SPIRITED BLENDING

STAND OUT IN THE CROWD WITH SIGNATURE BLENDED DRINKS

BY CYNTHIA NIMS

It's said that to every thing there is a season, but apparently that's not true with blender drinks. At least not based on the experience of Olive
Garden restaurants, which see a staggering 80% of their spirit sales attributed to blender drinks. (They have 8 to 10 on the menu at any given time.)

The Olive Garden folks have studied the seasonal angle to best understand if diners are more interested in slushy-fruity drinks during summer, and richer, more filling ice cream-based drinks in winter. Michelle Kern, manager of beverage development and education for the 534-restaurant group, notes that while that may be a logical assumption, instead, Olive Garden customers are consistently choosing from the whole spectrum throughout the year, so managers don't really need to shift their menu to accommodate seasonal swings.

"Most people come to Olive Garden to escape, to relax," explains Kern. "They want something special and unique, drinks that are somewhat more involved." These are the kind of drinks customers are less likely to prepare for themselves at home. Blender drinks fill that bill with style, and clearly are fulfilling customer expectations with such high sales volumes.

While not a blender drink per se, the Olive Garden granitas--a signature presentation of blended spirits served in a Martini glass lined with crushed ice--are a top-seller. The two house specialties, which debuted last summer, are the Berry Granita (Stoli Razberi vodka with cranberry juice and a touch of lemon and mint) and the Orange Granita (with Absolut Mandrin vodka, orange juice and a hint of mint). But customers can order many of their favorite cocktails served granita-style for a refreshing, super-chilled variation, up or on the rocks.

It's part of the evolution of the frozen American dream drink from Slushie to sophisticated. Take the Melting Pot's variation, the Yin & Yang. At the 72 Melting Pot units nationwide, the Yin & Yang cocktail (which echoes their Yin & Yang fondue featuring white and dark chocolate) starts off with vanilla ice cream, to which Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur, Stolichnaya Vanil and white crème de cacao are added. The mix is blended and poured into a 10-ounce Martini glass.

But that's just the start. Mike Maglin, vice president of operations at Melting Pot, explains that the company has developed a special template in the shape of a large teardrop - half of the yin and yang symbol. It helps make a perfect garnish of finely grated dark chocolate, leaving the top of the cocktail with a black/white, yin/yang finish. The final touch is a white chocolate chip in the dark portion, a dark chocolate chip over the white. "I've never seen anyone do a drink like this anywhere else," notes Maglin. "It's a great looking drink and was a big hit from the beginning, when we rolled it out about 2 1/2 years ago."

ENDLESS VARIATIONS

Of all its blender selections, Olive Garden's signature Frozen Tiramisu is their best-seller, which aptly reflects the chain's Italian character and can do double-duty as a dessert. The vanilla ice cream-based drink is embellished with Kahlúa, Disaronno Amaretto and Tuaca. Other ice cream drinks include the Tangerine Palermo (with Bacardi O orange rum and Fruja tangerine) and Chocolate Almond Amore (with Baileys Irish Cream, Kahlúa and Disaronno Amaretto).

Honey Mango Margarita,
courtesy National Honey Board.

Olive Garden's drink menu also features two frozen Bellinis (peach and strawberry) along with those classic favorites, daiquiris and frozen margaritas. Summer, fall, winter and spring, these drinks move on the menu at Olive Garden.

In Portland, OR, at the popular restaurant mint, the blender only gets put to use for one drink: the Avocado Daiquiri. Yep, you read right, avocado. Owner and master bartender Lucy Brennan worked for three years to develop the perfect recipe before she opened mint, and it's become a stalwart signature. "We'd have riots if we took it off the menu," she remarks.

Brennan's inspiration began with the Banana Daiquiri and a realization that bananas and avocados have a rather similar texture. She's typically not a fan of the slushy quality of most blended drinks, but the velvety smooth character of this Daiquiri suits her - and her customers - to a T.

