There’s something all of the best bartenders in the world have in common. No, it’s not the beards; it’s their incredible ability to mix up drinks that put your home-grown efforts to shame. Somehow, these wizards of alcohol manage to make drinks that taste so good that you’re willing to fork over the cash, time after time.
But is mixology such a dark art? Or can you imitate its practitioners somehow? The good news is that their secret is out. Take a look at some of these mixology secrets to get you started the next time you entertain.
Always Garnish
Garnishes add a certain flair to drinks in a way that simple ice – or even the drinks themselves – do not. There are all sorts of ingredients that you can use to garnish the drinks you serve including fruit (lemon, lime, orange, apple, cherry, berries), some vegetables, like cocktail onions, and spices and herbs, like cinnamon sticks and star anise.
Garnishes help to make drinks look more professional and add an extra element of visual excitement. Just remember to tell your uninitiated guests that they don’t have to eat them.
Be Bold With Flavours
It can be tempting to be conservative with flavors when mixing with alcohol, but because of the strong taste of alcoholic beverages, especially spirits, you don’t have to be. Mixing ingredients, like Caesar drink, often have intense, even vegetable flavors, which can be great when paired with alcohol. Bloody Mary, anyone?
Choose Your Glassware To Keep Things Interesting
Another trick of the mixology trade is to choose exciting glassware. Mixologists are obsessed with the shape of their creations and the way that they feel when they are in their clients’ hands. Don’t stick to simple wine glasses if you can help it: try to excite your guests with other shapes, like flutes or vintage glasses. You could even use glasses that fit into the overall theme of your party event.
Choose Quality Ingredients
Another way mixologists make their drinks taste so good is that they use quality ingredients. They spend a lot of time researching the best places to get things like spices, fruits, and juices, which all make a difference. Few mixologists worth their salt rely on juice concentrate or non-specialists food suppliers.
If you’re going to be entertaining guests and want to make amazing cocktails, then avoid going for cheap garnishes and mixing drinks: your guests will be able to taste it, and you won’t get the flavors that you want. It’s much better to seek out the best suppliers in your area, perhaps at a farmers market, and use their product to wow your guests.
Be Creative
Although there are already hundreds of tried and tested drinks combinations out there, there are still many undiscovered flavors you could explore. Budding mixologists should think like chefs, always asking themselves whether one flavor would work with another, and then experimenting to see if they were right. It won’t always work out, but mixologists understand that they will only discover new things if they take the risk.
This is a contributor post, which has been reviewed and edited personally by me before being published. Links to external reviews are meant to provide additional ideas to readers and do not reflect my personal opinion or review of products.
Featured photo credit: PxHere