The art of the OTT cocktail skewer

If there’s one thing that separates the pros from us at-home amateurs, it’s presentation. In fancy restaurant kitchens, all those tweezered microgreens and foamy reductions make dishes look serious, while interior designers know that it takes more than a few scattered cushions to make a room shine. It’s the same deal in the cocktail world. A great garnish can elevate a homemade cocktail from ordinary to extraordinary, which is why we reckon it’s worth going hard on skewers. Sure, olives and pickled onions are great, but just about anything that’ll stay on a stick is fair game for a cocktail.

Just know that skewers don’t always need to be submerged in a drink. Sure, you’ll get a skewer of olives suspended in your Martini but, depending on what you plan to impale and imbibe, you might prefer to hoist your garnish like a flag above the drink line or lay it across the rim. It’s entirely up to you.

As anyone who ever had a Mai Tai in a towering tiki glass will attest, subtlety is not always the answer when it comes to cocktails. Restraint doesn’t always make sense for a garnish, either, and we reckon there’s room for some skewers that lean towards the ridiculous, unwieldy or just plain fun.

The OTT (that’s over the top) skewer had its moment a few years back, thanks to the Bloody Mary, when bartenders jostled to make the most Instagrammable cocktails they could by skewering sliders, hot dogs, toasties, fried onion rings, mini pancakes, chicken wings and anything else that might just barely fit on a stick.

The OTT garnish may seem silly, but it can actually be a fun way to serve snacks with a cocktail. As we mentioned in our piece on upgrading a Bloody Mary, you could go fancy with sushi rolls or lean into Australiana with a couple of dim sims. If you’d serve a snack beside a cocktail, consider skewering it instead and you’ll be OTT in no time.

OTT skewer ideas:

• Buffalo wings and blue cheese dressing, or a mini BLT with a Bloody Mary
• Crab claws or grilled prawns and cocktail sauce with a Bloody Caesar 
• Mini quesadillas or jalapeno poppers with a Michelada

If cocktails are right at home next to savoury snacks (and they are), then surely those same savouries will work a treat when spliced onto a skewer in our favourite cocktails, right? That’s the idea behind the savoury skewer, which makes it more than appropriate to stick all those salty cured meats and creamy cheeses as close to your drink as possible. 

One fun way to approach the savoury skewer is to take the best parts of a charcuterie board and line them up on a stick. You could be very particular about flavour combos – like a little nod to the classic ham and melon with jamon (or prosciutto) and a Midori Illusion – or just pile up your favourite meats and cheeses and wing it. And if you really want to take the charcuterie thing and run with it, alternate between cheese, cured meat and something pickled, all skewered on an aromatic rosemary stalk. 

Savoury skewer ideas:

• Kabana (AKA cabanossi) pieces and tasty cheese cubes with a vodka-spiked Lemon, Lime and Bitters (AKA the most Australian drink of all time)
• Prosciutto, bocconcini and basil skewers with a Negroni or Aperol Spritz (for aperitivo, of course)
• Grandmother ham and brie with literally anything sweet and fruity (a Tequila Sunrise would be great)

The most famous cocktails are usually the ‘serious’ aperitif style, but sweet cocktails are a sneaky favourite over here. We’re talking chocolatey cocktails like the Nutella Martini, creamy classics like the Brandy Alexander, or modern marvels like the Whisky Mont Blanc. We like to sub in these decadent cocktails for dessert but, with a sweet skewer, it really is the best of both worlds. The options are limited only by your own sweet tooth and the structural integrity of whatever sweet bites you fancy lancing.

There are no wrong answers here, but soft sweets like marshmallows, toffees, filled chocolates, pieces of chocolate bars, chewy lollies, glacé cherries and choc-dipped fruits and berries are all good places to start. String them together on a stick, sit it across your favourite sweet cocktail and settle in.

Sweet skewer ideas:

• Dubai chocolate pieces with a Whisky Mont Blanc (for the ’gram)
• Choc-dipped strawberries with a Bailey’s White Hot Chocolate
• Pieces of your favourite chocolate bars with a Mudslide

Order a Martini in a cocktail bar and you’ll probably net yourself an olive garnish to snack on – maybe even three, if you’ve got a generous bartender. We love a trio of skewered green olives floating in a briny Martini as much as anyone, but sometimes we think it’s okay to take those classics a little further – and we’re definitely suggesting that you do. The idea is that for any classic garnish, give it an upgrade and pop it on a skewer (if it isn’t already).

Consider this: a Martini with olives is great, so why not level it up with some stuffed olives instead? Blue cheese, smoky ham, confit garlic, spicy chilli, marinated feta – whatever you like. Or how about switching out the classic cocktail onion with another perfect pickle – like a clove of pickled garlic, a cheese-filled pickled pepper, or the colourful combo of cauliflower, carrot and capsicum from a jar of giardiniera. 

Upgraded classic skewer ideas:

• Blue cheese-stuffed olives with a Dirty Martini
• Giardiniera for a Gibson twist
• Chocolate-covered cherries in a Manhattan

The fruity garnish is a classic for a reason, but there’s no need to be stingy. One measly slice of orange floating in a Negroni or a wedge of lime barely hanging onto the rim of a Gin and Tonic won’t do. Instead, we love the fruity skewer – a pole plunged through all the zesty, juicy, crunchy fruits we can get our hands on.

You can be on-theme with fruity skewers (say, pieces of pineapple and orange with mint leaves for a Mai Tai), or adventurous (Tajin or chilli-dusted mango for your Margarita). Fresh fruits are great, but so are the tinned kind – it doesn’t matter as long as you end up with a long stick of tasty fruits. And maybe avoid lemon and lime unless you’re a real sour head.

Fruity skewer ideas:

• Individual Sangria cups with a big stick of grapes, apple and orange pieces
• Pineapple, mango and watermelon cubes with a tropical Piña Colada
• Blackberries, raspberries and strawberries with a Bramble (or any berry-forward cocktail)