Sometimes you want to spend a long while getting to know your cocktail. Other times, three sips is all you need.
That’s a driving principle at Lee’s, where a white split-flap board—the kind they used to have in train stations—behind the bar that reads “Appleteeny’s ’til we dye.” No, those are not misspellings: Lee’s spin on the ’90s cocktail is indeed teeny, clocking in at just about two ounces, and “dye” refers to each cocktail’s distinctive color palette. Neon green and made with vodka, juiced Granny Smith apples, malic acid, sugar, and an unaged apple brandy, Lee’s Appleteeny arrives in a frosted martini glass small enough for a My Size Barbie out for a happy hour with a few of her friends.
The Appleteeny is just one of the miniature cocktails on Lee’s menu. It’s joined by a spin on a Moscow mule, a concentrated espresso martini, and an homage to the legendary martini from Dukes Hotel in London, known as the first straight-from-the-freezer martini, and dubbed the best in England by writer Stanton Delaplane.
Lee’s is far from the only bar betting big on small cocktails. The idea for micro-cocktails isn’t brand new—cocktail history buffs can trace their origin to the Snaquiri, a petite version of a daiquiri developed by Dutch Kills’s bartenders in New York in the 2010s. But whereas Snaquiries were once reserved for beloved regulars or a bar’s industry friends, mini cocktails live front and center on contemporary cocktail menus.
According to Tommy Ho of Houston’s Refuge, that’s a good thing. He estimates his 55-seat bar sells 150 little cocktails a week, which, he explains, is a win-win. Patrons get the opportunity to try more drinks without breaking the bank or getting overserved in the midst of a cocktail bar crawl. Also, an extra tiny cocktail or two means that much more in tips for his staff.
Arlington, in London, serves four short pours, which it calls “sharpeners.” New York’s Dante offers two separate flights of three shrunken down spins on its Negronis, each clocking in at just two ounces. In Sydney, Maybe Sammy serves a daily mini martini happy hour.
Tiny cocktails are as much about setting the mood as they are about introducing the menu. At Lee’s, bar director Máté Hartai drops a round of Appleteenies like a chef might an amuse-bouche— something for the table to enjoy while they check out the menu. “Our job is not selling drinks. It’s making an atmosphere,” he says. “The second Appleteenies hit, everybody’s like ‘Okay, this is a party.’” Hartai says the mini-cocktail selections are an approachable way for customers to start understanding the bar’s heady cocktail menu, which is influenced by film, art, and color. Before committing to an esoteric sounding drink with unfamiliar spirits, he says, they can start with something small, fun, and just plain delicious. “The main menu is the diving board, but we need stairs into the pool as well,” he explains.
Shrinking cocktails down has a functional element too. “There’s intention put behind the cocktails in the glass,” explains Tyler Zielinski, author of the Tiny Cocktails: The Art of Miniature Mixology: A Cocktail Recipe Book. “People are creating big, bold flavors that are perfect for just three sips.” Think of a White Russian at the end of your meal: delicious, but ultimately a decently sized glass of cream and booze. Make it minute and suddenly it’s a perfectly sized post-dinner sip. “At a time when quality over quantity is the name of the cocktail game,” Zielinski says, “tiny cocktails couldn’t have peaked at a better time.”
At New York’s Tusk Bar, where petite martinis are each paired with a single dressed oyster, bar director Tristan Brunel says a scaled down cocktail can ensure the ideal drinking experience. Because diners can drink the cocktails in just a few quick sips, he says, “the whole time, [they’re] getting the coldest version of the drink in the smallest format.”
It’s hard to resist any cocktail in an adorably doll-size glass. For Hartai at Lee’s, the Appleteeny’s draw is much simpler: “It’s purely for vibes.”
