Five 'must-haves' to make professional cocktails at home
on 16/09/10 at 7:02 pm
Spirits
The slow food, locavore movement coupled with economic uncertainty has helped create an increase in at-home entertaining. Here are five tips to take your home bar to the next level.
Here are five ‘must-haves’ to bring trendy lounge drinks home:
1. Herb and botanical-based liqueurs: like Campari, Chartreuse and St-Germain
2. Hand-held citrus juicer
3. Fruit peeler
4. Fruit liqueurs like Cointreau Luxardo Maraschino
5. Sweet liqueurs: creme de cacao/menthe/cassis
I much prefer to make a good Old Fashioned or Manhattan, or the perfect Martini, over a trendy complicated drink that requires Chartreuse or Creme de Cacao. I’d move these way down the list and go back to the old standbys:
1. Lots and lots of good ice
2. Fresh/good fruit (olives, limes, lemon, etc.)
3. Reasonably high-quality booze
4. Your own sugar syrup
5. Careful measuring
As the editor will attest, a perfectly made Manhattan is a thing of beauty, and wins out every time over some fancy Stormy Monday Rum Punch Pisco Sour Aviator 55 A Go-Go. A simple gin and tonic, made with muddled lime and ice-cold gin in a TALL GLASS packed with ice, will send you straight to Heaven.
Oh, and 6. Put some damn (good) vermouth in that martini.
Hear, Hear! The editor does indeed kvell over a perfect Manhattan but there might be occasions when one wants to dabble in an exotic tipple…just like life