Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

The drink trend Aquavit’s head bartender says you’re sleeping on

Head bartender Jeff Arnold takes us on a journey through modern Scandinavian flavors and cocktails

Hunter Lu
By
The Aquavit bar
The bar room at Aquavit. aquavitnyc/Instagram

With two Michelin Stars, Aquavit is home to one of America’s finest tasting menu experiences. While Scandinavian ingredients and flavors are at the center of the food, the drinks at Aquavit also draw heavily from those flavors, creating a cocktail program that is wholly unique and elevated. Simply put, the drinks here are one-of-a-kind, and definitely a restaurant worth splurging for.

The best way to experience cocktails at Aquavit is the Cocktail Tasting. This four-course tasting centers on curated drinks and small bites, all crafted by Jeff Arnold, head bartender at Aquavit. And while Scandinavian ingredients remain at the forefront, it’s also combined with inspiration from other cuisines and cultures. In a global city like New York, this synergy creates a fascinating melding of ingredients, both traditional and modern.

Recommended Videos

“We are in New York and don’t want to strictly be bound by what’s traditional,” said Arnold. “We look to highlight tradition when applicable, but then to expand on Scandinavian tradition whenever we like it to be playful and inventive.”

Aquavit scallop crudo
The Scallop Crudo (second course) for the Cocktail Tasting. Scallops, fava beans, dill aioli, rhubarb vinaigrette. Hunter Lu/The Manual

Scandinavian cocktail ingredients

It should come as no surprise that Arnold is a big fan of Aquavit’s namesake spirit — aquavit itself. Also known as akvavit, this Scandinavian spirit is distilled from either grain or potatoes and is hugely popular in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. “I love to use different aquavits, both imported and homemade,” said Arnold. “There is such a great expanding profile of aquavit that allows for a much more development of flavor profiles.”

Related

Because of that philosophy, the cocktail program at Aquavit is serious about highlighting Scandinavian flavors: accentuating smoke through various types of wood smoke, warm baking spices, and native Scandinavian ingredients like sea buckthorn and lingonberries. However, because of Aquavit’s location in New York City, the cocktails, including those for the curated Cocktail Tasting, are not strictly bound by tradition.

One drink showcasing this blend is A Bird From Macao, a fruity tequila cocktail ideal for a beach day in summer. Another drink, Fisherman’s Friend, takes another global route, combining cherry aquavit with naturally umami kombu, the dried seaweed that’s a fundamental part of Japanese cuisine.

aquavit nyc cocktail in glass
The Swedish Holiday cocktail (second drink). Pineapple, rhubarb, and falernum (a rum-based liqueur). Hunter Lu/The Manual

The cocktail tasting at Aquavit: a breakdown

Currently priced at $125 per person, the Cocktail Tasting is located in the Bar Room instead of the main dining room. Designed with that uniquely elegant Scandinavian style, the Bar Room is a less formal experience than the tasting menu of the main dining room. The cocktail experience features four cocktails, all paired with small bites designed specifically for each drink. The pairings are as whimsical as they are intriguing. A spiced lamb sausage patty is presented as a miniature burger, served in a playful, fast food-like cardboard takeout box, and paired with a mustard cognac, aquavit, and banana liquor cocktail. The final bite is a Swedish Waffle with blueberries and tonka ice cream. It’s the perfect pairing for the Liquid Breakfast cocktail, a dessert drink that’s like taking a shot of spiked maple syrup.

But don’t expect the same drinks every season. Central to the philosophy at Aquavit is seasonality, and seasonality means change. “With the Cocktail Experience tasting format,” said Arnold, “it changes so often because we have the opportunity to create flavors for the menu that normally wouldn’t be on our regular cocktails. This allows for additional creativity as you’re not attempting a crowd pleaser, but you can really concentrate on the flavor profile of the food and a playful way to accentuate it to make for a fun experience for our guests.”

For Arnold, this creative process also means that his drinks should be created to complement the vision of Executive Chef Emma Bengtsson.

“I really try to think of what chef is developing first during a particular season, and then try to find a way to accent her vision behind the bar,” said Arnold. “The bar is an accompaniment to the experience of our menu, so I try to think about the acidity, body, and savory characteristics that will accentuate our cuisine. The bar should not operate independently, and I truly love the collaboration process of how the chef and I work together to integrate the two.”

A Bird From Macao

Two Aquavit cocktails.
Bird from Macao (left) and Fisherman’s Friend (Right). Aquavit

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 ounces blanco tequila
  • 1 ounce pineapple shrub
  • 1/2 ounce Aperol

For the pineapple shrub:

  • 2 parts white vinegar
  • 1 part blended Scotch
  • 1 part water
  • 20% muscovado sugar (or any unrefined sugar)
  • Mustard seeds, all spice, star anise and salt to taste.

