Salt in Cocktails | The Secret To Great Tasting Cocktails?

Saline, simply put, is salt diluted in water. Salt as we know is almost a “chef’s kiss” to making dishes taste great. But salt in cocktails? How does that work… Lets find out.

Photo: Drops of Saline

Salt In Food

In food, salt is more than just a seasoning - it’s an essential flavour in our food. It can intensify aromas, balance other flavours, and preserve food for months or even years. - source

There are 5 basic tastes that every dish is made up from: Umami, Bitter, Sweet, Sour and salt. Making food and drink taste amazing is a science of balancing these flavours. There are many ways you can add a sense of saltiness to a dish, the easiest being of course - actual salt.

Within food, salt can suppress bitterness and balance sweetness. Making it the perfect finishing touch to most dishes.

However, in drinks, salt is something we rarely see. Why is that? Salt is used in 90% of dishes or so it seems, but in drinks. Its a rarity. 

And yet food and drink have so much in common, like food, drinks are still a balance of those 5 flavours, drinks still rely on looks, texture and mouthfeel. So why don’t we use salt in drinks?

The reason salt is often unseen in cocktails

One of the reasons salt is unseen in the world of cocktails is because its very easy to overdo it. Too much salt can ruin a dish, but at the end of the day, people like salt. A “salty” meal can still be extremely delicious. The difference in your pinch of salt and my pinch of salt might be very different, but the end meal will still taste near enough the same. That's because food often relies more on the “umami” or savoury aspect of the range of basic tastes. 

Even foods that rely on sweetness can still use a large amount of salt - salted caramel, salted chocolate etc…

We have just came to expect a level of saltiness to our food

In cocktails, we rely much more on the sweet and sour side of the basic tastes. Salt isn't something we expect to see. So when you taste salt in a cocktail, it can immediately be off putting.

As well as that, cocktails are a combination of liquid ingredients and salt does not dissolve well in cold liquid, especially alcohol.

So to sum up, the reason we don’t see salt in cocktails is A) no one wants a salty drink and B) It's hard to dissolve within a drink

So why am I talking about salt being the secret to great tasting cocktails?

Salt with Margaritas

Their is a place where we are usually familiar with the idea of salt in cocktails. And that’s when it comes to the Margarita.

In-fact, Tequila in general we’re use to seeing salt. Such as with the tequila slammer shot (which isn’t Mexican)

So why add salt to a margarita?

We add salt to margaritas and use salt for a margarita rim for much the same reason we use salt for every other cocktail. To enhance the flavors. In particular, salt works great with citrus. But for some reason, it only took of with the Margarita. The truth of the matter is that you could also add a salt rim to a Daiquiri, a white lady, a bees knees, a Whisky sour - basically any sour cocktail and it’d work the same.

Someone just once started serving margaritas with salt and it took of and became a margarita thing.

Why do you put salt in drinks?

When it comes to using salt in cocktails, we aren’t necessarily going for a “salty” taste. In-fact, the aim is not to taste the salt at all. The reason we want to use salt in our cocktails is to enhance the other flavours. Salt will help balance the sour and sweetness, it will help bring out more subtle notes and enhance main flavours of a cocktail. 

For example, the right amount of salt inside a margarita will bring out the zesty flavours within the orange liqueur and balance the sweetness with the sour. Even in stirred drinks like an Old Fashioned. A few drops of salt can soften that whisky and bring out the earthiness of the bitters. Making it perceive more sweeter without adding more sugar. Leaving the flavour of the Old Fashioned intact with just that little touch of “brightness”

This can be difficult to do, finding that right balance where the salt can work it's “sciency” magic but not so much that it makes your drink taste of salt. The difference can be that of 0.5g. Its a difficult task, especially when you take into consideration not all cocktails are the same. Some cocktails you can get away with adding more salt, others you can barely get away with a small pinch.

So at this point, we know that adding salt (even if we can't taste the salt) can significantly better the taste of our cocktails. And I know I haven’t gone into much detail with the science behind why it does that, I’m trying to keep this as less confusing as possible, if you want to find out more about that check out this article by the independent about the science of salt in food. the science is transferable to cocktails.

We also know that it's very difficult to find that perfect amount of salt. So you’re probably wondering how the hell we can easily reap the benefits of flavour enhanced cocktails with salt? Here's where saline comes into play…

What is Saline

Photo: Homemade Saline

Saline is a mixture of salt and water. By dissolving salt in warm water and using it in the forms of drops. We directly solve those problems of salt in cocktails.

Why do cocktails have saline?

Those problems being A) the difficulty to dissolve salt in cocktails because we have already dissolved it and B) the difficult to find balance seems so we have diluted the flavour down into water, we can add it a drop at a time. This small amount of salt means we can adjust more, whereas “pinches” of salt are very inconsistent and can be easily over done.

You want to use saline in the form of drops. And depending on what ingredients you have affects the way the salt reacts. Drinks high in citrus tend to get more of a refreshing feel, certain ingredients become more aromatic. Adding just a few drops of saline is a very quick, easy, and cheap way to take your cocktails to the next level and amplify flavours within them. 

Think of saline as your flavour booster as opposed to a salt flavouring.

Saline Solution for Cocktails

Step one

• Dissolve 1 teaspoon of salt per 100ML of purified water. It helps dissolve the salt if you use boiling water.

Step two

• Funnel your saline into a dropper bottle

Step three

• Use 2 drops in any cocktail, taste and adjust.