I'm always a little put-off when people ask me for a particular drink recipe. "How do you make that?" If it didn't sound so glib, my response would always begin with "Well, how do you want it?"
Drink recipes are, after all, fluid (forgive the pun.) Do you like your mint julep with a spritz of soda water? A slice of lime? Then that's the right way to make it. Sure, it might not have been the way to make a "traditional" julep - but if julep drinkers in the antebellum South had ready access to limes, chances are they'd try
Archive for Mixed Drinks
Raspberry-Basil Vodka Smash… (or build your own)
by Dennis Mayer on July 26th, 2011 | Cocktails, Mixed Drinks
Between the Sheets
by Dennis Mayer on July 15th, 2011 | Cocktails, Martinis, Mixed Drinks
Cocktails fall into two main categories.
The first, more refined category includes any drink with one primary spirit and secondary ingredients to complement it. Examples range from the Manhattan (vermouth and bitters to complement your bourbon) to the margarita (curacao and lime juice to punch up tequila) to the Godfather (a splash of amaretto to sweeten up a Scotch on the rocks) and countless others. Simple, classic cocktails, designed by bartenders who had limited ingredients and hoped to give their customers the best tastes possible (or at least mask the flavor of whatever rotgut booze was available in more austere times.)
The
The first, more refined category includes any drink with one primary spirit and secondary ingredients to complement it. Examples range from the Manhattan (vermouth and bitters to complement your bourbon) to the margarita (curacao and lime juice to punch up tequila) to the Godfather (a splash of amaretto to sweeten up a Scotch on the rocks) and countless others. Simple, classic cocktails, designed by bartenders who had limited ingredients and hoped to give their customers the best tastes possible (or at least mask the flavor of whatever rotgut booze was available in more austere times.)
The
Ward 8
by Dennis Mayer on June 17th, 2011 | Cocktails, Mixed Drinks
Whiskey doesn't play well with others.
Sure, it stars in a number of cocktails - a Manhattan, an Old Fashioned, a Sazerac - but there aren't many cocktails in which whiskey is a complementary flavor. The very reasons we love it - the assertive, smoky kick of a good Scotch, the oakey, sour flavor of a bourbon, the sharp, tart sweetness of a rye, the liquid-lightning kick of an Irish whiskey - make any cocktail based on the spirit fraught with peril. The whiskey will simply overpower everything else in the mix.
This doesn't hold true for mellow, blended whiskeys - often
Sure, it stars in a number of cocktails - a Manhattan, an Old Fashioned, a Sazerac - but there aren't many cocktails in which whiskey is a complementary flavor. The very reasons we love it - the assertive, smoky kick of a good Scotch, the oakey, sour flavor of a bourbon, the sharp, tart sweetness of a rye, the liquid-lightning kick of an Irish whiskey - make any cocktail based on the spirit fraught with peril. The whiskey will simply overpower everything else in the mix.
This doesn't hold true for mellow, blended whiskeys - often
Mojitos, Without the Mess
by Dennis Mayer on June 3rd, 2011 | Cocktails, Mixed Drinks
Bartenders hate mojitos. If you doubt me, order one the next time you go out, and watch carefully for the reaction. You'll get an eye roll, a cringe, a sigh... and if the bar's busy enough, she might just refuse to make it.
Mixing mojitos can be an annoying, time-consuming process, whether you're a professional bartender working a busy shift or a barbecue host mixing drinks for guests. The official recipe - which requires attacking mint leaves, sugar, and water with a muddler for at least 5-10 seconds before adding the liquor - takes time, and the mint leaves and sugar
Mixing mojitos can be an annoying, time-consuming process, whether you're a professional bartender working a busy shift or a barbecue host mixing drinks for guests. The official recipe - which requires attacking mint leaves, sugar, and water with a muddler for at least 5-10 seconds before adding the liquor - takes time, and the mint leaves and sugar
Tom Collins – The Old-Fashioned Way
by Dennis Mayer on May 18th, 2011 | Cocktails, Mixed Drinks, Sparkling
One of the only moments that's stuck with me from The Great Gatsby was a morning-after scene, in which the characters watch the house staff cart away giant mounds of squeezed-up fruit that had been used the night before. Fitzgerald wanted the fruit to symbolize how much the rich wasted, but I was always confused. What the hell were they doing with all that fruit?
Now it makes perfect sense to me. Bartenders back then didn't have all the mixers we work with now. They didn't have cola, for the most part, and they certainly didn't have sour mix
Now it makes perfect sense to me. Bartenders back then didn't have all the mixers we work with now. They didn't have cola, for the most part, and they certainly didn't have sour mix
