The Spirit World

Cocktails, mysterious and mystifying. There are thousands of different cocktail recipes that have appeared in print over the years. How many different cocktails have you been known to order? If you are like the average drinker, then you either randomly pick something off of the drink menu, or you have just a few “favorites” that you stick to, anything beyond that is no-mans-land.

One reason for this is that the whole cocktail thing is so confusing. When you walk into a liquor store, how much of what you see do you comprehend? Or do you usually just focus on the wine and beer section and only wander into the liquor section when you have a very specific product you are trying to find? Do you know the difference between a Manhattan and an Old Fashioned? What’s the base spirit in a Sidecar? What’s the difference between shaking and stirring? Is that old bottle of Jim Beam in your cupboard still good?

If you’ve always wanted to know more about cocktails, but were afraid to ask, then hopefully I’ve got something that will help you out. Over the course of the next many weeks, I’m going to provide insights and details that will unravel this whole mixology thing once and for all.

Here is how it’s going to work…

Once a week, I’m going to post a different cocktail recipe. Your assignment will be to pick up the necessary products for that one cocktail, and throughout the rest of the week, practice making it using some of the techniques and details that I’ll also share with you. By the end of the week you’ll have a much deeper understanding of that drink, and the right way to make it.

I will usually not specifically list the “brands” of the various products to use; I want to leave that up to your discretion. If you want to go bargain brand to save a few bucks, that’s fine. If you want to go after the heavily marketed brands, and pay a premium for it, that’s fine too. I will ask one thing however… as you find yourself running low on something, before you run out, pick up a replacement of a different brand. Then do a little private taste test between the old and the new and see which one you like the best. This way you will eventually figure out the brands that give you the best quality, for the least cost.

I’ll be introducing the first cocktail next week, but in the meantime I want to make sure that you’ve got a few of the core fundamental pieces of equipment that will be necessary.

Cocktail Shaker

There are a multitude of different cocktails shakers on the market; most of them are pretty bad. One of the most critical things to pay attention to when buying a cocktail shaker is to make sure that the top separates easily (but not too easily) from the base. Try this out in the store before you buy it. If the top is hard to remove there, then it will be impossible after you’ve made a cocktail. One of the most common questions I get is “My cocktail shaker is stuck, how do I unstick it?”

 

For myself, I prefer what is known as a “Boston Shaker”. This is the type of shaker that you often see bartenders use. It’s made up of two simple parts, a fairly ordinary looking pint glass, and a metal mixing tin that looks fairly similar to the Pint glass. These work really well, although it does take a little practice to learn how to set it up so you can shake it hard without it separating, and then to get it to separate when you need it to.

 

For now, simply get any cocktail shaker you think you’ll enjoy using, chances are good you’ll buy another one before long anyway .

Hawthorn Strainer

This is that weird thing that looks like a mini, metal ping-pong paddle with a spring running around its rim. It’s used to strain the ice from the drink as you pour it. Yes, the “three part” cocktail shakers include a little strainer thing in the middle part, but those rarely work well, and we’ll need the Hawthorn strainer when we stir our cocktails anyway.

Jigger

This is one of the key pieces of equipment that you will use, and the only one (at the moment) that I’m going to insist that you pick up a specific brand and model of. The majority of jiggers you buy in the kitchen stores suck. Not only do they not pour well, but they rarely have their measurements listed anywhere, and even when they do, they aren’t accurate, and they are never designed to measure partial amounts. That is until now. The “OXO” company has come out with an extremely handy jigger, although even they didn’t realize this at first. As part of their “Angled Measure” line of kitchen measuring tools they produced a small 2-ounce one marked to measure in 1/4 and 1/2 ounces, as well as Tablespoons, Milliliters, and various other amounts. You’ll often find this stocked with the other measuring cups instead of in the barware section. Oh, and OXO also makes a metal bartenders jigger, but it sucks too, so avoid it.

Barspoon

I’m not a terribly big fan of those cheap spoons with the twisty handle and the little red plastic cap on the end. If that’s all you can find, then it’s better than nothing. The key thing that we will be using this for is for stirring. So any slender long handled spoon that can reach clear to the bottom of the mixing tin of your shaker, and still leave enough sticking out of the top to easily hold on, is all you need.

Channel Knife

This is that special little knife that is used to cut spirals of garnish off of lemons, limes, oranges, etc. It’s not critical that you have one of these, but it’s fun to make your drinks look a little fancy.

So make sure you have all of the above and some nice fresh ice in the freezer, and next week I’ll introduce you to the first cocktail of this series.

If you really want some sort of drinking assignment to work on until then, makie a point to stop into a few different bars and order a “Sidecar” in each one. See how they vary from one place to the next.