The Complete Cocktail Manual Read online

  STEP FIVE Bottling is more complex than simply dumping a bunch of barrels together. Each barrel, even those the same age and from the same location, will develop differently. The ratio of each barrel is important to the final product, just like when making a cocktail.

  030 GET FRESH

  The importance of fresh juices in your cocktails can’t be stressed enough. Even in drinks where juice is merely a supporting player, having good, fresh juice is key. And in citrus drinks like margaritas, salty dogs, or mimosas, the freshness of the juice is critical and worth the extra effort. Particularly with citrus, the subtle oil fragrance can fade and end up tasting one-dimensional and acidic.

  031 MAKE THINGS JUICY

  Making juice at home is easier if you have the right tools, and not every juicer is right for every job. Here’s a look at some of the most common tools.

  CITRUS SQUEEZER

  Simple and effective, although they really only work on lemons and limes. In a pinch, cutting oranges or grapefruit into smaller pieces allows you to juice them with a squeezer.

  CITRUS REAMER

  Those old-school reamers on which you twist the citrus are best left to larger oranges and grapefruit. Electric versions are available, and the handheld baton style is better for cooking situations than for cocktails.

  CITRUS PRESS

  Expensive and unwieldy, these specialists combine the powers of the squeezer and the reamer, and make quick work of oranges and grapefruit.

  JUICER

  Cold-press and extractors are great for juicing anything except soft and juicy produce, like watermelons, which leave behind a frightening puddle. Otherwise, they’re great for anything you can think to put in there.

  BLENDER

  You have to add water to make them work properly, but they do a better job with things like leafy herbs or juicy fruits.

  032 JUICE UP YOUR DRINKS

  Freshness aside, not all juices are best made at home (and in some cases, are not reasonable to attempt). Here’s our juice box filled with pulpy bits of information on all your favorites.

  ORANGE/GRAPEFRUIT

  These premade juices are of better quality than those for lemons or limes, but fresh juice is always worth the effort.

  LEMON/LIME

  Using a citrus squeezer is optimal because it releases citrus oils from the skin to help perfume to the juice.

  PINEAPPLE

  Those small tin cans of pineapple juice taste as much of metal as they do of fruit. Buy 100 percent pure juice in glass bottles if you can’t make it yourself. In a blender, combine peeled chunks (core included!) with water. Blend, then strain.

  PEACH/APRICOT

  Stone fruits will oxidize quickly, so be sure to mix in a little lemon or lime juice to help slow the process.

  STRAWBERRY/BERRY

  You can make syrup by cooking berries in a saucepan with sugar, then straining out the solids. If using a blender, combine chunks with water. Blend, then strain.

  TOMATO

  What we think of as tomato juice is really more of a thin sauce. Juiced tomatoes just won’t work in your Bloody Mary. Buy it.

  APPLE

  Those big glass jugs of unfiltered apple juice or cider are decent if you don’t have a juicer.

  CRANBERRY

  This is really more of a beverage (sweetened with added sugar) than a juice. Buy it.

  POMEGRANATE

  In the fall and early winter, you can often find fresh-pressed pomegranate juice at local farmers’ markets.

  COCONUT

  Unless you want to hone your machete skills, look for the cans of coconut milk sold at Asian markets or any of the countless new brands at your local store.

  CARROT/BEET

  Carrots and beets can add an earthiness to drinks, not to mention a striking bolt of color. Use a juicer if you can.

  WATERMELON

  At the height of summertime, it’s worth the effort to juice a watermelon—since it’s so refreshing on its own. It’s too juicy for a juicer, so combine peeled chunks into a blender with water. Blend, then strain.

  033 CUSTOMIZE YOUR DRINKS

  Tailoring your cocktails with a little something extra is an easy and fun way to add a personal touch to your cocktails. Depending on the ingredients, there are a few ways to add them in. Simple syrups (see item 047), spirit infusions, tinctures, and shrubs are a couple of ways to incorporate fruits, herbs, and spices.

