Cocktails are always in fashion and always will be. Every good bar serves them and the quality of the entire place rests on the barman’s ability to mix a good mojito or cosmopolitan. A beginner can make a great cocktail, just follow a good recipe and learn these few simple beginners summer cocktail tips.
Remember this order – sugar, ice, alcohol, mix and soda. This is the standard order the majority of cocktails are made in. That is beginners summer cocktail tip number one.
Beginner Cocktail Tip 2 – You will need some good equipment. Good equipment is vital so if you think you can get away with using a cocktail shaker from your local dollar store your wrong. You will need a jigger to measure out the ingredients, a bar spoon, a hawthorn strainer, a julep strainer and a good quality shaker. If you’re a beginner you will do well with a Cobbler shaker although the pros tend to prefer Boston shakers.
Beginner Cocktail Tip 3 – Next thing to think about is your ingredients. You will want to be using the absolute best you can afford. This is especially true for drinks that contain fruit juice. If you try and cut costs on budget juice like lemon and lime your cocktails will taste awful. Ideally you want to be squeezing all your juices fresh.
Beginner Cocktail Tip 4 – You also need to consider ice. Ice can literally make or break your drink. You may think it’s all the same but it’s not. It shouldn’t be melting or recently frozen. Do not freeze it next to any food as it may slightly absorb their taste and smell.
Beginner Cocktail Tip 5 – For some cocktails you will need sugar syrup. You can either buy this or make it yourself. Just mix equal amounts of sugar and water and heat the mixture in a pan until the sugar has dissolved and the water has thickened.
Beginner Cocktail Tip 6 – If your chosen cocktail contains ingredients that are difficult to blend then make sure it is shaken. Don’t use crushed ice, use 4-6 ice cubes. Place the ice in the shaker and then the other ingredients. Shake as hard as you can for at least 20 seconds.
If your chosen cocktail contains just liquids then it is much easier to mix and therefore should be stirred. When you are mixing use a glass or metal mixing rod (that you should have purchased as mentioned above). Mix then strain into the required glass over ice. Again no crushed ice.
Beginner Cocktail Tip 7 – Make sure whatever drink you serve you put it in the correct glass. No your can’t put anything in any old glass. Mixed drinks like Long Island, Mojito, and Gin and Tonic all go in a tall glass. Cocktails with juice should be served in tall skinny glasses. Generally people serve daiquiris and margarita’s in martini glasses however they are best in thick rimmed “Coupette Glasses”. Martini glasses are best for any shaken cocktail to stop it from separating.
Beginner Cocktail Tip 8 – Always serve your cocktail in a chilled glass. This is because warm drinks taste disgusting, an ice-cold drink covers the taste of the alcohol and adds another dimension to the drink. This is the absolute key to beginner’s cocktail making. The colder the glass the better it will taste.
