Topical cocktails are the need of the hour! A Bengaluru restaurant has introduced a cocktail named after the polluted Varthur Lake which made headlines in 2023 after 25,000 dead fish were visible on its surface due to high contamination. Every year, the lake foams after heavy rains and something akin to chemical snow covers the lake’s surface as the pollution pools up.
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An X user took to the social media platform to share that Bengaluru Oota Company serves a foamy concoction inspired by the Varthur pollution. “Bangalore Oota Company has a drink called “Varthur Overflow” which is a play on the Varthur Lake pollution incident,” the user said. “This city literally will make memes to the point of parody cocktails instead of fix itself.”
The golden-tinged vodka is topped with a delicate foam and features tequila, orange brandy, vetiver vodka and citrus juices. The restaurant is quite well-known for its cheekily named regional drinks. For instance, one of their bestsellers is called Invalid Majjige which has buttermilk with alcohol, along with curry leaf and cumin infused vodka, buttermilk, herbs, cumin, seasoning, salt and fried chilli.
Needless to say, Bengaluru locals on X had a lot to say about this cheeky cocktail. “You gotta say it's evocative. The colour of the water, the windswept foam, the overwhelmed bridge. 100% accurate,” a netizen wrote.
“On a lighter note Wanna see what drink they’ll make to commemorate the water shortage in the city,” quipped another, referring to the recent water struggle in the city.
The biggest USP of this drink is its foam topping, which lends it a visual appeal. Funnily enough, you don’t need fancy bar equipment to create foam on your homemade cocktails as there are several ways to go about it. The east way to land a foam is with egg whites.
In classic cocktails like Whiskey Sour or the Ramos Gin Fizz, egg whites create a rich, velvety foam. Simply separate the egg white from the yolk, add it to your cocktail ingredients, and shake vigorously without ice. Then add ice and shake again to chill and further froth the mixture. Strain the cocktail into a glass, and you should have a lovely foam on top.
If you have a handheld milk frother or a frothing wand, you can use it to create foam. Simply add your cocktail ingredients to a shaker tin, along with a small amount of cream or milk, and froth it with the milk frother until you achieve a light, even foaminess.
Some cocktails benefit from a "dry shake" before shaking with ice. This involves shaking the cocktail ingredients without ice first to emulsify and aerate them, which helps create a better foam. After the dry shake, add ice and shake again to chill the mixture and further develop the foam.