Cocktail Secrets

With summer officially here, blended drinks - also known as frozen drinks - are just the thing to cool you off on a hot summer afternoon. But the trick with blended drinks is that you have to get the balance of ice and liquid ingredients just right. Too much liquid ingredients and you get a runny drink that won’t stay cold for long. Too much ice and you’ll have to spoon your drink out of the glass.

To blend the drink properly, start out with what the recipe recommends. For the best results, use store bought crushed ice or mini ice cubes. Once you’ve blended it, try sloshing it around. If it’s moving too freely, like a big pitcher of water with a few bits of floating ice, then you need to add more ice and blend it again. If you try sloshing it around or pouring it and it’s one big frozen ice ball, you’ve added too much ice and you’ll need to add some liquid ingredients. Try to use to the same proportions the recipe calls for so that you don’t inadvertently throw off the flavor.

A perfectly blended drink is consistently icy - no liquid parts - yet it still moves very much like liquid. You can easily pour it from the pitcher to the glass and it can be drank easily with the first pull on the straw.

If your blended creation still has chunks of ice too big to go up a straw after 45 seconds or more of blending, then it’s likely you have a problem with your blender and you may want to invest in a new one. Cheap blenders are notorious for not being able to blend ice to a silky smooth consistency. For quality blender than can blend almost anything, check out Will It Blend. The videos of the things they blend from cans of coke (still in the can) to iPods to tiki torches is not to be missed!

Layering a drink is more art than science and yields the most dazzling cocktails a bartender can create. The best tool for layering a drink is to use a dime spoon. If you don’t have a dime spoon you can try using the back of table spoon or anything with a groove in it - check your plastic kitchen serving spoons. Whatever tool you use, the goal is to slow the pouring liquid as much as possible so that it doesn’t mix with the previous layer.

Begin by pouring your first layer in to the glass. Then measure the ingredient for the next layer and take your barspoon and put its handle into your glass just above the previous layer and angle the spoon to about a 45 degree angle. Be sure not to let the handle rest against the rim of the glass or you’ll be slurping spilled liquor off the counter top. Now slowly pour the liquor on to the spoon like you would when measuring a tablespoon of cough syrup. The liquid will flow out of the spoon, down the handle and pool into an attractive layer on top of your previous ingredient. Repeat for the remaining layers.

Tip: If the measuring glass you’re pouring out of has a thick rim, the liquor will want to drip down the side of the glass and not into the spoon when you pour slowly. This sucks since it often drips all over making a mess instead of a work of art. To avoid the mess, first visit your medicine cabinet and rob a cough syrup bottle or a Pepto bottle of its little plastic measuring cup on top. Pinch the rim of the cup to form a handy pour spout and use this to pour your liquors onto the dime spoon.

When creating a layered drink it’s important to put your heaviest ingredient in first, followed by the next heaviest all the way up to the lightest ingredient. This handy chart lists liquors by their specific gravity (weight) with the lightest on top and heaviest on the bottom:

Sloe Gin <—– Lightest
Peach Liqueur
Peppermint Schnapps
Apricot-flavored Brandy
Cherry-flavored Brandy
Peach-flavored Brandy
Triple Sec
Orange Curacao
Blackberry Liqueur
Blue Curacao
Cherry Liqueur
Coffee Liqueur
Creme de Banane
Creme de Menthe <—– Heaviest

Tip: If you’re having trouble with two ingredients that are close in weight mixing together try putting the heavier liquor in the freezer for a few minutes and gently warm the lighter ingredient by running hot water over the bottle before you layer them.

Tasting - it’s not just for wine connoisseurs anymore.

Drinking a fine cocktail is much like drinking a fine wine, cognac or scotch. It takes a well-trained pallet to taste the entire depth of the drink. Taste what you’re missing with these simple tips:

1. Your sense of smell is far keener than your sense of taste. Take a moment to breathe in the drink. What distinct aromas can you identify in the cocktail’s “spirit?”
2. Take a drink and pay close attention to how it tastes on the tip of your tongue, along the sides and over the top. Many drinks show different flavors as they hop from taste bud to taste bud. Think of this as your cocktail’s personality.
3. Take notice of how the drink feels. This is it’s character. Is it smooth? Cold? Thick? Hot? Crisp? Rich? Dry?
4. Finally, consider the cocktail’s aftertaste - it’s final impression. How does the cocktail leave you feeling? Refreshed? Wanting another sip? Satisfied?

Mix up a tasty cocktail and give these suggestions a try. You might be surprised at what you can taste.

As always if you have a question, or want to see a particular recipe or liquor reviewed, post it. No registration required.

Most of the large liquor bottles (the 1.75L size) have a plastic doohickey inserted into the neck. What’s it for? The masterful and impressive speed pour. It takes a little bit of practice but you can easily train yourself to accurately measure out shots without having to use measuring aides, like the jigger & pony.

Here’s how you do it: Grab a container with known measuring markings - like a measuring shot glass - and holding the bottle at a 45° angle, pour the liquor into it. When the booze starts flowing, start counting by saying, “One, one thousand.” When you finish saying the phrase, tip the bottle back upright. Some booze will continue to pour out while you’re tipping the bottle back upright. That’s ok - it’s supposed to happen.

Now take a look at your measuring shot glass. If done correctly, you’ll have exactly 1 oz of the good stuff in the glass. If you’re a little low - less than an ounce - you counted too fast or tipped the bottle up too fast. Drink the shot and try again, counting a little slower. In the same way, if there’s more than an ounce, you were a bit slow. Drink the shot and try again, but speed up saying, “One, one thousand.”

To measure two shots, just count “One one thousand. Two one thousand.” It’s a silly phrase, but it works. It may take several tries to get the hang of this method, but it’s worth it for the time you’ll save and the less measuring aides you’ll have to wash!

If you don’t typically buy the large 1.75L size bottles or you can’t be bothered with all this, check out the calibrated 1 oz. pourer. It fits over any bottle and will measure out exactly one once each time!

As always, if you have a question, or want to see a particular recipe or liquor reviewed, post it. No registration required.