Take a seat, nostalgic 90s drinks and martini made with cheese; a new cocktail trend has arrived. This one is named soy, and bartenders are using the umami-focused ingredient to elevate their offerings. Sure, soy sauce is more often used in cooking, but if marsala wine cocktails taught us anything, it’s that a savory pantry staple can do great in a drink.
A little goes a long way with soy sauce and top mixologists treat it like a chef might treat a special herb blend or some kind of seasoning. A few dashes here and there can add depth to familiar drinks like the Martinez or a great Old Fashioned. Best, the umami notes pair up nicely with with Asian ingredients like yuzu, lychee, lemongrass, and more.
Naren Young is the beverage director at Miami Beach’s Sweet Liberty. His menu includes some tropical staples but also some cool twists on classics. His avocado Margarita is made with tequila, mezcal, Ancho Reyes, Cointreau, aloe liqueur, avocado puree, lime, and black pepper.
“I’ve not found a lot of applications for regular soy sauce as it’s quite an aggressive flavor (though I have toyed with it in the past in a Japanese-inspired Bloody Mary). But white soy has a beautiful elegance to it that can add both acidity and umami, as I continue to always look for more ways to add texture and more complex nuances to our drinks,” Young says. Be sure to check out his milk punch recipe, below, for a great example of a cocktail taking on the many powers of soy sauce.
Over at the Brooklyn Kura taproom in NYC, the bar staff is also taking advantage of soy. Bar manager Kyle Davis has put together a string of savory-minded cocktails, like the Ellie, made with mushroom gin, Facia Brutto, sweet vermouth, and shochu. He’s also mixing up something dubbed a Weekend Lover (MSG, ube, coconut, sake, sweet potato shochu, rum, and lime) and Lemon, It’s Wednesday (shochu, miso, tamari, limoncello, coconut, and sake).
Ricky Ramirez is the owner of The Mothership in Milwaukee. His award-winning bar program includes drinks featuring things like Bolivia’s national spirit and concoctions like Improved Amaretto Sour, made with amaretto, barrel-proof bourbon, lemon, sugar, and fee foam. Presently, he’s using soy in the form of ponzy in a drink called She’s Not Humanbeing.
“It’s awesome to use savory ingredients like soy to act as a seasoning to other ingredients in a cocktail,” he says. “In cordials, I’ve made in the past, I tend to stick with a five-to-one ratio of sugar to savory ingredients like soy. The ponzu in our cordial in “She’s Not Humanbeing” is cooked with sugar and boiled to a gentle boil, and then we steep dried Hawthorn berries in the mix. We then add Yuzu sake and Yuzu Curacao to brighten the cordial before we acid adjust it to lemon strength. It’s the primary citrus component to this riff on a French 75 that is savory but also bright and floral.”
And that’s just the beginning. Brooklyn’s Wenwen is incorporating soy into its beverage program. The Taiwanese restaurant is mixing up the San Bei GG, a combo of sesame cachaca, ginger, winter melon, Thai basil, and dark soy sauce. Then there’s fellow NYC establishment Wiggle Room, throwing soy in its Slam Dunk Disco. The mezcal-based cocktail includes reposado tequila, Cocchi Americano, Aveze, white miso, banana, and apricot.
JP’s Milk Punch
“Milk punches have a very silky texture from the dairy in there, but they shouldn’t be too sweet,” Young says. “This one has subtle notes of green tea, and the sweetness is balanced by the lemon juice, white soy, and Champagne.”
Ingredients:
- 1 ¼ ounces Grey Goose (infused with JoJo Mao Feng green tea)
- ¾ ounce sake
- Barspoon Pierre Ferrand Yuzu Curacao
- Barspoon Luxardo Bitter Bianco
- 1 ounce kiwi syrup
- ½ ounce goat milk (for clarification)
- ½ ounce lemon juice
- 3 drops white soy sauce
- ½ ounce water
- Splash champagne
Method:
- Combine all ingredients in a shaker and stir.
- Pour in teacup and add a splash of Champagne.
- Garnish with slice of dried kiwi on the side.
While many kinds of soy sauces can find a great home in a drink, as Young points out, a lot of bartenders prefer the more subtle attributes of white soy, or shiro. Lighter in color and flavor, this style is more wheat-based and brings some added sweetness to the salty foundation.
As you try at home, start small with your additions, and be sure to try out different soy sauce styles (you can get great infused options from your local Asian supermarket). And if you’re feeling really crafty, make your own soy sauce and wow your next group of happy hour guests. Soy sauce is an art form as old as time, so it’s no wonder it can elevate the right kind of cocktail. Consider using it as a finished like you would bitters or adding some to your sweetener (agave, simple syrup, etc.) to add some umami notes to that sweetness.
