Cocktails made with fresh flowers, spices, cold brew and clear ice

At a bar take-over in Marriott Hyderabad, cockatils with fresh flowers, fresh juices and spices were presented

When Kishore Tadikamalla, owner of Goa-based ‘Mixology Studio’ and head of operations at Koox bar(Goa and Chennai) came to Hyderabad for a bar takeover at Altitude, in Marriott hotel, he was sure to floor the guests with his signature drinks. Kishore was clear about what he and his team were going to showcase. Fortune of Magenta, Timeless Negroni, Bourbon Cherry Old Fashioned’, Electric Paloma, Will God Save the Queen and Drinking Tiramisu were part of that showcase.

Every cocktail that was presented after understanding taste and liquor preference of the guest had a story to tell. The bar takeover was no less than a session of understanding sensorial cocktails as Kishore narrated the story and importance of the ingredients to the guests as he presented the drinks. 

What is a Fortune of Magenta? Asked an inquisitive guest. “It is a drink that won an award and came in the top 25 cocktails of World Class Cocktails. The cocktails that we do are sensorial cocktails. It has to please the eyes, it will have drama and finally take your taste buds by surprise. One of the important aspects in pouring out a sensorial cocktail is the ice. We use ice that is processed for 72 hours, it is crystal clear in appearance. In the drink we use Vietnamese butterfly pea flower shrub, lime juice and tonic water.” 

Kishore says they use Vietnamese butterfly blue pea flower because of the floral quality which is lacking in the Indian variety. “Ingredients are the hero for every drink we prepare. For example for drinks that involve jasmine, I would only use Indian jasmine,” he added.  

Going ahead and talking about Timeless Negroni Kishore, a negroni drinker, says negorinis are becoming a hot favourites who don’t like the artificially flavoured sweet and scented cocktails. Giving details on sensorial cocktails, he says as the term suggests, it involves everything from looks, fragrance, flavour and sound. And one of the most important ingredients being the ice. “We used ice that was processed for 72 hours. It is transparent. We also prefer natural colours in my shrubs and tincture,” he explains.  

Coming back to the cocktail , Kishore reveals that it was his lockdown creation. “During the lockdown there was nothing much to do. I started my morning with coffee and drank negroni at night. I decided to mix both and in the process I ended up creating my own negroni. The process was an accident. I used single origin cold brew coffee for the cocktail. How I ended up using a cold brew is I left the coffee in the cold steeping process because I was too lazy to make a brew for the negroni every single time. As a result when I used it to make negroni, the flavour of the drink turned out to be mind-blowing. And I was soon sending drinks to my neighbours during the lockdown because the meeting was not allowed.” 

Kishore informs that the trending drink in places like Dubai, Mexico, London is the Electric Paloma. Meant for alcohol forward cocktails lovers, he explains, “Margaritas are popular but strong. Palomas are easy drinks. Made with tequila, a citrus combination from grapefruit juice, little citric solution, orange soda, and finally spiced with tograshi.“ What is electrifying in the tograshi? To check it out I took a sip. The first sip burned, and one took the second sip as if on reflex.