Hgh-profile figures and organisations are waging a war on it and there are calls for the US and UK governments to tax it. Sugar is currently a highly contentious issue and gargantuan efforts are being made to tackle record levels of diabetes and obesity.

If they haven’t already, then producers in the food and drinks industry will have to take a closer look at their low and no-sugar offerings. When it comes to cocktail syrups – a sugar by any other name – how do those who produce them and work with them offer alternatives in a time of heightened awareness?

“Sugar has recently been considered the bad guy for mixologists,” says Hardeep Singh Rehal, partner and manager at Blume bar in Denmark.

“One should be able to balance and create a cocktail without the use of sugar, or minimise the use of sugar.”

With all these things, it’s a question of moderation. “Overconsumption leads to a lot of other complications, but instead of discarding it, why not break it down and work with it?”

Sugar, like acid, can be deconstructed and isolated. Rehal says: “Why not work with sugars in the same way as acid and all other agents?”

Here’s the geeky bit. Rehal has experimented with the breakdown of sugars to produce two solutions. The first is a glucose solution: dissolved glucose in demineralised water.

“It provides an intense sweetening and almost feels like an attack on the palate. But it doesn’t have the body of sugar as we know it and the aftertaste doesn’t last long,” he says.

“This solution can be very effective if you want to sweeten the drink drastically.”

The second, fructose solution, is much softer on the palate, according to Rehal. “It also has quite intense sweetening, but nowhere near as aggressive as glucose.

“Fructose is much softer and has a lot of body. It doesn’t attack the palate and has a much more natural mouthfeel. I would use the fructose to give cocktails body and mouthfeel and enhance flavours, without the sweet attack on the tongue. It’s a bit like butter would work in a sauce, as a thickening and body agent.”

ARTIFICIAL SUGARS

Artificial sugars often equate to sweetness without the calories. Some bartenders are playing around with natural extract to achieve this. Stevia – extracted from the plant Stevia Rebaudiana – is 150 times sweeter than sugar with zero calories. A teaspoon of table sugar contains approximately 22 calories.

Blume’s Rehal says of stevia: “It is very, very, very sweet. It doesn’t have an attack and it works a bit like chilli: it starts slow, but builds into a long lingering taste.” Despite this, Rehal says it lacks body compared to fructose and in stronger solutions – his being 50% solution in demineralised water – has a slight vegetal taste. “In drinks, stevia solution works really well with herbs of all kind. It combines really well with bitter flavours.”

Oisin Davis, founder of Great Irish Beverages says: “Stevia is actually pretty nice when added to something that has natural fruit juice, but it doesn’t work on its own.” Davis made a pink grapefruit stevia syrup but says the solution was very thin and didn’t have the sucrose viscosity.

Pat Thomas, head bartender at Vintage Cocktail Club in Dublin, has experienced similar frustrations: “I’m starting to do a bit with stevia plant extract as a sweetener instead of sugar to offer drinks that are diabetic friendly, but with mixed results. Mouthfeel and shelf life differ drastically.”

So, that’s a bartender take on artificial sugars.

Dr Duane Mellor, lecturer in dietetics at the University of Nottingham in the UK, says: “Many people seem to like the idea that stevia is naturally derived – it is still processed, however. In Europe, because of its aftertaste it needs combining with sugar or other sweeteners to suit our palates.”

It possibly defeats the object then. “If it is combined with sugar this means these syrups are only half sugar, which can mean a typical drink will still contain around four teaspoons of sugar.”

AGAVE SYRUP

Agave syrup has been a popular choice for cocktails. Pernod Ricard’s Absolut has an entire webpage dedicated to cocktail recipes with the syrup. Agave syrup is not sugar-free – instead of being based on sucrose it is fructose. Its popularity has waned somewhat following studies that questioned whether good marketing masked the pitfalls of working with and using the sugar substitute.

Michael D Callahan of 28 Hongkong Street says: “The use of alternative sweeteners is exciting but also problematic. The major issue in regards to cocktail production is that alcohol, by nature is a flavour enhancer, thus any undesirable traits, no matter how subtle, tend to be amplified when combined with sweeteners and citrus.”

For Callahan, sweeteners present a three-pronged problem. He explains: “I have had loads of difficulty in eliminating the ‘something is not right’ taste from these drinks during production, no matter how hard I try to balance them. The human palate, especially that of a trained professional, just can’t ignore that something is not right when you use alternative sweeteners.”

Pricing is also a concern. “These boutique alternative sweeteners are generally marketed toward health and lifestyle industries and come with a higher price tag. The fitness community is less concerned with flavour and more concerned with GI rating, while the lifestyle people are often more concerned with the impact on the planet. As it is, both of these market segments hold flavour second.”

For something that needs to be balanced – such as a cocktail – Callahan says these products are just not there yet.

A final concern is sustainability. “Some sweeteners, such as agave, are currently not being sustainably produced and add to socio-economic issues.”

Hardly a positive assessment of the alternative sugar situation. In terms of the sugar-free syrups that are on the market, Monin offers three in the UK – vanilla, caramel and hazelnut. James Coston, Monin UK brand ambassador, says Monin is developing up to five new flavours a year across its portfolio and always looks at the market demand for sugar-free options. “Although syrups are obviously high in sugar content – generally Monin syrups are around 58-65° brix – the higher concentration and superior quality of flavour within Monin syrups means less syrup is required to get the desired flavour,” says Coston.

Meanwhile, Funkin has released a range of Citric Syrups, designed to be used to make sherbet cocktails. The syrups are inspired by sweet shop flavours and the nostalgia of pick ’n’ mix sweets, the company says. The collaborative effort between the Funkin team and restaurant chain Be At One is designed to meet the current demand for cocktails that play on retro flavours.

Regardless of the fad and flavour, Funkin managing director Andrew King says consistency is key but also a challenge when creating a cocktail syrup. “Consistency is one of the biggest challenges bars face as different members of staff will make a syrup, but not necessarily to the same standard.”

For now, at a mass-market level, sugar-free syrups are few and far between. The reason for this, Finest Call UK brand manager Peter Thornton says, is: “Low calorie cocktails keep popping up, but they are yet to make a big impact on menus and make up a small percentage of serves if they are listed.

“The ‘Skinny’ options tend to be at the higher end, too, where herbs and vegetables are used as key ingredients.”

Thornton might not see a proliferation of the market, but he says sugar-free cocktail syrups have their place. “I think they are a good idea, and making drinks ‘better for you’ in terms of sugar content has to be a good thing.

“The possibilities are endless for cocktail syrups, and it can only get bigger and better as a category. You think you have seen it all, and then someone comes along with another creation.”

Ultimately, Thornton says: “People who drink cocktails expect a good drink, and as long as the finished drink is good, then be it sugar-free or not, the quality is all that matters.”

Working with sugar substitutes can be a sticky business. For bartenders and big companies alike, getting the product to taste right and be one that people want to use is a fine balance.

In a world that is increasingly looking to labels for sugar levels and calorie content, it is naïve to think that people won’t demand this of their cocktails in the on and off-trade.

If the lobbyists have their way – as they already have in many European countries and Mexico – a sugar storm is brewing and it’s time for the trade to batten down the hatches and find the right sugar solution.