“I’ll have the Waldorf, please.”
No, that’s not a salad order. That’s a popular drink on the menu at Double Chicken Please in New York City — one of the most highly rated, and buzziest, cocktail bars in the world. The combination of unpeated (not smoky) and peated (smoky) whiskies, celery and kale juices, apple, walnut bitters, and soda water is part of an increasing trend in cocktails that mimic the flavors of savory foods. When sipping this concoction, the tongue, roof of mouth and salivary glands work together to process these flavors as umami.
Known as “the fifth taste” along with sweet, salty, bitter, and sour, umami was identified in 1908 by Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda, who studied foods like cheese, tomato and fish to define and replicate that taste sensation. As one of the founders of Ajinomoto, he developed the fermented amino acid seasoning marketed as monosodium glutamate (MSG).
In the 1960s, MSG was — without conclusive evidence — linked to certain adverse reactions, leading to decades of bans and avoidance. Today, experts suspect that the testing didn’t account for reactions to other food sensitivities that could have come from other ingredients in the dishes like gluten or soy.
With increased consumer awareness, MSG is finding its way back on menus (with sensitivities taken into account) in both fine and casual dining to provide that umami taste.
“Consumers are becoming more attentive to the savory deliciousness that is umami,” says Satoshi Utagawa, chief innovation officer at Ajinomoto Foods North America. Ajinomoto makes MSG seasoning and a variety of best-selling frozen and packaged items, like ramen and fried rice, as well as a new Gyoza dumpling. “We have been seeing many food products that are utilizing umami as a selling point.”
Asian-inspired flavors are beginning to overtake ingredients from traditional European culinary strongholds like France and Italy, according to data cited by Unilever Food Solutions. This trend has ushered in a shift from sweet toward savory. Chinese and Japanese cuisines are now among the top five global favorites across all age groups.
At a recent tasting in New York City, for example, Nikka whisky served dollops of miso paste, mushrooms, and dehydrated sheets of nori instead of the more traditional chocolate or cheese as a pairing suggestion.
“Whisky and umami go well together, and whisky, with a fruity note derived from barrel aging, has the effect of further enhancing the umami flavor,” says Emiko Kaji, who leads global business strategy and education for Nikka.
Pairing the salty-sweet taste of nori with Nikka’s Yoichi Single Malt can “draw out new flavors that you didn’t know were there — adding to your enjoyment and the adventure,” Kaji added. It can also reveal more about the cultural heritage and intention behind the drink.
“When you focus on these umami flavors, you discover details about the whisky, such as the briny element found in Yoichi single malt because it’s produced at the Yoichi distillery located near the Sea of Japan.”
And the umami trend isn’t limited to just food. The MSG Martini got so popular with cocktail influencers in the 2020s that major lifestyle publications were compelled to publish their own recipe variations, all using the seasoning.
Of course the OG umami cocktail is the brunch staple, the Bloody Mary, first popularized in the 1920s by Harry’s New York Bar in Paris. The classic drink contains a spirit (typically vodka) with tomato and lemon juices and various salty, savory, and hot spices and/or sauces (everyone has their “secret mix”).
In the century since then, at least one savory cocktail, like a Bloody Mary, Dirty Martini, or Michelada (Mexican lager beer mixed with spicy and/or savory sauces and lime juice) is expected on beverage menus. Lately, there’s been a noticeable shift to move beyond the classics in bolder ways, and more of them.
Iain Griffiths, bar manager at Bar Snack in New York City, says customers expect drinks to be “seasoned accordingly” and “that is obviously where umami comes in, and in various ways.”
Griffiths mentions that Guinness is an often unsung deliverer of umami flavors and designed Bar Snack’s Split Ends raspberry sour cocktail with that in mind. There’s also the Tomato Paloma with MSG, and a take on an Espresso Martini — the Brick House — that uses pomegranate as what Griffiths describes as a “gentle acidifier” to mingle with the earthy, and often overlooked umami properties of coffee.
Staple Gin is an award-winning spirit from Good Spirits in the Catskills, New York, a collaboration with culinary celebrity Rachel Ray. They managed to capture the unique, buttery characteristic of Calvestrano olives — often used in high end bars for Dirty Martinis — in a gin. Good Spirits CEO Brian Faquet says he purposely used a higher proof grain spirit base (100% corn, at 47% ABV) to capture that “high fat” mouthfeel and delicately savory components — orris root, bitter orange, tarragon, and olive oil — that work together for this nuanced umami texture.
To add that umami flavor, more drinks are relying on another ingredient having a culinary moment: pickles, which has appeared everywhere from potato chips to ready-to-drink cocktails. At Bar Snack, the fan-favorite drink Didi & Stu is made with mezcal, plum soju and pickle brine.
The demand for pickles also inspired Portland, Oregon-based Straightaway Cocktails to add the Pickletini to its canned RTD lineup, made in partnership with local maker Portland Pickles.
“The recipe we based the pickles off of is a kosher dill style, which gives a more nuanced layered umami flavor from fermentation – fresh herbs like dill and garlic, and warming spices such as mustard seed and clove, enhanced by soft pickling salt,” says Straightaway cellar manager, Kelsey Cable. “As the pursuit of unique flavor continues to grow amongst cocktail lovers, culinary inspiration for our RTDs has never been more relevant.”
