Don’t pour that pickle juice down the drain. It’s a cocktail darling

A dirty pickle martini, made with vodka, spicy pickle brine and a pickle garnish, is displayed at The Penrose bar in New York. (Katie Workman via AP)

NEW YORK — If you have a cocktail scene in your neck of the woods (and it’s safe to say that I do in NYC), you might have noticed the words “pickle juice” appearing more often on drink menus.

Pickles and pickle brine have been an ingredient that mixologists — and chefs -- have played with for a long time, but they’re finally getting a star turn in beverage menus around the world.

Pickle juice is salty, tangy acidic, and sometimes a little spicy. It adds zing to all kinds of cocktails.

“Pickles are a great gateway into savory cocktails,” says Camille Goldstein, managing partner of Muddling Memories, a Brooklyn-based hospitality company that promotes beverages as an experience.

“The sweet-salty brine of a pickle really creates an interesting depth of flavor for your margarita, martini or even a highball.”

A drink called the Pickleback has been popular for years. Said to have originated at a Brooklyn bar called Bushwick Country Club, it consists of a shot of whiskey followed by a shot of pickle brine. Word spread.

Now, pickle juice has been making its way into all kinds of cocktails, from margaritas to martinis to micheladas. The pickle juice martini, in particular, has taken off; it’s kind of a twist on a dirty martini (usually made with olive juice).

It’s all part of a pickle and fermentation renaissance in many food categories.

The many variations of the pickle martini

Watering holes known for their pickle martinis include Rizzo’s Bar & Inn in Chicago; Belle’s Bagels, Delicatessen and Bar in Los Angeles; Maison Pickle and The Penrose in New York; Reata in Forth Worth, Texas; The Loutrel in Charleston, South Carolina; and Old Pony Martini Pub in Grosse Point, Michigan, among other places.

At The Penrose, they serve up about 100 pickle martinis a day, made with McClure’s Pickles spicy brine and ALB vodka, says bartender Heaven Cluesman. Once shaken, he says, the brine creates a foamy layer on top of the drink. A garnish of a couple of pickle slices on a skewer makes it clear what’s in the glass.

Casa Thirteen on the Lower East Side of Manhattan (where Jewish immigrants sold pickles in the late 19th and early 20th centuries) makes a spicy pickle martini with pickle juice spiked with hot peppers, vodka and vermouth (recipe below). The bartender, Reinaldo Maria, says the restaurant makes its own pickles, and cocktails are a good way to use the spicy brine — a nice little restaurant-kitchen ecosystem.

And beyond martinis

Pickle juice is a great foil to fatty foods, so a pickle juice cocktail is a nice accompaniment to burgers, steaks, chops, duck and other rich meals. But note: It contains a lot of sodium, so if you are reducing salt in your diet, keep that in mind.

Other pickle-juice drinks of note:

The “Mr. Pickles” shooter at The Barbershop Cuts and Cocktails in Las Vegas is a shot of whisky served with a hollowed-out pickle filled with pickle brine.

You’ll find a Pickle Negroni with gin, aquavit, vermouth, bitter bianco, cucumber and dill brine at Little Bear in Atlanta.

And at the Hollywood Lounge at Disneyland in California, there’s a Pickle Michelada, made with beer, pickle juice, tomato mix and chile lime seasoning, garnished with a pickle spear.

“The beauty of pickle brine is that it plays nicely and favorably with all the other aspects of flavors in a cocktail, aka bitter, sweet, salt, sour and spicy,” says Goldstein.

Fast-food restaurants put pickles in drinks

Pickle juice is appearing in more non-alcoholic drinks as well. Popeyes Chicken introduced Pickle Lemonade this spring as part of a limited-time-only pickle menu.

And V8 Grillo’s Pickles has partnered with Sonic on a limited-time, pickle-centric menu including the “Picklerita Slush,” a sweet-tart beverage made with pickle juice, lime and fizzy pickle “flavor bubbles” (topped with a Grillo’s Pickle Chip).

Making one at home

If pickles aren’t your thing, then it’s unlikely a pickle juice cocktail will be either. But if you like pickles, don’t knock it ’til you’ve sipped it.

To try a pickle cocktail at home, pick up a pack of Spritz Society’s Pickle Spritzers, made with wine, carbonated water and Claussen’s pickle juice. Or look for canned Dill Pickle Bloody Mary mix (non-alcoholic) from V8 Grillo’s Pickles. Enjoy it as a mocktail, or use it as a mixer and add a shot of your favorite spirit.

Here’s one recipe:

Casa Thirteen’s Spicy Pickle Martini

The bar enhances their pickle juice with hot peppers, but you can use the strained brine from any store-bought spicy pickles. You could also add a splash of brine from pickled hot peppers to bump up the heat in your cocktail.

Ingredients:

.75 ounce spicy pickle juice

1 1/2 ounces vodka (the bar uses Grey Goose, but any vodka will do)

.5 ounces dry vermouth

Pickled basque pepper or pickled jalapeno to garnish (optional)

Directions:

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add the pickle juice, vodka and vermouth and shake until the outside of the shaker is ice cold. Strain and pour into a martini glass. Garnish with the pickled pepper, if desired. Serve cold.

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Katie Workman writes regularly about food for The Associated Press. She has written two cookbooks focused on family-friendly cooking, “Dinner Solved!” and “The Mom 100 Cookbook.” She blogs at https://themom100.com/. She can be reached at [e-mail].

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Katie Workman, The Associated Press