If we’ve learned anything about cocktail trends, it’s that they can tackle just about everything. We live in a world where you can order a cereal-infused drink made with a favorite breakfast item of old. An idea can seem silly at first, and the next thing you know, it’s being added to every shaker tin out there and strained into our collective glass. Next up, the pizza cocktail. While bars have been toying around with these somewhat quietly for years, they seem to be getting some footing at the moment. The timing seems good, as curious imbibers are eager to stretch their palates out, trying flavor profiles like savory and umami in addition to more conventional ones like sour or sweet.
Smoked cocktails had a nice run, and a garnish-packed Bloody Mary recipe is only good so often (and quite filling). Are we poised for the breakout of the pizza cocktail? A growing number of bars seem to think so. Double Chicken Please broke the pizza cocktail scene open with its debut in 2020. The World’s Best Bar list-maker debuted the Cold Pizza, a mix of blanco tequila, Parmesan, burnt toast, basil, tomato, honey, and egg white. Well, the trend has returned.
Bars in various boroughs of NYC and beyond are making the drink. With so many ways to do pizza, there are likewise nearly infinite ways to do the drink. Which makes the whole thing kind of fun, on top of the fact that most people simply adore a good savory pie. Nothing beats pizza in New York, except maybe a pizza cocktail? We will see if it can hold up.
The TMNT Negroni, pictured above, is the work of Sama ‘Za in New York City. The drink, offering a rad reference to the pizza-loving Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, is made with Condesa Clásica Gin, along with parmesan, white bitters, and tomato water. It’s served as the cocktail equivalent of a warm slice atop a paper plate, filling up a pretty standard cup as opposed to a chic glass. Over in the Lower East Side, people are sipping a different version made by the staff at After Eden. The drink, dubbed Pizzah!, is made with Parmesan-infused Mijenta tequila, basil-tomato Lo-Fi Dry Vermouth milk punch, and pizza dried spices with basil oil. It’s a beautiful drink that very much looks the part.
Elsewhere, sibling versions are being concocted. Some are using different infusions, others are going maximal with garnishes not unlike what you’d throw on your favorite pizza slice. Overall, it’s fun, and we could use a little more fun right now. The trend follows the revival of drinks like dirty Martinis and turns it up a few notches. I mean, we love different genres of the stuff, from Detroit and New Haven to Chicago-style pizza. Why not have cocktail-style pizza?
Why not indeed. That’s the question a growing number of bars are asking, and we’re eager to check out the results. Because pizza is timeless, in just about any incarnation.
