How to make a smoked cocktail at home

Author: The Bar Team

A bottle of Blade and Bow bourbon, two glasses with drinks and cinnamon sticks, a jigger, an ashtray with almonds, matches, a bar spoon, and smoke on a reflective surface.

Learn how you can use regular items found in your kitchen to create smoked bar-quality cocktails.

Smoked cocktails definitely have that show-stopping visual appeal people love — but that doesn’t mean they’re just for upscale cocktail bars. Beyond the cloche spins and dissipating fog, infusing a cocktail with smoke can bring a heightened level of nuance to a drink. Our expert sources believe that smoke should be used to complement the flavors in your cocktail.

At home, the technique is often overlooked because hosts assume it requires fancy equipment or too much time and effort goes into this type of presentation. When in reality, smoking cocktails are actually easier to concoct than you might think. Here’s everything you need to know about smoking, from which spirits and ingredients work best to DIYing your own cocktail smoker.

Setting up your own smoking station

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need an expensive, professional-grade station to get started. Instead, you can use equipment readily found in your kitchen:

A ceramic plate, sheet pan or another fire-proof dish to act as your base
A large glass mixing bowl, or even a glass lid from a cake stand to use as a lid
A smoking medium like a wood chip or cinnamon stick
A lighter or match

A glass of cocktail is partially covered by a glass dome with smoke, served on a wooden tray with dried orange slices and cinnamon sticks.

A wooden bar cart holding several bottles of liquor, including whiskey, gin, and decanters, placed on a wooden floor.

Choose a Spirit

Stay away from spirits that already have smoke flavor, like Islay scotch or mezcal because the smoke will hide the flavor.

Instead, look to fine-aged spirits, like aged whiskeys like Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve Blended Scotch Whisky or Roe & Coe Blended Irish Whiskey and rums like Ron Zacapa No. 23 that lend toward more successful smoked cocktails. The inherent woody characteristics of these liquors imparted from the aging process get enhanced by smoking.

Top Top Shelf Spirits

Roe & Co

Roe And Co Blended Irish Whiskey

70cl

Zacapa

Ron Zacapa Centenario 23 Rum

750ml

Blade and Bow

Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

750ml

Play around with different ingredients

You can look beyond base spirits when smoking cocktails: specific ingredients, seasonings, and even the cocktail glass can be “seasoned” through smoke, too. For example, try smoking slices of pineapple for the juice in a smoked pineapple margarita, or make a syrup to prolong the shelf life for future cocktails experiments.

You can also smoke fortified wines in cocktail recipes, like vermouth, Madeira, port and sherry. The sweetness will keep them from getting overpowered by the smoke flavor.

Five people hold up assorted cocktails with ice, garnishes of citrus, berries, herbs, and pomegranate seeds, viewed from above in an outdoor setting.

A bartender ignites a flame above a cocktail glass, creating a dramatic presentation at a dimly lit bar counter.

Don’t forget safety precautions

Of course, any time you light something on fire, it’s crucial to follow safety precautions. In the case of smoking, this means having a fire extinguisher within arms’ reach in the off-chance that something goes awry.

Have fun with it

Be mindful about the flavor profile you’re trying to achieve with this technique, but otherwise experiment and have fun with it. To make a smoked cocktail:

If you are smoking an entire cocktail, mix it and place it on top of the base.
Then, light a wood chip or a flavorful wood spice.
Cover with the glass top.
Let the vessel fill up with smoke and flavor.
Enjoy!

A hand lifts a glass dome filled with smoke from a cocktail on a wooden tray, garnished with a dried orange slice and spices. Bottles are blurred in the background.

Other Colors Available

Two short, wide, transparent drinking glasses with a slightly tinted hue, placed side by side against a black background.

Estelle

Hand-blown Colored Rocks Glass, Set of Two

Gray Smoke

A black cocktail shaker set with a jigger, cocktail shaker, bar spoon, and strainer displayed against a plain background.

Viski

Gunmetal Mixologist Barware Set

Try a smoked cocktail

Try mixing up a smoked bourbon manhattan! A warm twist on the classic Manhattan, made with smoked Blade & Bow Bourbon, and flavored with honey, vanilla, cinnamon and raisin.

Get the Recipe

The Bar Team

The Bar Team is a group of behind-the-scenes writers, bartenders and drinks lovers who share tips, trends and easy how-tos. We mix real bar experience with a love of great drinks to help you try new ideas, learn and get inspired.