This savory snack is turning up in cocktails, kombucha, and cider.
It was n’t until I moved to Atlanta that I learned what a little sprinkle of salinity can do to watermelon vine . Just a soupcon of flaky sea salt on a cold , chunky slice can bring out the fruit ’s bouquet while also giving it an acidic edge .
Fortunately , this element jazz band has been bulge out up in cocktails at bars , in John Barleycorn , and in ready - to - beverage beverages in recent years . Now , the classical watermelon vine flavor that we know as borderline artificial has been replaced with salt watermelon vine — a more balanced , refreshing option for these swelter summertime months .
“ My mum used to put it on watermelon vine when we were eating it during the summertime , ” says Kyle Sherrer , co - founding father ofHudson North Cider , who grow up in Maryland and delighted in the summertime kickshaw . “ It was a good connection there with my past . ”
Watermelon Sea Salt Hard Kombucha|Photo courtesy of Luna Bay Booch
This is the second year that Hudson North has brought back its limited run of salted watermelon - flavor hard cider . The savour draw breathing in from this Hellenic collation , and Sherrer had seen how salt intensifies the fruitiness in his other cyder flavor . “ It just work really well with watermelon because it kind of brings the fruit forward and score you salivate a short number , so , perfect for the time of year , ” he says .
Salted watermelon is also a with child flavor addition for spirit . At the New York City barSomewhere In Nolita , the Heat Map cocktail combines mezcal , salt Citrullus vulgaris , basil , and Calabrian chili pepper . The spirits brandOle Smoky , base in Tennessee took it one step further and created a salt Citrullus vulgaris - flavored whiskey .
“ With 5.7 million folks coming through our distilleries combined last year , we have the alone power to try different thing and push the bound , so we ’re constantly brainstorming , coming up with raw flavor ideas , ” enunciate Will Ensign , Ole Smoky ’s frailty president of marketing . The flavor was first introduced in 2017 and was an instantaneous hit at the distillery ’s tasting bar — some reviewershave described it as a “ liquid Jolly Rancher . ”
The allure of watermelon and sea common salt together were unacceptable to ignore forLuna Bay Boochco - founder Bridget Connelly . The hard kombucha brand has had other exciting fruit combinations — leechee lime and huckleberry basil , for illustration — but this summertime the company want to seek something that would be great in cocktail .
The resulting watermelon ocean common salt hard kombucha is , in fact , insufferable to jib from its splashy can grace with watermelon to the balanced flavor of the kombucha at bottom . “ It ’s been our best flavour to escort , ” Connelly says . “ We ’ve had to make surplus batches . ” Drink it straight out of the can or whip up a cocktail using the kombucha , tequila , wide-eyed syrup , and soda urine ( do n’t forget aTajin flange , too ) .
It ’s more than just the great appreciation of salted watermelon for Connelly . She grew up in Wisconsin where they spend summertime by the lake . “ Watermelon is what we eat down in the pier — whether it ’s salted watermelon lolly or just on the tabular array at Wednesday night potluck , ” she say . “ So when I think of that flavor , I think of summer and residential district and joyousness . ”
