Suggestive digestifs

The end of a meal is a peculiarly nervy time for the average British diner. Unless the restaurant can offer something that will maintain the buzz of eating out, then it will be a muttered "Just the bill, please," and they're off into the night, feeling content but strangely unfulfilled, as if they'd been to a Johnny Cash concert and he hadn't played "I Walk The Line".

If they were the sort to appear later on a US-style TV talk show, they'd complain that there had been no "closure".

The solution to this problem is already present in most establishments - the digestif - but it's time that this whole area was given a good shake. "After-dinner drinks is an area that customers, and restaurateurs, forget about," says Martin Lam of Ransome's Dock in London's Battersea. "My attitude, from a business and health point of view, is that we should offer the customer the opportunity to have one without feeling obligated."

For Angus Hopson Jones, general manager at the Polygon Bar & Grill in Clapham, south London, digestifs have a significant part to play in the whole dining experience. "It's an area that defines a restaurant," he says. "For me, it's the icing on the cake, it completes the whole package." It's no good realising that and then keeping the bottles out of sight - digestifs have to be promoted and sold. Increasingly, restaurants are doing this by listing them on a separate dessert menu. "People won't ask for something they can't see," says Hopson Jones. "That's another reason for producing a list."

One reason that digestifs are overlooked is the fact that they are not part of our drinking culture. To ensure it becomes part and parcel of eating out means offering a selection of different styles and flavours - the same as the wine list does.

"We have a reputation for our wine list," says Lam, "and the after-dinner menu is an extension of that where we offer well-chosen, well-produced, distinctive digestifs. I'm looking for different flavours, different tastes, so we can offer a spread of flavour opportunities at the end of the meal."

To do that means taking a long look at what's on offer from suppliers, seeing what consumers are buying in the off-trade, discovering what the latest trends are and generally livening up proceedings - as at the Atlantic Bar & Grill just off London's Piccadilly Circus. "After-dinner drinks is a happening thing," says Aaron Swain, the Atlantic's fine wine buyer. "Sales are going through the roof at the moment, and have been for the past few months. Instead of finishing with dessert, people are going back to the bar."

So what are they drinking? While Cognac sales at the Atlantic are particularly strong, all digestifs are growing. "It's across the board," says Swain, "and people are willing to take a bit of a risk, whether it's with Californian eaux-de-vie, grappa or Spanish aguardiente. Premium tequila is moving in a big way."

The baffling thing is that, at a time when Cognac and Armagnac sales are less than buoyant, the Atlantic excepted, they still dominate digestif selections to the exclusion of almost all other spirits. Even though malt whisky continues to show double-digit growth, it's still rare to find a restaurant offering a selection that shows the range of styles and flavours available.

If malt is a logical extension, then it's also worthwhile looking further afield - to grappa, for example. These days, grappa is as cool and stylish as a Prada suit. The startling improvement is down to producers using better distillation techniques, of making single varietal examples, and of ageing some in wood for a short period.

In Italy, production is centred in Trentino. Rupert Ponsonby, who handles publicity for the wines from the region, takes a radical stance when it comes to grappa. He conducted an experiment with the same grappa in three different glasses - Riedel Vinum, a brandy balloon and an ISO glass. Each glass gave a different split between aroma and spirit, with the Riedel enhancing the aroma the most. "A Vinum glass is perfect if you have been eating delicate foods or drinking white wine," says Ponsonby. "It's perfect for soignée women. The balloon is better with richer foods, or if you have been drinking red wine. The ISO is more for after you've been tracking a beast across a grouse moor in your underpants."

If that was one grappa in three glasses, think of what different varietals can offer. "I'm amazed at how well things like grappa are selling," says Lam.

If grappa is becoming acceptable, then what about tequila? There is an increasing number of top examples available - wood-aged tequilas made from 100% blue a gave, which are spirits of considerable subtlety. A restaurant such as London's Cactus Blue offers "sipping tequilas" on the dessert menu, while Hopson Jones is currently planning to increase the Polygon's range.

As with grappa, the tequila boom is replicating what's happening in the USA, where the so-called Generation X middle class are smoking cigars, drinking microbrewery beers, and sipping premium Bourbon, malt whisky, martinis and tequila. It's a trend that's coming here fast.

Once the conversion to digestifs has happened, the world is your oyster - cider brandy from Somerset, fruit schnapps from Austria, eaux-de-vie from Alsace, Limoncello from Italy. From Spain there's a range of anis-based creations, the finest of which is Pacharan. This Basque liqueur is made with anisand sloe berries, is low in alcohol and has a wonderful balance of sweet fruit and a dry finish. Served with ice, it's a wonderful palate reviver.

So how do you get people to try them? In this respect, digestifs are the same as wines: people are often scared to order something they haven't heard of. Lam has hit on an original solution. "If a customer is interested in, say, two grappas, or wants to know the difference between Calvados and cider brandy," he says, "I'll put a splash of each into two glasses and get him to nose and decide. It's a very good way of getting people to buy."

The Atlantic is taking the idea one step further, with the launch of a range of after-dinner cocktails based on existing digestifs, such as Bonny Doon Nectarine and Prunus. "We are trying to find ways of keeping people at the table," says Swain, "so we'll bring over another list."

At the end of the day, it's about getting people to relax and enjoy themselves. "We're not in the West End, so we don't get people spending top-shelf prices," says Hopson Jones, "but our clientele is becoming increasingly adventurous. The more you go out, the more you know, and the more you enjoy yourself. We are trying to create excitement, give the whole place a bit of sex appeal."

"Basically," adds Ponsonby, "what's needed is more theatre around drinks in general. We eat through our eyes, but we're sold wine in a cold and clinical fashion, whereas it should be fun. Everyone is locked into the old image."

If the menu is adventurous, and if the wine list matches the food, don't stop there. Give your customers closure.