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There is a new kind of cocktail finding its way onto Hyderabad's bar menus, and it tastes remarkably like your ammamma's spice counter. Behind the counter, everyday staples of Telugu kitchens such as gongura, Guntur chilli, curry leaves, pulusu and even pachadi are being shaken, clarified and stirred into drinks. What was once largely confined to the kitchen is steadily becoming a new language of mixology for the city, where regional identity is no longer just a garnish, but the main spirit. For mixologists, familiarity has become the gateway to experimentation; for guests, it offers the comfort of flavours they already know, presented in an entirely new form.




Bridging the gap with familiarity

The rise of hyperlocal cocktails is driven by a simple psychological shift: patrons are moving away from intimidating, imported flavour profiles and gravitating toward comfort. At Telugu Medium Kitchen & Bar , the beverage program was built entirely on this premise, utilising everyday staples like tamarind, raw mango, and green chilli. "There's a certain comfort in seeing familiar ingredients on a menu because guests can immediately imagine how the drink might taste," explains co-founder Malvika Rao. "We don't always find that people want something overly complex or unfamiliar. They often gravitate towards flavours they already connect with. Ultimately, it's that sense of comfort and connection that keeps people coming back."




Even the storytelling behind the cocktails has evolved with the audience. "When we first launched our cocktail programme, many of the drinks had distinctly Telugu names and references," Rao says. "While our local patrons appreciated them, we realised that a significant section of our audience wasn't familiar with Telugu culture. So we shifted towards more accessible names, while still retaining elements of Telugu pop culture." One such cocktail is Knowledge is DiWine, inspired by a popular Brahmanandam dialogue from Athadu. "For us, food and cinema are two things that are deeply woven into Telugu identity, and incorporating those references into our cocktails felt like a natural extension of what we wanted to celebrate."


Distilling nostalgia
In fine-dining spaces, the approach is highly research-driven, focusing on extraction. At Oota, ingredients like pulusu, ganji and Guntur chilli are treated as complex structural elements. Ashish Saxena, CEO of Total Environment Hospitality, explains that they use techniques like sous vide, clarification and distillation to isolate specific flavour notes, ensuring the final drink remains clean. “These ingredients don’t exist in isolation; they are part of how flavour is structured in the region,” he says. “There is familiarity, but the intention is not to rely on nostalgia alone. It’s about experiencing these flavours differently.”




This philosophy extends to places like Park Hyatt Hyderabad’s Rika, where the Pachadi Picante cocktail draws direct inspiration from a traditional dondakaya pachadi. “The approach was about interpretation rather than replication. We isolated the spice, tang, and texture, then thoughtfully rebuilt them into a cocktail,” says Beverage Manager Vinod Joshi. “Today’s guests are looking for authenticity and meaning. Local flavours offer a sense of place and heritage, and localisation is now about interpreting regional ingredients in new contexts.”


The science of spice and savoury
But translating a fiery curry or a tart pickle into a balanced drink is a tightrope walk. Savoury ingredients can easily overpower a glass or turn it unpalatable if not handled with precision. To solve this, bartenders are applying complex, modern techniques to traditional ingredients. At Rü – Craft Bar, the team relies on preservation methods to extract the right notes. “Gongura is what most people immediately associate with our food, but translating that into a drink was a challenge,” notes Reshma Kutagulla. “We eventually focused on the pickling process, using gongura brine as a key component to get that familiar tang.”
Similarly, Begumpet’s speakeasy-style bar, Oxymorons, the cocktail Clearly Misunderstood pairs tequila with gongura and bhajji chilli, challenging expectations of what a regional ingredient can do in a glass. “Hyderabadis are deeply rooted in their food culture and take immense pride in regional flavours. The idea was to take something as recognisably local as gongura and bhajji chilli and present it in a format people don’t expect. Gongura already has this sharpness that works surprisingly well in a cocktail format. Tequila brought structure and brightness, while chilli added warmth rather than aggression,” says founder Rehan Guha, noting that regional flavours must be integral to the drink’s chemistry, not just an imposed gimmick.

Mixing heritage into every pour
For patrons, the appeal lies entirely in this balance between heritage and surprise. Priyanshu Singh, a forex trader, who recently tried a gongura-based drink, notes that it bypassed the usual sugary pitfalls of cocktails. "Instead of being overly sweet or citrusy, it had this savoury, tangy character that made it feel unique and memorable. Using ingredients so closely tied to the local cuisine makes the whole experience feel more rooted in the culture rather than just being another trendy cocktail.





It is a sign that Hyderabad’s bar culture is finally finding its own footing.
As engineer and culinary researcher Yash Kumar Singh observes: “When cocktail culture came to India, it was largely borrowed. Now, there’s a sense of intrigue and comfort when you see Guntur chilli in a drink. Getting that balance right is an art, and Hyderabad’s bartenders are finally making it our own.”