If you love pour-overs and craft cocktails, then it’s time you start making pour-over craft cocktails. All it takes for this delicious cocktail hack is the same type of pour-over equipment you use to make pour-over coffee, some liquor, and a little bit of ingenuity.
I first realized the potential of pour-over cocktails at a press event hosted by TWIST by Pinch, the craft cocktail division of Pinch Food Design, a catering company in New York City. It was the same event where I learned the magic of the French press coffee cocktail.
Let’s just say it was a night of cocktail life hacks I wish I knew years ago. Glass pour-over cones filled with dried hibiscus flowers and tea sat on top of wooden slats. Blanco tequila and mezcal were slowly poured over the top, and a rose-quartz-pink liquid dripped into glasses underneath. When the glasses were full, a bartender wearing a canvas apron topped the drink with a large ice cube and a fresh hibiscus flower.
“Just as in coffee, the Pour-Over is an instant infusion where we pour a base cocktail over a glass funnel filled with herbs and flowers to absorb the flavors and colors of the aromatics,” the creative designer for the event, T.J. Girard, wrote me in an email after the event. “In the case of the hibiscus cocktail, it infuses immediately. So while the liquid you pour over is initially light in color, it becomes a bright-pink fuchsia right before your eyes. It’s very theatrical and visually stimulating for parties.”
Best of all, you can do this for yourself. (Pro tip: Buy a new pour over kit so you don’t get any coffee flavors where you don’t want them.)
How to make Pinch’s pour-over cocktail
Fill your pour-over funnel with dried hibiscus flower and tea leaves. Slowly pour a mix of blanco tequila, mezcal, and fresh-squeezed lemon juice over the top. Serve.
Basically anything can be turned into a tool for craft cocktails. Before you start getting crazy and innovative, though, try one of these first. You won’t be sorry.
