The Latest Trend to Hit NJ: Vegan Cocktails Made With Aquafaba

Aquafaba, an egg substitute made from chickpea brine, is a game changer for vegan imbibers. Here are four places where you can try it in cocktails.

If you’re not a vegan, or just not prone to keeping up with funky ingredient trends, you might not have heard of “aquafaba.” Yes it sounds like something you say at the end of a Harry Potter spell, but it’s actually an ingredient prominent in vegan cooking because it can substitute for egg whites. The funny part: aquafaba is just the liquid from a can of chickpeas, aka chickpea brine. You know, that murky, thick liquid most of us are careful to drain entirely before tossing a can of chickpeas into a salad?

But it can be used in a wild variety of applications in cooking—and yes, cocktails. If you whip up chickpea brine all by itself, you get an incredibly fluffy, creamy, flavorless substitute for the egg white that creates a creamy head in classic drinks like the Pisco Sour, Clover Club and Gin Fizz. Whether you’re vegan or not, we’ve scoured the state to find a few places where aquafaba not only made the drinks list, but is being used in creative ways as part of a balanced, high-caliber craft cocktail.

Bright and Seasonal at The Winston

The Winston has not one but two cocktails with aquafaba on their menu and both drinks lean toward lighter, brighter (summer-friendly) flavors. Their “Eleven Thirty” has Ketel One Grapefruit & Rose vodkas, Lillet, peach syrup, aquafaba, lemon juice, and lavender bitters and “The Doria” is Alibi Gin, cucumber & snow pea Syrup, lime juice, and aquafaba. (Lillet, FYI, is an aromatized French aperitif with floral, stone fruit flavors.) In both drinks, the blank slate of aquafaba creates a creamy backdrop where those floral, fruity flavors can embed themselves (and act as softer counterpoint to sharper grapefruit vodka or gin).