[imagesource: The Cocktail Project]

In a world where you can choose interesting and spicy, why would anyone choose boring and plain?

As much of a delight as the classic two-part cocktails are, there’s a rich world of herbs and spices offering a wealth of complex and interesting flavours for cocktail makers and drinkers to explore.

You might have popped a basil or rosemary leaf in your gin and tonic, which is fun, but the real kick will come from the spice rack.

The possibilities for experimentation are endless, whether you’re squashing a jalapeño into your margarita or crushing ginger into your ale.

Working with a good bespoke mixer is also important to allow the flavours and aromas to be properly released.

Let’s take a look at what and how to incorporate various spices into your drinks.

Cinnamon

With the flavour and aroma of Christmas and snuggles, this spice makes all things nice.

You can try out a Cinnamon Spice Moscow Mule, which includes making a cinnamon simple syrup by cooking water, cinnamon sticks, and brown sugar together.

Image: Bake Me Some Sugar

You can add the syrup to some vodka, Fitch & Leedes ginger ale, and lime juice for the ultimate winter warmer.

Anise

We will stick to the warm and aromatic vibes since the cold is very much on its way.

Native to Southwest Asia and the Mediterranean region, anise, aniseed, or anix, is recognisable by its unique flower shape.

It is the perfect cocktail addition to this cosy Bourbon cocktail, aptly named, A Long Winter’s Nap.

It incorporates maple syrup infused with cardamom, star anise, ginger, and a little squeeze of lemon juice. If you’re up for it, you can even add in a few Douglas-fir twigs.

Black Pepper

Don’t assume that black pepper is exclusive to food as it has also had an effect in the cocktail world.

For this common spice, you’ll be using a muddling technique, which is basically gently mashing ingredients like fruits, herbs, and spices into a drink to enhance the complexity, aroma, flavour, and texture.

You can use a wooden muddler in a bowl, a mortar and pestle, or if you are feeling fancy, an electric spice grinder.

A Strawberry Pepper G&T would be the best way to experiment with this spice:

Image: My Food Story

Crush a few strawberry slices along with peppercorns until it’s all nicely macerated. Add that mix with some ice, simple syrup, lemon juice, gin, and of course, Fitch & Leedes Indian Tonic.

You can also get spicy with paprika, cumin, coriander seeds, and cloves, according to Glass Of Bubbly.

Just remember to make sure you’re complementing your choice of spice and alcohol with a range of premium mixers, like Fitch & Leedes, each with its own unique flavour.

Hey, spicing things up a little never hurt anybody.

[source:glassofbubbly]