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

Jason Reed, senior product manager for equipment supplier Hamilton Beach, notes that blended beverages are one of the most profitable areas of a foodservice operation. And as with any other equipment in your operation, it's important to have the right tool for the job.

Reed is seeing more and more customers going to the high performance equipment that helps give them the best results most efficiently. Among the newer features having a big impact on efficiency and consistency are timer models. "Bartenders are always busy folks, multitasking that blender drink with taking a new order and tapping another guest's pint of ale. It's too easy to get distracted and over- or under-blend. The timer makes sure the whirling comes to a stop when it's supposed to," says Reed.

Better yet, there are custom blending options on the higher-end models, featuring different settings for different jobs. The first setting might be for classic bar drinks and smoothies, starting off slow to crush the ice, then upping the speed to smooth out the mixture, and faster yet just at the end to aerate a bit. A second setting might be for thick milkshake-style drinks, the third for thinner, more liquid beverages.

Hamilton Beach's top-of-the-line Summit models have 6 programmable cycles on a touch pad, plus 4 other cycles in reserve that can be called into play as needed. Not only do these blender features make the bartender's job easier, they help chains with operations across the country to attain a level of consistency that is hard to muster with a traditional blender.

Operators need to ask themselves some specific questions when considering the right selection of blenders for an operation. First: how many drinks will you be blending each day? As few as a couple dozen? Or as many as a couple hundred? You'll want to pick the horsepower to match, from 3/8 to 2+, to be sure your blender's up to the task.

Other specs include defining what types of drinks you usually make and the kinds of ingredients used, fresh fruit vs. frozen, thinner liquid drinks vs. thicker milkshakes. Knowing the importance of noise level and length and type of warranty will also guide you toward the best choice.

Finally it's smart to consider the skills of those who will be using the blender the most. Experienced bartenders are able (and may prefer) to blend drinks by manually controlling the length and speed of the operation. For a wide variety of users who may or may not be that experienced the programmable or timer models will serve you best.

EXTREME BLENDING

The palette of flavors from which bartenders can create blender drinks is ever-changing. Jennifer Sims, marketing manager for Napa Valley's Perfect Purée, says that about half of their nearly 30 products are used in beverages today, much higher than a decade ago when about 10 or 15% went into beverages.

"It's the biggest growing category for us," she points out. While mango and raspberry may be perennial favorites, there are plenty of other flavors to play with, such as the lychee purée (which Sims notes as being great for a Bellini-style cocktail), prickly pear, guava, green apple, ginger, white peach, even tamarind.

It's reaching the point that no ingredient is considered taboo for consideration as a component in a blender beverage. Think Tabasco and drinks, and the combination usually brings to mind Bloody Marys and little more. But Jason Gronlund, the corporate executive chef and director of culinary services and ingredient sales for Tabasco, has other ideas up his sleeve and he's been busy traveling across the country to share those ideas with chefs and restaurateurs.

Gronlund is quick to point out that these creations won't necessarily have a forward and obvious taste of Tabasco. What the pepper sauce does, he explains, is "subtly change the flavor profile of the drink," enhancing other flavors and leaving a lingering hint of heat at the back of the throat. "It's a drink, not a dare," he says with a chuckle.

Take the classic Margarita, to which Gronlund suggests a few drops of the milder green Tabasco sauce, noting that it has a slightly more fruity quality than the red and pairs well with the citrus flavor of the cocktail. On the more creative end of the scale, his Frozen Cinnamon Avalanche adds a dash of the classic Tabasco to a blended concoction of vanilla ice cream, Baileys, cinnamon schnapps and a dash of ground cinnamon.

Even the good old Bloody Mary gets a spin in the blender. One of the Tabasco twists on that classic is called the Bloody Mary Chilly Dilly, in which a whole, crisp dill pickle is blended with their Bloody Mary mix.

---

Cynthia Nims is food editor of Seattle magazine.