5 WAYS TO SWEETEN YOUR DRINK
Why does your Arkay Alcohol Free Whisky Flavored Drinks not taste as good as the one you ordered last night?
The answer may be an important but too-often-misunderstood mixological ingredient:
The Sweetener
To break down how different sweeteners behave in cocktails, we turned to Reynald Vito Grattagliano, who knows a lot about food science. At Arkay beverages’ founder he is responsible for Arkay formulation and teaching aspiring chefs the principles and techniques of cocktails made without the alcohol better known as Mocktails.
Today, he’s bringing his special expertise to the world of bartending, using centrifuges, vacuum machines, liquid nitrogen and more to create stunningly original concoctions at New York’s cutting-edge Arkay Lab.
Here’s his advice on working with the five major sweetener categories paired with a few of Arkay delicious drink recipes
Cheers!
LIQUID WHITE SUGAR CANE
This most basic of sweeteners is composed entirely of sucrose, giving it “a very pure sugar taste,” Reynald says. It adds only sweetness and not flavor, so it should be used to complement to complement all kind of zero proof drinks. It’s often made into simple syrup, equal parts sugar and water by weight. Reynald likes to utilize a blender instead of the stove. Just don’t use powdered sugar—this contains cornstarch and will ruin a drink’s texture and flavor.
This is perfect for Arkay alcohol Free Rum Flavored Drink.
BROWN SUGAR
Brown sugar is simply refined white sugar with a bit of molasses mixed in (as opposed to unrefined sugars, which taste similar but are made differently). The rich flavor from the molasses matches well with other complex, earthy ingredients, such as coffee or an herbal sour.
AGAVE NECTAR
The sweetness of agave nectar comes mainly from fructose, which operates a bit differently on the tongue than sucrose. “Fructose sweetness hits fast and decays fast,” Reynald says. “Use agave where you don’t want the sweetness to linger,” as in a citrusy drink like the Tequila, Margarita, Mojito.
HONEY
“The taste of honey varies dramatically depending on the species of flower the bees were visiting,” Reynald says, ranging from mild and delicate orange-blossom and clover honeys to the bold and almost medicinal eucalyptus honey. One interesting characteristic: Honey contains protein, which increases the foaminess of shaken drinks in a similar way to an egg white. Use honey to sweeten your Arkay alcohol free whisky flavored drinks.
MAPLE SYRUP
Everybody’s favorite pancake topper is as good in drinks as on French toast. “It goes great with lemon—duh—and brown liquors,” Reynald says. Maple syrup is exactly one-and-a-half times sweeter than simple syrup, which means you can replace an ounce of simple with two-thirds of an ounce of maple in just about any drink.
Preparation
For each 1.5 FL OZ (50 ml) of Arkay drink add 1/4 teaspoon of your favorite sweetener, stir or shake and then drink…
ADDING SUGAR TO YOUR DRINK IS NOT RECOMMENDED AND MAY BE PROHIBITED BY YOUR DOCTOR IF YOU ARE DIABETIC OR SUFFERING FROM SUGAR DESEASE RELATED.