  If you make infusions, keep track of your work by measuring and noting the amounts you use so that you can replicate them later. Tape the recipe onto the jar itself, and make sure you log the dates it went in and came out of infusion in your notes.

  But just because you can add flavors to cocktails doesn’t mean you should add all of them at once. Try adding one flavor at a time, and remember: Just like adding more wheels doesn’t make a better car, adding more ingredients doesn’t make a better cocktail.

  034 INFUSE IT OR LOSE IT

  Infusing a spirit is a fun way to add flavor to your favorite vodka, whiskey, or gin (really, any spirit will work). Fresh and dried fruits or vegetables, herbs, and fats are great choices for infusions. Mix a small amount, about a cup at a time, rather than whole bottles—the smaller volume allows you to experiment. It also lets you off the hook if something goes sideways and you end up making something that tastes like a sulfur mine. Here are two ways to do a proper infusion.

  DIRECT INFUSION

  STEP ONE In a mason jar, combine 1 cup of the spirit of your choice with the herbs, fruits, or vegetables you desire. Smaller pieces infuse faster, so get chopping, and don’t include anything you wouldn’t eat, like pits or cores. Fruit skins on apples and peaches have a lot of aroma and flavor, so be sure to leave those on. And go organic if you can—alcohol is a solvent and will infuse pesticides if you’re not careful.

  STEP TWO Shake it up, then store in a cool, dark place. Taste-test after a day, and give it another shake before putting it back. Fresh herbs will infuse in a couple of days, while denser fruits may take up to a week.

  STEP THREE Strain out the solids (they look cool, but they’ll dissolve and make a mess) and store the infused spirit in the fridge—when you’re not slinging your apple-infused bourbon Manhattans.

  FAT INFUSION

  bacon

  peanuts

  popcorn

  brown butter

  STEP ONE Melt 1 ounce of the fat of your choice (if it’s solid) at room temperature and combine with 1 cup of liquor in a small metal bowl or pot that will fit in your freezer. Stir the fat and spirit together to combine, cover, and allow to sit at room temperature for a few hours.

  STEP TWO Place the fat-liquor combination in the freezer for at least a few hours (longer if the fat was liquid at room temperature).

  STEP THREE Strain out the solid fats and put your infused spirits into a clean jar or bottle. Store in the fridge.

  035 FLAVOR WITH TINCTURES

  Tinctures occupy a neat little groove of functionality: They’re stronger in concentration than an infusion, and they’re closer to bitters in terms of intensity. Think of using them to fine-tune the details. Herbs, spices, citrus peels, chile peppers, and other botanicals work best, as they allow you to control the intensity of each ingredient.

  STEP ONE Fill a small jar halfway with high-proof vodka. Add your ingredients of choice (if using spices, toast them first), close the lid, and shake the jar to combine.

  STEP TWO Place in a cool, dark location, and give the jar a shake every day or so, checking on the intensity and aroma. Don’t be afraid to wait longer if it’s not strong enough after a couple of weeks. Chiles might only take days, while spices could take weeks.

  STEP THREE Once the desired strength is reached, remove the solids with a tea strainer. Pour the liquid into an eyedropper or bitters bottle for maximum control.

  STEP FOUR Mix up some fun: Add a drop (or several) of your new tincture to your drink once it’s mixed—it serves as a garnish and flavor enhancer in one!
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br />   036 SHRUB IT THE RIGHT WAY

  An old colonial technique used to preserve fruits with vinegar and sugar, shrubs are a great way to add fresh fruit to cocktails via a tart syrup.

  STEP ONE Cut your fruit into small pieces and combine 1 cup chopped fruit with 1 cup sugar. Lightly crush the fruit while you combine everything together. Cover and let rest in your fridge overnight.

  STEP TWO Crush the fruit further and strain out the liquid. Make sure to extract as much juice as possible without pushing solids through the sieve.

  STEP THREE Combine the strained juice with 1 cup vinegar and mix to combine.

  STEP FOUR Now mix away, and remember a drink in the hand is worth two in the shrub.

