Improve Your Favorite Cocktails With These Awesome Tips
If you want to really wow your guests at your next dinner party, you might think that you need to go all out with the food you serve. That’s not always the right strategy, though. In fact, you might find that you can impress a whole lot more with the drinks. After all, who doesn’t love a classic cocktail with dinner?!
However, if you don’t make your cocktails quite right, they might fall flat and your guests could be left disappointed. Thankfully, though, if you follow these next few handy tips, you can guarantee that your cocktail shaking will always go down well!
Know Your Lingo
First of all, you need to brush up on your cocktail-making lingo. This will prevent you getting confused when you are flipping through all the various recipes out there. For instance, the difference between a cocktail and a mixed drink is that the latter only has two ingredients, while cocktails have three or more. Do your guests want their drink neat or on the rocks? The latter is served with ice while a neat drink won’t have any ice in the glass. You can find more terms explained online.
Get The Garnish Right
Each cocktail will have its specific type of garnish. For instance, most gin-based drinks should be served with a wedge of lime. And, you’ll find maraschino cherries in some whiskey drinks, such as a Manhattan or an Old Fashioned. It’s important that you get the garnish right, as the flavor of the fruit will affect the overall flavor of the drink. Get it wrong, and you could spoil your cocktail.
Need To Season Or Use Bitters?
Some cocktails might require you to use seasoning or bitters. Bloody mary seasoning is vital as it helps enhance the hangover cure’s hearty savory flavor and will add an extra depth to the tomato juice. Quite a few whiskey drinks will mention adding a dash of bitters to them. Again, these are ingredients that can help emphasize certain flavors that are already in the mix.
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Invest In Good Equipment
If you don’t have a cocktail shaker, how do you expect to make a great cocktail? After all, James Bond himself always asks for “shaken not stirred” when it comes to his martinis, and these are words of wisdom that can be applied to all types of cocktails. Make sure you have some top-quality equipment you can use to shake and strain the drinks with.
Serve In The Right Glass
Of course, it isn’t just the equipment that is important – you will need to serve the cocktails in the correct glasses too. The long stems on martini glasses help to keep the drinks chilled at the correct temperature, while any drink with soda water or prosecco should be served in a long glass or flute to help maintain the fizziness.
So, these great tips should give you a fine chance to show off at your next dinner party. Which cocktails will you serve? Let me know in the comments below.
