How To Make Tinctures From Herbs And Spices To Amp Up The Flavors Of Your Cocktails

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Cocktails are a creative culinary expression that allow you to play with ingredients. If you're looking for affordable ways to upgrade your cocktails, one popular way is to use tinctures, which are concentrated bursts of flavor added to drinks in liquid form, usually a couple of drops at a time. We discussed making tinctures with two experts to learn the best ways to create and enjoy these bold flavorings. Brian Callahan, co-owner and beverage director of Darling, and ​​Chris Furtado, the area manager Infinium Spirits, which distributes Tequila Corralejo, spoke exclusively with Chowhound about how to make, use, and store tinctures.

Tinctures are made from a single aromatic ingredient, like an herb or a spice, that's concentrated in liquid form by drawing out its flavor using a neutral alcohol base. The problem with the basic method of making tinctures is how long it takes. Placing the ingredient in a jar, covering it in an alcohol like vodka, and allowing it to sit until infused can take a few days to complete. According to Callahan, there's another effective, faster way to make tinctures. "For tinctures, I like to use a sous vide," he suggested. "I don't do a ton of herb tinctures, but for spices, I sous vide them in grain alcohol at 150°F for 6–12 hours, depending on the intensity I'm looking for."

Furtado shared another approach to quickly create tinctures. "I would recommend using Dave Arnold's fast tincture process," he said. "This method allows you to make tinctures in minutes as opposed to hours or even days." The process is called rapid infusion, and utilizes a nitrous-powered whipped cream dispenser to rapidly infuse a porous ingredient into the alcohol base. Arnold, a food and drink researcher, outlined this method in his book, "Liquid Intelligence: The Art & Science of the Perfect Cocktail." 

With a few principles in mind regarding how flavors work together, you can concoct a masterpiece beverage based on a popular recipe or your own idea. "The important thing is to make sure that the flavor of the tincture works well with the original cocktail ingredients. Sometimes, a flavor combination that sounds good just doesn't work," Chris Furtado explained. "A great resource many accomplished bartenders use is 'The Food Bible' which lists ingredients and everything that goes well with that ingredient," he mentioned. 

Ingredients that work well for interesting tinctures include ​​chili peppers, cilantro, ginger, and sage, according to Furtado. For example, you can create an interesting cocktail using tequila with savory ingredients, such as adding a tincture made of chili peppers to make it spicy. You might also take inspiration from the cocktails best paired with Szechuan peppercorns.

Once you've made your tinctures, you need to store them. "Since tinctures are mostly pure alcohol, they will keep for a long time; weeks or even months. Ideally, they should be stored in a dark colored dropper bottle and kept in a cabinet out of the light if possible," Furtado advised, saying the dropper bottle is preferred since you only use a drop or two of the tinctures in a given drink.