  037 PUT YOUR DRINK ON ICE

  The ice shape, size, and amount you use to make and serve your drinks can all have a greater effect on the cocktail than you might imagine. In mixing, these factors determine temperature and dilution—both key elements to taste. In stirred drinks, a lack of dilution will make cocktails taste harsh, while too-small ice will make shaken or stirred drinks taste watered down. Here are a few variations to consider.

  SPHERES The low surface area of the sphere shape is designed to keep stirred cocktails or neat pours of spirits cold without overdiluting them.

  CRUSHED Used for juleps, cobblers, and swizzles, crushed ice is used in cocktails with strong liquors that need to be chilled very quickly.

  SPEARS Used to serve drinks in Collins glasses, spears of ice are both elegant and keep the cocktails perfectly fresh.

  CUBED Cubes are the most common, all-purpose ice shape.

  038 KEEP IT CLEAR

  Making clear ice in your home freezer isn’t as easy as it sounds—just look at one of your homemade cubes; they’re likely cloudy from either bubbles or minerals. Despite the endless advice online about using purified or boiled water, it just isn’t that simple. Writer and blogger Camper English has gone to extreme lengths with countless experiments on his site Alcademics.com, but the gist of his conclusions is that you need to freeze it directionally—top to bottom, like it would in a pond. To replicate this, he placed a small camping cooler in the freezer, which helped to slow down and change the direction of the freezing process. In the end, he only had to cut off the cloudy portion that formed at the bottom. The lesson? If you want clear ice, buy a block or large cube from your local bar—or just chill out and be cool with cloudy ice.

  039 BREAK THE ICE

  For some advanced ice maneuvers, you’ll need to add a few tools to your arsenal.

  PICKS Used to shape ice, picks come in different styles to fit the job, from taking care of snitches (just kidding!) to forming spheres or breaking down large blocks into smaller, albeit irregular, chunks. It’s old school, slow, and takes practice—but it also doesn’t require plugs or maintenance.

  KNIVES Paring and serrated knives can come in handy to shave away bumps to form smooth surfaces. Plus you probably already have one.

  SAWS For heavy-duty ice work like breaking down whole 300-pound blocks, saws (in chain, hand, or band forms) make for quick and straight cuts.

  MALLET AND CANVAS BAG Use a mallet and canvas bag to make crushed ice. Put the ice inside the canvas bag, then give it a good pounding. The canvas wicks away melting water, leaving snowy crushed ice inside the bag.

  ICE BALL PRESS Presses take hunks of ice and turn them into perfect spheres. You open the two-part mold, add a chunk of ice to the bottom half, and replace the top half. The contraption quickly melts away the extraneous parts, leaving only the ice in the mold.

  040 COMMISSION AN ARTIST TO SCULPT PERFECT ICE

  USBG | ST. LOUIS CHAPTER

  TED KILGORE

  Proprietor, Beverage Director, Planter’s House

  In searching for a source of large, clear ice blocks, Beverage Director Ted Kilgore of Planter’s House in St. Louis, Missouri, reached out to an ice sculpture company. When the company found out what Ted was really after—large specialty ice cubes for cocktails—they offered to sell him something even better than their uncarved blocks: ice precisely cut using their computer-automated machinery.

  Now Ted can order the exact sizes and shapes he needs—such as cylinders perfectly matched to his barware—without adding the extra time and energy it would take to manually break down whole blocks. And the cost? About 50￠ each—more than making up the difference.

  041 DON’T BREAK THE MOLD

  For the sake of simplicity, you can’t beat ice molds, which come in a staggering number of shapes. Want spheres? Large cubes? Hearts, stars, and horseshoes? They have a mold for that. The only problem with molds is that they’re made of silicon, which is porous and will absorb odors from your freezer. Make sure you have a fresh box of baking soda in there, and once the ice is set, empty it out and store it in a zip-top bag. If the mold gets smelly, try soaking it in a vinegar-water solution.

