Tiny cocktails have been quietly making the rounds for years. Often presented in miniature glasses or as part of elaborate, visually stunning displays at events and avant-garde cocktail bars, Tiny cocktails, are totally instagrammable, making them highly desirable and trendy.
Bars in New York and Los Angeles began quietly adding miniature mixed drinks to menus in the early 2010s. By 2014, Instagram was awash in images of these Lilliputian libations. From there, the trend entered a long simmering phase, always hot but never sizzling like dalgona coffee did back when COVID was THE word.
Tokyo cocktail bar Gen Yamamoto is credited as an early adopter of the idea of mini cocktails. The bar is as intimate as its limited pours, boasting only eight seats, while its namesake owner crafts cocktails with the finesse of a Michelin-starred chef. The cocktail menu serves four to seven “expertly curated” teeny weeny drinks for a pretty penny, or as they say elsewhere, an arm and a leg!
The trend of miniature cocktails is steadily gaining momentum worldwide, reflecting the adage “less is more.”
Small cocktails allow bartenders to show off their mixing skills to customers who may normally only order one or two drinks. Indecisive drinkers can taste more of the menu and designated drivers can have a sip while staying sober.
Once confined to the dive bars of Cape Town, tiny drinks are now a thing and people are willing to pay top dollar for it. Just be sure to ask for a tiny cocktail, not a little drink.