Aqua Fizz (top) and Plum Infused Vodka with Champagne are the newest champagne cocktails

“Is there anything more beautiful than a beautiful, beautiful flamingo, flying across in front of a beautiful sunset? And he’s carrying a beautiful rose in his beak, and also he’s carrying a very beautiful painting with his feet. And also, you’re drunk.” Jack Handy (American humourist)

Blame it on the giddy delights of the cocktails the bartender is mixing especially for you. The first concoction gets you going for the next. And the one right after that just takes over. But before you take long, thirsty sips of the same old Screwdriver, do ask the barman ‘What’s new?’ You will get a lowdown on the ‘It’ cocktails alright.

The cocktail trends of the moment call for lighter bodied drinks, throwing in a little bit of fizz and style with lovely sparkling wines and even whisking up ‘green’ drinks. The menus are doing away with the synthetic ingredients that are now yesterday’s flavours. “Synthetic flavours such as fruit syrups are being phased out. Fresh fruits bring in a fresh new touch. The prices may go up, but the end product is worth it,” says Sahil Grewal who tends the bar at Agni, The Park’s lounge in Delhi.

What has also been tossed out is the myth that a good cocktail needs to be packed with a whole lot of ingredients. “A few elements in the right proportion can result in a fantastic drink,” says Naveen Kotyankar, corporate beverage manager, Impresario Entertainment & Hospitality that owns the swish list of hangouts like Salt Water Grill and DelItalia in Mumbai, Smoke House Grill in Delhi and Stone Water Grill in Pune.

Here’s a look at the stars of the moment:

Organic cocktails

Apple Cinnamon Mojito and Daniel’s Delight (above) are light-bodied cocktails

Consider this: you are saving the world with the organic cocktail. Of course, a few drinks later good health may fly out of the window, but eco-conscious drinks promise dashes of health with the fruits, herbs and spices used in the concoctions. Cocktails & Dreams, a hip and bohemian bar in Goa’s Baga area has just picked up on the international trend of serving eco-friendly drinks.

Now organic doesn’t mean that the drink will come with a strand of wheatgrass, as Vishal Fatnani, owner of Cocktails & Dreams, will have you know. Organic cocktails come in two categories — one kind uses organic spirits distilled from organic fruit or grain and the other makes use of organic ingredients. In India, the ingredients are kept organic for eco-friendly drinks. “You will get a mango ripened chemically even if it is not seasonal. Instead we use the fruits of the season. The products come right off the stall of an organic vendor,” points out Fatnani.

According to bar consultant Shatbhi Basu, the trend is yet to catch up in this country. She says: “It is big in the States where there are bars dedicated to the green cause stocking everything organic.”

But even as one gets to guzzle drinks free of harmful chemicals and pesticides, the term ‘organic cocktail’ turns out to be an oxymoron. “It is being touted as a healthy cocktail and that is ironical because when have health and drinks walked hand in hand?” chuckles Kotyankar as he tinkers with basil and kiwi with a base of vodka for his glass of ‘healthy’ cocktail.

A word of caution though: Eco-friendly doesn’t translate into hangover-friendly!

Light-bodied cocktails

Flavour trumps over spirits in these mixers. It means chopped up fruits being muddled and even pieces of them left floating in the drink to be felt on the palate.

Less alcohol goes into light cocktails. The emphasis for instance, at Cocktails & Dreams, is on only fresh fruits. No canned fruits will do here. “The feel is Mediterranean. We have a few Portuguese-style cocktails which are whisked out of white spirits. They also happen to be sweet,” says Fatnani.

At the party den Underground in Calcutta, barman Subhashish Ghosh’s favourite light mixes are daiquiris and caprioskas that are redolent of bananas, kiwis, apples, litchis, peaches, strawberries and mangoes. How does one use curd to make a light cocktail? Ask Rajnish Rao from Tantra, The Park, Calcutta. He will make you a cool lassi cocktail laced with fruits like mango or kiwi along with a touch of vanilla.

