Five Cocktail Trends To Look Out For

All photos by Laine Doss

If the Tales of the Cocktail conference in New Orleans last week taught me one thing, it's that your liver can take five days of abuse as long as you feed it lots of red beans and rice. (Oh ... coconut water and cat naps work well, too.)

Seriously, there was much to learn at Tales of the Cocktail. With hundreds of seminars and tasting rooms spanning five days, there wasn't just drinking involved -- though there was that, too.

So after the bags are unpacked and the almost IV-like steady drip of alcohol has seeped out of my system, what are the latest trends in spirits and cocktails we should be looking out for in Miami?

5. Bitters
For a long time, they were just some forgotten bottle of generic brown stuff to be used in old man drinks. They've now been elevated into a must-have for your bar - along with a good shaker and few solid bottles of quality hooch. In the past week we've seen and tasted celery, cinnamon, ginger, coffee, java, orange, cardamom, cocoa, mole, and black truffle.

Essential in a Sazarac or Manhattan, they're great to play with. Try a dash of cinnamon bitters in your bourbon, a hint of ginger in your Scotch. How about a black truffle martini? One tiny bottle goes a long way and can elevate your creativity ... and your cocktails.