Entertaining

If You Love Dirty Martinis, You’ll Love These Salty Cocktails

Beef broth is the defining ingredient of a Bullshot, which adds heft and a deep, meaty flavor to the vodka cocktail. The broth also adds a good deal of mouth-coating salt, especially if you opt for a full sodium variety or the intense, double-strength stuff (which you totally should; you deserve it). With Worcestershire, Tabasco, cayenne and celery salt, the Bullshot is like drinking the boozy version of a toothsome hunk of meat.

It’s no surprise that a cocktail called the Salty Dog calls for a salt rim. It is a surprise, however, that the salt pairs so well with grapefruit juice. The upgraded Greyhound shows the true power of the tiny white granules, taking the cocktail to insane new flavor territory. The saline both balances the sweet-sour flavors of the grapefruit and enhances the vodka’s boozy intensity.

Drinking this marine-layered take on a classic Dirty Martini is like breathing in a clean ocean breeze. Sardine-washed gin mixes with classic olive brine for a fishy drink that isn’t for everyone. But sardine aficionados—those who rip open tin cans and dig in with oil-slicked fingers—will dive face first into this salty seaside sipper.

You can try to limit yourself to just one Flamin’ Hot Cheeto, but soon enough you’ll be chomping handful after handful until the entire bag is gone. This variation on a Bloody incorporates the spicy, savory, addictive snack into the usual tall glass of tomato juice, spices and vodka. Like Hot Cheetos themselves, it’s nearly impossible to have just one.

Sea salt brightens cocktails by heightening dry and citrus flavors, and squid ink brings comparable salinity. This black as night Martini variation begins with unaged grape brandy, sweet vermouth, lime and grassy agave syrup, then blots out that beautiful red mixture with pitch-black squid ink. The cover of darkness only makes the salty, fruity flavors all the more invigorating.

Salty, greasy bacon makes any breakfast better, and it can do the same for your boozy brunch-tail. Meaty, velvety bacon-infused whiskey gives heart to this savory, citrusy cocktail, which is mixed with orange and lemon juices, honey syrup and egg whites for a foamy mouthfeel. Like any good diner breakfast, it’ll provide your sodium quota for the day, too.