Infusions

Vallaaa is a hip new sparkling wine cocktail

Vodka-based infusions, immensely popular in places like Ibiza, bring along a touch of the exotic. Vodka having a neutral taste, is the most logical spirit for infusion experts to steep it with herbs, nuts, veggies and fruits. “It’s a little like bringing the kitchen into the bar,” says Basu.

Aromatic infusions of fresh lemon grass, jasmine flowers and even paan supari in cocktails are a big hit in the partying circuit. They linger long on the taste buds as a result of the herbs and flowers infused in the vodka. “A strong flavoured infusion will have the ingredients sitting in it for a period of one month to about two or three days,” says Grewal who has been experimenting with infusions of cashews, raisins and pistachios.

Once the infusion is ready, it is strained and served chilled in a Martini glass, mixed with other spirits or tossed down as a shooter. The secret to a great infusion is to use fresh ingredients, reduced amounts of sweetener to let more of the natural flavours come through and also to know the right amount of time for which the ingredient should be kept inside the vodka.

“Say coriander would decay quickly and lend a greater flavour while ingredients like lemon grass and ginger would take more than three-four days. Another trick is to increase the amount of ingredients for a stronger flavour within a short span of time,” advises bar consultant Nischal Gurung.

Wine cocktails

Kotyankar’s Sangria Bianco (above) has a white wine base while Gurung goes with table wines to impart a unique flavour and body to the classic Sangria

Wine snobs, avert your eyes. There has been a metamorphic change from the time one had the Spanish Sangria — that ubiquitous red wine concoction.

“The Sangria is now being made with rosés and white wines. One can add fruity flavours of cranberry, peaches, apricots, apples and herbs such as rosemary, thyme, cinnamon and basil,” notes Kotyankar.

His favourite is the Sangria Bianco which calls for dashes of apple juice, peach schnapps, apricot brandy and fresh lemongrass. It is garnished with juliennes of peaches, pears, apples and oranges for added measure. Adds Kotyankar: “There’s something about white wine. It doesn’t overpower other flavours. The apple rings a bell, a hint of lemongrass comes through. On the whole, it is a fabulous experience — sipping on the Sangria Bianco.”

If you would not like to ‘waste’ your best wine, take a cue from Gurung. The bar consultant goes with table wines to concoct fruity cocktails. For instance, for the classic Sangria, he mixes orange juice, orange liqueur and lemon juice with Sula.

For the calorie conscious, there’s incentive to try out the spritzer which is nothing but club soda and white wine zested up with a twist of lemon. Grewal pours out special white wine cocktails that have simply jasmine and rose water added in. He says: “Not only do they promise fewer calories but good blood circulation as well.”

Champagne cocktails

They exude elegance. Apart from imparting the cocktail with a wonderful fizz.

Once upon a time there was just the odd Kir Royale with five parts of champagne added to one part of Crème de Cassis. The other was a flute of Mimosa — chilled orange juice and champagne.

Now you can even have a Martini with sparkling wine. Say plum Martini of muddled plums and vodka topped up with the bubbly is a hotseller. “In a cocktail, champagne not only lends the taste of grapes but adds a hint of fizz,” says Kotyankar. Or even with gin. Try Jacuzzi, a cocktail with gin, Peach Schnapps and champagne at Fatnani’s bar in Goa. Another hit here is the Equalizer. It mixes vodka, fresh raspberry, lemon and champagne.

At Tantra, Rao adds Thai grapes soaked overnight in Blue Curaçao to sparkling wine to make a cocktail he calls Aqua Fizz. Basu also bets on champagne cocktails for an evening. She says: “The classics are making a comeback with the Bellini, flavoured with peaches and Mimosa flavoured with orange liqueur and orange juice. Another version of Mimosa using melon liqueur is also de rigeur.”

So, the next time you stretch out your hand for a drink, you know what to ask for.