Local touch: A bartender serves a cocktail made from Indonesian ingredients

Local bartenders are on a quest to discover a new variety of unique cocktails from Indonesian ingredients.

Among the well-known cocktails listed on the menu of one upscale bar in Jakarta are unique names such as the kayu manis (cinnamon) cocktail and aloe vera and pandan (pandanus) martini, which arouse curiosity over how the typical Indonesian ingredients can fill the blends of foreign origin.

“The aloe vera and pandan martini is one of our best sellers here,” said Julian Decraene, head mixologist at Potato Head Jakarta.

Cocktails in general like the martini and cosmopolitan indeed come from Western culture. “But I’m sure every nation has its own traditional alcoholic drinks like various kinds of tuak [toddy] in different parts of Indonesia,” he noted.

Decraene has a flair for creating a variety of unique cocktails through his quest for novelties to enrich the menu offered by the bar where he works with localized liquors.

He has toured traditional markets in the regions to gain inspiration from the ingredients he can use to accomplish his mission. Focusing on aromas and tastes, he wouldn’t care if people wondered why he was chewing grass, flowers, leaves or spices in the markets or estates.

“As I search for new cocktail flavors, I’m focusing on something that when tasted with the tongue can at the same time affect the sense of smell,” explained Decraene.

“Pandan, for instance, has a strong sweet fragrance and in order to give an experience of taste, I combine it with coconuts and aloe vera. When sipped, consumers will have a whole-flavor experience.”

In a glass, Decraene mixed several kinds of spices, fruits and dried flowers and turned them into a tasty beverage with an Indonesian flair.

For his version of campari, for example, he used rosela (hibiscus), coffee, cacao, even brotowali and mixed them in glass jars.

“The bitter tastes produced by brotowali and cinchona bark are very typical. So, why not explore them for an alcoholic drink not found in other countries,” he pointed out.

Decraene and other bartenders draw the attention of visitors to the Indonesian ingredients in their concoctions.

Spices, bark and dried flowers are kept in glass containers and arranged in a row for display on the bar table. At first glance, their presentation mimics that of herbs in a drugstore, but these are the Indonesian cocktail materials being promoted.

Decraene’s enthusiasm for local components is also shared with his peers. The menu mentions the names of bartenders creating drinks with Indonesian ingredients.

Andi, for instance, prepares a drink called Java Julep — a blend of bourbon, Maluku star fruit and Bogor pink guavas. Decraene concocted recently a martini from the extract of Fak-fak nutmegs and Gayo coffee, both materials with geographic indication certification.

For color, Decraene obtains hues through butterfly flower distillation.

“In some parts of Indonesia this flower is used for food coloring. At first sight, I wanted to explore for other purposes,” said Decraene, who discovered the flower in Bali.

The distillation produces a purplish drink, which he mixes with lemon juice to change the color into pink. “Bartenders attract consumers when they do this and start a discussion out of curiosity.”

Decraene called on bartenders to further explore local ingredients for new flavors in the drinks they mix.

“It doesn’t mean that as a foreigner I’m more capable of innovating, but the people here aren’t yet used to exploring the other uses of spices,” indicated Decraene.

Moreover, cocktail consumption isn’t part of Indonesian culture. Bartenders should conduct experiments to discover new things.

Potato Head’s team of bartenders is now experimenting with the infusion of the aroma and taste of cogon grass into vodka, prepared for the newest item on the cocktail menu. It will turn out a drink that offers consumers the cogon grass experience involving the senses of smell and taste.

Potato Head and restaurants affiliated with lifestyle and hospitality company PTT Family Group have been encouraged to incorporate local elements so that customers, local and foreign, grow more familiar with the natural wealth of Indonesia.

Utilizing local ingredients to the maximum has become an inseparable philosophy of the group, PTT Family Group media executive Deri Jindhar said.

“Indonesia has rich resources for processing into food and drinks of international standards.”

— photo by Juliana Harsianti

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