Rimmed with Flavor

When thinking about a rim for your cocktail glass, salt and sugar are the natural classic options. But there are so many ways to enhance the flavor profile of a drink, and create an elevated presentation, using simple homemade sugars, salts and spice combinations for a little extra flair to your rim.

Consider the ingredients and spirits you’re using in your cocktail or mocktail and use these flavor combinations as inspiration for your next glass rim.

Pink Himalayan Salt
Used for the Three Sisters Captains List Margarita, this salt adds a hint of pink to the rim of the glass.

Citrus Salt or Sugar
These can add brightness and a sweet or salty flavor to the initial taste of a cocktail. The popular seasonal Firetower drink, Uphill Climb, features a homemade lemon salt rim. You can create a simple citrus rim by mixing the zest of your chosen fruit with sugar or salt.

Bacon Salt
For the Bloody Mary lovers, a homemade bacon salt makes the perfect ingredient to compliment the savory flavors of the drink. Cook your bacon crispy and cut or crush it up into fine pieces. You’ll still get that distinct back flavor, but you want the pieces to be small enough to mix with the salt and stick to the rim of the glass.

Chamoy & Tajin
This combination is perfect for spicy tequila drinks! First, rim the glass with chamoy. Chamoy is a saucy condiment made with dried chilies and fruit. (You can find it in-store or try making your own.) Then, cover the chamoy in Tajin, either by rolling the rim of the glass into the spice or sprinkling it over. Together they add the perfect spicy and tangy flavor.

Floral Sugar
Made with dehydrated edible flowers and sugar, this is a great compliment to floral gin drinks. To dehydrate edible flowers, you can use a dehydrator, or dry them on very low heat in the oven. You want to remove the moisture from the petals but not burn the flower – so low and slow is key. Once dry, crush them up into fine pieces to mix with sugar. You’ll see the color pop against the white sugar. This rim is perfect for a cocktail made with Empress Gin, which is made purple using butterfly pea flowers.