Making cocktails can feel very intimidating when you’re first starting out, and I think it’s because we see these fantastic bartenders mixing up beautiful drinks in fast-paced bars, that it feels a lot harder than it is. Well, I want to teach you how to make better cocktails at home so you can feel much more confident. In this post, I highlight some basic techniques and ingredients that help to improve the quality and taste of cocktails. We will go over bitters, simple syrups, citrus, ice, and stirring vs shaking.
Bitters
What are bitters?
Bitters are a type of spirit infused with fruit, spices, leaves, bark, roots, and herbs known as botanicals. Bitters are used as digestive aids and flavoring agents or enhancers. There are tons of bitters ranging from fruity to herbaceous, and when experimenting with different cocktails, it’s tempting to buy all the bitters, but there a just a few that you need to start off your collection.
What role do bitters play in a cocktail?
Bitters are the salt & pepper of a cocktail. They add the right about of flavor to enhance and marry all of the flavors in your cocktail. Therefore, when a recipe calls for bitters, don’t leave them out. It’s pretty much the equivalent of seasoning your food and leaving out the leading flavor enhancer; it’ll be good but not great.
What bitters do you need?
I suggest starting off with the 3 most popular and then building your collection based on the flavors you gravitate to the most. Start with these:
Angostura bitters are made of herbs and spices with a cinnamon spice flavor. Angostura bitters are used in Old Fashioned cocktails, the classic Manhattan, and most whiskey cocktails
Orange bitters are made from a blend of tropical oranges and spices. They are also used in whiskey cocktails, Old fashions, gin cocktails, and many others.
Peychaud’s bitters are a little sweeter, with hints of candied cherry, clove, and orange. It still has a bitter finish and is beautiful in a Sazerac cocktail.
There are a lot of bitters on the market, and I recommend you take your time to find flavors to experiment with. It took me a while to build a solid collection, and if I’m being honest, I only use a few,
Simple Syrup
Simple syrups are one of the easiest ways to improve your cocktails and get creative in the kitchen. Simple syrup is equal parts water and sugar simmered over heat to create a sweetened syrup to use in beverages where granulated sugar won’t dissolve. The recipe is pretty simple; equal parts water and sugar. You can add flavors to your syrups by simmering fruits and herbs in the pot.
Here are two recipes that I use pretty often in the fall and winter months:
Fresh Citrus
I know it’s tempting to purchase lemon and lime juice at the store, but fresh is always best when making cocktails. The citrus brightens the drink and allows you to taste the other flavors in the cocktail. Fresh limes, lemons, oranges, and grapefruit are essential to the flavor development of your cocktail.
Ice
Ice is another component that contributes to the quality of your drink. If you didn’t know, many shaken and stirred cocktails have water in them due to dilution and water released into the cocktail from the ice. In my opinion, clear ice is the best way to preserve the quality and integrity of your drink. You don’t want ice filled with cloudy particles ruining your quality spirits and ingredients. Because clear ice is only water and less dense, it melts a lot slower, allowing you to enjoy your cocktail at an average pace.
You can make clear ice by filling a small cooler (one that will fit in your freezer) and filling it with 4 to 5 inches of warm tap water, but not hot water. Place the cooler inside your freezer with the lid off and freeze in the cooler for 18 to 22 hours until several inches of the water has frozen. You’ll want to have still some water left under the ice, which prevents the ice from getting cloudy. Once it’s frozen, you take a serrated knife and carve out your ice.
You can also purchase ice trays that get the job done just as well. I currently use this one from Clearly Frozen, and I love it!
When to Shake vs. Stir
This was a challenge for me when I first started making cocktails because I was self-taught and didn’t do my research, but now I know better, and the quality of my drinks has improved so much within this past year. So when it comes to shaking versus stirring, you must understand what’s in your cocktail and the desired result.
Shake a cocktail when you have ingredients that need to be diluted with ice, such as simple syrups, purees, citrus, egg white, creams, and dairy.
Stir a cocktail when mixing spirits that do not require a lot of dilution and are primarily spirit. Old Fashions, a Manhattan, and Negronis are a few that come to mind.
I hope these tips help you become more confident in making cocktails at home. The world of cocktail making can be pretty complex at times, but as long as you understand the basics, you can continue to build on your understanding. Here are a few cocktails to try out:
I truly enjoy your content and recipes! I can’t wait for a hardback and class!!