestie’, a curried martini-style drink prepared with gin, mango, curry, vermouth and brine, and ‘Nature’, with Bourbon, Porcini mushrooms, honey and Pedro Jimenez sherry.

Although my first thought was, “am I using a plate or a glass for these?”, every sip was incredibly fine-tuned and delicious, with flavours working harmoniously together. In less professional hands (mine), I fear it could be a different story. It’s similarly savoury at Ham Yard, where I ordered their ‘Blushed Tomato’ as part of their ‘Stories of Soho’ cocktail list. The list of ingredients to make this cocktail reads like an upper middle class shopping list. Salt, bread, pepper, garlic, onion, pickle juice, tomato, garlic olive oil, pea pod vodka and apple cider vinegar were all used to create, what amounts to a textured, boozy, clarified gazpacho. It was even garnished with a lacto-fermented cherry tomato, obviously, and I was here for it.

Other spots serving up culinary cocktails include Fantômas on Kings Road, who’ve created a Miso Old Fashioned, with complex flavours of coffee, miso and toasted sesame, featuring buffalo trace bourbon and a sesame snap cracker on top, as well as Nightjar in Carnaby’s Kingly Court where they’ve turned Pan Y Tomate, a classic tapas dish, into a drink featuring barbecued tomato, cherry tomato water and Altamura Vodka.

In short, nothing is off the table when it comes to the culinary cocktail, and I mean that literally; think wagyu beef, shiitake mushrooms, salmon, cheese (the viral Parmesan Espresso Martini) and root vegetables. As a rule of thumb for making a meal out of cocktails at home, leave it to the professionals – I know I will be.

But if you simply must give it a go for yourself, you could always start by adding some food-inspired spirits to your drinks. Here’s a few I’d recommend…. I have a bottle of this knocking around at home, which I use to make my Martinis taste a little more savoury. It’s produced in Tokyo by top-notch Sake and Shochu producer, Godo Shusei Co. It has an intensely tomato stalky flavour, through blending fresh tomato juice, syrup and a neutral spirit. There’s a touch of sweetness that offsets a dirty Martini into a cross between that and a Bloody Mary, without the blood. Would that be a Mary-tini?.

Where to buy: Thewhiskyexchange.com. This range of spirits is verging on science fiction. With a state-of-the-art lab in London and a team of master distillers, they’ll work with you to create, well, any distillate you could ever dream of. My favourite is the Jalapeño, created from the vacuum distillation process to achieve the essence of the pepper in question. There’s also umami soy sauce and earthy beetroot distillates to discover. Perfect for sending a classic cocktail in another flavour direction.