Method:

  1. To make the pineapple shrub, cut down a pineapple into chunks.
  2. Add white vinegar, Scotch, water, sugar, and spices to a pot. Bring to a boil. Then simmer for 40-50 minutes.
  3. Turn off heat and let sit until cool. Strain and refrigerate.
  4. For the cocktail, combine blanco tequila, pineapple shrub, and Aperol.
  5. Shake over ice, double strain into coupe glass.

Fisherman’s Friend

Ingredients:

  • 1 ounce cherry aquavit
  • 3/4 ounce kombu Everleaf Marine
  • 1/2 ounce Cherry Heering
  • 1 ounce lime juice
  • Pinch salt
  • 1 pint of red cherries
  • 1 3/4 ounces vodka

Method:

  1. To make cherry aquavit, pit red cherries and soak in 1 3/4 ounces vodka for 3 days, then strain.
  2. To make kombu Everleaf Marine, steep dried kombu sheets in Everleaf Marine. Set aside.
  3. For cocktail, combine all ingredients and shake over ice, double strain into Nick and Nora glass.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Hunter Lu
Hunter Lu
Contributor
Hunter Lu is a New York-based food and features writer, NYU graduate, and Iraq veteran. His fiction has appeared in The Line…
Take a break from pumpkin beer: The best Oktoberfest beers to drink this fall
These delicious drinks are perfect for crisp fall days
Pint of beer

There are at least a handful of holidays (especially drinking centered holidays) that many drinkers don’t really know the true origins of. We know these are special days in which we drink tequila and Mexican beer (Cinco de Mayo), Irish whiskey or dry Irish stouts (St. Patrick’s Day), and giant pints of malty, refreshing German beer (Oktoberfest). And while we’ll get into the other two when the time comes, it’s Oktoberfest’s time in the spotlight.

Oktoberfest is more than simply a day to wear your grandfather’s lederhosen, drink Marzen, eat schnitzel, and listen to oom-pah music. It’s a two-week festival (the actual party is in Munich) that’s celebrated each fall to remember the wedding of Prince Ludwig of Bavaria and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen on October 12, 1810.

Read more
10 smoky scotch whisky options to make those fall campfires magical
Our favorite smoky scotch whisky brands for late-summer drinking
Campfire whisky

The end of summer is barreling toward us like a pumpkin spice-fueled locomotive. Depending on where you live, you’re likely already seeing some signs of fall. The leaves are beginning to change color, the days are getting shorter, and Halloween candy is already on grocery store shelves. Fear not, even with the eventuality that is the end of summer, we still have until September 23 to enjoy all that the season has to offer. For us, it means as many backyard campfires as possible before the weather grows colder. It also means we only have weeks left to pair our fires with a glass of warming Scotch whisky.

Nobody will blame you for complimenting the smoky fire by drinking a complex, non-peated single malt Scotch whisky. For those confused about the spelling, most of the world omits the 'e' when referring to whisky. You also might be wondering the difference between Scotch and whiskey. Well, in the simplest terms, Scotch is a kind of whisky (Americans and the Irish still use the 'e'). So that should put an end to the Scotch vs. whiskey debate once and for all.

Read more
Whiskey upgrade: How to fat wash your favorite whiskey or bourbon to add new depths of flavor
Add flavor to whiskey or bourbon with fat-washing
Whiskey glass

If you pay attention to the cocktail or whiskey world, you’ve probably heard the term “fat-washed” at some point. You also might not have any idea what that means. You might assume you should, so you don’t want to ask anyone and seem foolish, right? It sounds like you’re washing whiskey with some kind of fat, whatever that means. If you think that, you’re on the right track. It is a technique to change the flavor of whiskey (and other spirits), but it has nothing to do with your kitchen sink, washing machine, dishwasher, or anything like that.

In the simplest terms, fat washing is a cocktail technique in which some form of fat (like bacon fat, butter, or some other fat) is added to room-temperature whiskey (like in a dish or sealable container, not a bottle). It sits on the counter for a few hours so the fat can separate from the spirit before being put into a refrigerator or freezer until the fat forms a solid crust on top. Scrap it off or strain it through cheesecloth and you have a buttery, fatty, flavorful whiskey to pour back into a bottle to use in your favorite cocktails. Sounds simple enough. To do it right requires a little bit more effort than that. There are steps that need to be taken.

Read more