Two cocktails with foam and garnish

Foams vs Airs Part II

How to successfully integrate them into your cocktails.

At first sight, a cocktail with a beautiful foam or air on top can draw attention from guests at the bar, but what’s harder to get right is how that foam or air matches with the rest of the cocktail flavor-wise. How can it enhance or contrast the rest of the drink's ingredients is the true challenge.

 

Estimated reading time: 12 minutes

 

Placing a foam or air on top of a cocktail is the equivalent of ‘placing a cherry on the top’. They turn something good into something great (when done correctly).

At first sight, a cocktail with a beautiful foam or air on top can draw attention from guests at the bar, but what’s harder to get right is how that foam or air matches with the rest of the cocktail flavor-wise. How can it enhance or contrast the rest of the drink's ingredients is the true challenge.

A guest's first sip will be the foam or air that lays on top of it, and it will serve as a preface to the flavor journey to come. If that first sip is overpowering in flavor or heavy in texture, it could overwhelm the rest of the cocktail. Set your intention from the beginning and have a plan on how you would like that foam or air to play with the rest of your ingredients. Let’s take a look at a few ways of how to approach that.

Different Types of Flavor Pairings

Harmonic Flavors

This is a flavor pairing that combines flavors that naturally work well together. Some examples can be for instance peaches and cream or tomatoes and basil to name a few. They are pairings that naturally work well with one another and are regarded as classic pairings. Easy combinations that are sure to work.

Contrasting Flavors

This is a flavor pairing that combines flavors from the opposite fields to balance each other out. Think of sweet and sour, like in the case of sour-style cocktails. Bitter and sweet, like in the case of a Negroni. By creating a cocktail that has its liquid leaning in one direction you can counter-balance it with an air or foam that gravitates in the exact opposite direction. The two together can balance each other out and create a cocktail that can play with the sense of your palette.

Treat your Foam or Air as a cocktail in itself

Your foam or air should be relatively balanced. If it has different ingredients and flavors in it, make sure to measure them out to ensure that they taste good together before you transform the liquid into an air or foam. You don’t want your foam or air to be unbalanced like a badly made cocktail, because it will be the first thing that your guests taste before the liquid hits their lips.

Prosecco Air Recipe

Ingredients

  • 3 oz Prosecco 
  • 0.25 oz Rich Syrup (2:1) 
  • 1.5 oz Verjus
  • 2g Soy Lecithin 

Method

  1. Combine all ingredients in a round container.
  2. Whisk together using an immersion blender until fully combined.
  3. Turn on an aerator and place the air stone into the foaming liquid.
  4. The pumping air will produce more ‘soapy’ air bubbles which can be scooped and placed on top of the drink.
  5. Gently scoop out and place them on your drink - a julep strainer works great for this.

Broken Land Sour Cocktail with Prosecco Air

Try the prosecco air recipe topped on this twist on a vodka sour.

In this cocktail, you have flavors such as peach and orange blossom from the Ketel One Botanicals Peach & Orange Blossom, fat washed with cacao butter for a white chocolate element and shaken with lemon juice. All flavors that pair well together and form the liquid part of this cocktail.

Prosecco is a great addition, especially when thinking of a Bellini, but rather than adding the prosecco directly into the liquid, transforming it into air and layering it on top of the drink can make the cocktail much more interesting.

This is an example of a harmonic flavor between two separate elements that work well together. Both the liquid and the air are balanced and complement each other whilst providing layers that can be enjoyed.

Coconut & Mango Honey Air Recipe

Ingredients

  • 50g Lacto Fermented Mango-Scented Honey
  • 3 oz Coconut Water
  • 3g Versawhip or Albumin
  • 2 N20 Cartridges

Method

  1. Combine all ingredients in a round container.
  2. Whisk together using an immersion blender until fully combined.
  3. Pour into a 750ml Siphon and close.
  4. Charge with the first N20 cartridge and shake vigorously for 10 seconds.
  5. Charge again with the last cartridge and shake for another 10 seconds. 
  6. Leave to rest in the fridge for at least 20 minutes before using to top your serve.

Universally Speaking Cocktail with Coconut & Mango Honey Air

Try the coconut and mango honey air recipe topped on this twist on a Scotch sour.

This is an example of a cocktail that has contrasting flavors between the liquid and the foam.

The liquid part of the cocktail leans on the sweeter side, but it’s balanced by the salty and savory foam that lies on top of it.

The lacto-fermented mango honey foam is higher in acid and salt, which helps to balance the sweetness and tropical flavors of the liquid lying underneath it.

Key Takeaways

  • Airs and foams are just a single element to help elevate a cocktail, never to take away from it.
  • They can make cocktails go from one-dimensional to multi-sensorial by providing texture, additional flavor, aromas, and most importantly something new and exciting.
  • Airs and foams are highly photogenic and help to elevate the guest experience.
  • Cocktails using airs and foams can be priced higher because of their visual impact and wow-factor.
  • They can work well as a classic harmonic flavor pairing or as a contrasting flavor pairing with a liquid.
  • They remain separate yet in sync with the rest of the drink.

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