Friday, 06 August 2010
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Tips to for Mixing Profesional Quality Cocktails
1. Use good core ingredients! I understand that many are on a budget but some things just shouldn't be skimped on. You can generally get away with getting a cheap rum and vodka (i.e. Sailor Jerry's Spiced Rum, Appleton, Tito's Vodka, etc are all excellent choices for a budget) and liqueur but almost everything else is going to cost a little bit. A good bottle of tequila is going to run you probably around $30 depending on where you live. Many people are under the impression that they cannot drink things like tequila because they get bad hangovers and/or they throw up. This is generally not true! This is the product of drinking cheap alcohol, like Cuervo Gold (Yes, I went there).
2. Use fresh juices. This is another reason why people get sick and throw up and/or have a nasty hangover the next day. When you're getting drunk by sucking down cheap alcohol mixed with high fructose corn syrup, what do you expect? I know it takes a little bit of time to squeeze fresh lemons and limes but just invest in a squeezer. You'll thank me later when you've made the best batch of margaritas ever.
3. Use a ton of ice and have a ton more on hand. Take the amount you think you'll need and triple it. When mixing, pour all of your ingredients into your shaker, then fill it with ice. Put fresh ice in the glasses you're pouring into. This will help keep the drink cold and give it the proper amount of ice melt to give your cocktail the perfect taste. Don't worry diluting your drink by using too much ice. The more ice, the more cold surface area so less ice will actually melt.
4. Always measure your ingredients. Even the best bartenders do this. At a lot of busy bars and restaurants it's common to see bartenders eyeballing amounts. The recipes are set that way for a reason. Would you like to get a long island iced tea where the ratios were off? Gross.
5. Hold bottles by the neck when pouring. It's just easier to pour accurate amounts.
6. Chill your cocktail glasses. This can be done last minute by filling them with ice water while you're making the cocktail.
Happy Mixing!
I know this cannot be all. How do you ensure your cocktails come out well?
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- From: SpiritedConvo
- Name: SpiritedConvo
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Comments (3)
I agree with your rules. I think using the right glasses and presentation helps, too. You wouldn't want to receive Champagne in a short, squat glass, right? I use mostly fresh juices for mixed drinks, with the exception of cranberry. Cranberry is a sneaky juice, as mostly all bottled cranberry juice is a juice cocktail, filled with sugar/corn syrup. Cocktails that use cranberry juice benefit from 100% cranberry juice in my opinion, especially in very sweet drink, the tartness prevents the drink from being too sweet, like Sex on the Beach. Tried Tequila Sunrise with fresh squeezed orange juice, it definitely cannot be compared to refrigerated boxed juices (won't touch orange juice in a shelf stable plastic bottle)! I can't think of anything else to make better cocktails, except to stay away from drink mixes (such as mojito and margarita mix) and alcoholic beverages sold in plastic bottles!
@babybug329@xanga - I definitely agree with you on all these points. You really have to look and be willing to pay a little more for 100% cranberry juice. And the drink mixes are nassssty. There's one company, Perfect Purees, that do awesome drink mixes but each mix is like $25 and there's a three mix minimum to order. The little bit of extra work goes a long way.
mmm i do love a good drink.