If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that bars are resilient and remain important fixtures in human culture. More recently, we’ve learned the importance of everything from a good espresso Martini recipe to how flavors like banana can gain new life by way of a talented mixologist. At the moment, bartenders see focused on both on streamlining processes without sacrificing a single ounce of quality.
Enter carbonated cocktails, an approach that does exactly that. And it does more, like injecting the drink with added vigor and an additional layer of texture. Plus, it’s just kind of fun.
Luis Hernandez is the director of food and beverage at top NYC bar Hello Hello. He started playing around with CO₂ in drinks almost a decade ago. Turns out, there are a lot of compelling reasons go bubbly with certain cocktail programs.
“The first time I made a carbonated cocktail was in 2017 for the Bombay Sapphire Most Imaginative Bartender Competition,” he says. “I wanted to do a competition where I didn’t use traditional bartending tools so the drink was carbonated on the spot using an iSi Whipper. The drink was served hot and cold, and the best way to get the proper temperature to hold the hot foam on top was high carbonation.”
Hernandez was kind enough to reveal what carbonated cocktails bring to the table. And it’s way more than just some gas in your favorite liquid.
The advantages
On a macro scale, carbonation is usually relied upon for quality control. Big producers use the gas to keep their beverages alike as well as offer a preservative of sorts. At the bar level, it’s more about nuance.
“CO₂ gives a drink structure and energy,” Hernandez says. “It can make a cocktail feel lighter and more refreshing, push acidity forward, and help rein in sweetness. When it’s done right, the texture feels clean and crisp while elevating flavor, aroma, acid, and the look. There’s nothing like seeing a nicely carbonated drink to make you want to dive in.”
Often, his team will test carbonated and still versions of the same drinks side by side. The results can be quite eye-opening and dynamic.
“Carbonated versions usually feel brighter and more lifted, with aroma and acidity coming through more clearly,” Hernandez says. “The non-carbonated versions tend to go flat quicker and can only be made in one way, where house carbonated cocktails can be tailored to the specific ingredients, glass, and goals of the drink. Some drinks are better with more and some with less bubbles; customizability is important.”
There’s a playful aspect too that tends to get overlooked. Carbonated drinks tend to remind of the sodas of youth and that element plays nicely with our current obsession with nostalgia in
The art of batching
Obstacles within the art of carbonated cocktails tend to come in the form of batching. Bartenders will make large quantities up front, and that requires careful ratios, among other things.
“The challenges are to make sure that things are done properly, we batch 70-100 cocktails depending on the cocktail and carbonating properly, with clear ingredients, and tasting all the way through, but one mistake can ruin a whole batch,” he says. That means paying close attention every step of the way and, in the event you’re going draft, ensuring the lines are clean and the overall temperature of the drink is taken into account.
“The advantages are the consistency and specificity of the precise level of carbonation we need for our cocktail and the speed of the service,” he says. “No matter what we do, we do everything with the guest in mind and giving them a drink quickly that’s perfect every time.”
Efficiency and quality, all rolled into one. That’s a big plus offered by these fizzy concoctions and we anticipate they’ll be taking over even more bars as 2026 stretches on.
Really, forced gas injection is an element of molecular gastronomy. There’s a science to it all and mixologists are taking full advantage. That’s precisely way at Hello Hello, you’ll find a nitro espresso Martini and Red Bull Vodka on the menu. And it’s likely you’ll find more carbonated options down the line.
But you can’t rush the process, even though efficiency may be a byproduct in the end. As Hernandez says, it takes some time for the gas to settle into its liquid home. “You can’t rush it if you wan’t the flavor to shine,” he says.
Be on the lookout for carbonated cocktails. Hello Hello is among a somewhat small group of bars bringing the angle to light but we’re sensing a trend in the works. Given slowing beer sales and all of those draft lines out there, we’re sensing something of an opportunity for intrepid bartenders all over the land.