  042 GET JIGGER HAPPY

  If you only remember one piece of information from this book, let it be this: Measure your ingredients. Keep this in mind and it will serve you well.

  Particularly in the beginning, it’s important to take your time and measure out the ingredients as best you can. You’ll be more likely to have good, balanced drinks that you can make repeatedly with the same results.

  There are quite a few measuring tools to choose from; use what speaks to you. A few may have steep learning curves, but, as they say, you can’t make a flip (see item 195) without breaking a few eggs.

  043 MEASURE TWICE, MIX ONCE

  Once you pick your preferred measuring method, remember to take your time. It’s better to be accurate than to be fast. Like everything, speed comes with time and practice. Discussions among bartenders about the accuracy of particular brands or styles of tools always get heated, and rightly so—a small error in your tools when making a cocktail can throw the drink off balance. As a beginner, it’s more important for you to be consistent with your tools than for them to be precise.

  Ultimately, what matters most in the recipes are the ratios, and you can only go so far talking about accuracy before it becomes a philosophical discussion about imperfection and absolute truths, platonic ideals, and infinity. Stay out of that rabbit hole and mix yourself a drink instead.

  DOUBLE-SIDED JIGGER Essentially tiny measuring cups, the smaller end of a double-sided jigger typically holds half the amount of the larger end. The nicer models have incremental measurements etched inside the cup. A word of caution: due to their V shape, it’s nearly impossible to eyeball a small amount, and they can be easy to spill. Practice with water until you get comfortable.

  POUR SPOUTS You’ll sometimes see bartenders pouring directly into a glass using a technique called free-pouring—they “count” the amount of liquid as they pour. This technique, while accurate and blazing fast in the right hands, takes lots of practice. If you’re serious about it, get some pour spouts and practice with water.

  MEASURING CUP Another popular choice are mini measuring cups, which have marks for a variety of measurements, from ounces and milliliters to tablespoons and fractions of a cup. OXO makes the most popular version, with an angled edge inside that allows you to see the fill marks while looking down at the cup. The only problem is that many don’t have a ⅓ ounce measurement.

  MEASURING SPOONS For more precise or oddball tiny measurements, measuring spoons can come in handy. Measuring out 2 teaspoons gives you ⅓ ounce, ½ tablespoon (or 1½ teaspoons) equals ¼ ounce, and 1 tablespoon is ½ ounce. It’s not the fastest way to measure for cocktails, but it’s good to know.

  BARSPOON On occasion you’ll see an old recipe calling for a barspoon of something, which is 5 ml ( oz). The problem is that most barspoons don’t hold that exact amount. If you really want to use yours to measure, make sure you test out the true amount of liquid it holds. In a pinch, a teaspoon holds close to 5 ml.

  044 ACCESSORIZE YOUR BAR

  If you already have the basic set of bar tools (see item 005) and have shaken a few drinks
, here are a few more pieces of helpful equipment you might want to consider.

  GIANT ICE CUBE MOLD Your basic freezer ice is usually fine for mixing and stirring drinks, but a modest investment in a few nice ice molds can make a huge difference when serving.

  ICE TONGS It seems like a small thing, but adding ice to a glass or grabbing a cherry without freezing your hands (or getting them sticky) is nice. Plus it makes you look like you know what you’re doing.

  ICE BUCKETS If you entertain a lot, getting a couple of ice buckets (or other waterproof containers) will make your life a lot easier. Designate one for “dirty ice,” (to hold bottles of juice, sparkling wine, or beer). The second holds “clean ice,” which you’ll use to mix with and serve in drinks.

  LEWIS ICE BAG & WOODEN MALLET These are great tools if you make or drink a lot of juleps or swizzles. They’re even good for serving oysters or shrimp cocktail (the food, not some crazy drink). Bonus points for the stress relief of smashing the heck out of something with a mallet.

  WOODEN MUDDLER Look for large, hardwood versions that aren’t coated in lacquer (coatings will chip off). Grabbing it by the handle, you should feel a nice amount of weight, like a little club—perfect for whacking those clumps in bags of ice.