Occasionally I find myself in need of a cocktail, and it’s at these times that I open up the venerable Mr. Boston or the Trader Vic’s guide and try to find something that’ll hit the spot. The problem is that we never seem to have all the ingredients the recipe calls for.
So I experiment, and it’s invariably a disaster—too sweet, too watered-down, too strong, too boring. I finally called my friend Erick, a bartender-writer-personal trainer, and asked for some guidelines. He gave me some simple mixology tips and formulas, which seem appropriate to share on New Year’s Eve. If you keep it simple, these drinks work.
The ingredients
Alcohol Because they’re nearly flavorless, vodka and white rum will mix with just about anything. Tequila goes well with citrus juice. Whiskey, dark rum, and gin have more personality and are tricky to combine.
Mixers Try flavored water, soda, fruit juices, or iced tea—herbal or black.
Flavorings Citrus peels, bitters, herbs, jalapeño slices, or spices: a little goes a long way.
Liqueurs Made with sugar and fruit, herbs, or spices, these are the secret behind the ’tini drinks.
Three basic recipes
Highballs (gin and tonic, rum and coke, greyhound) all follow the same formula. Fill a tall glass with ice, add 1 jigger—1 and 1/2 ounce or 3 tablespoons—of alcohol, then fill the glass with a mixer and any flavorings. You can add an ounce of liqueur along with the alcohol.
The ’tini recipe is 2 ounces of vodka and 1 ounce any flavor liqueur, shaken with ice, then strained into a martini glass.
To make a margarita, you can shake 2 ounces of tequila, 1 ounce sour mix and 1 ounce liqueur with ice, then strain into a glass. You can also serve the mix over ice, or you can blend the whole thing into a slush, if you have a powerful blender.
Happy New Year!
Posts
The Egyptians long ago invented the perfect alcoholic beverage, beer, and we need seek no further in that direction. I do have two current favorite drink recipes:
ReplyDelete1. Put a Sleepytime teabag and a slice of lemon in a plastic water bottle and let steep for an hour. Refreshing!
2. Mix 6 ounces of V8, 6 ounces of fat-free chicken stock and a teaspoon of horseradish, plus a grind of pepper. For variety, substitute chili-garlic sauce or black-bean paste or the traditional Worcestershire for the horseradish or non-fat vegetable broth for the chicken. Stimulating!
Okay, so first, I had to suspend disbelief when I read that you "...never seem to have the ingredients..." Next, just last week I invented a new cocktail. To 3 parts Rittenhouse rye, add 1 part Cointreau, or use Citronge, the fake Cointreau that TJ's sells. Taste. Decide it's too sweet, and add a nice dash of Gary Regan's Orange Bitters. Taste again. Add a cube or two of ice. Sip and begin to forget how hopeful we all felt a year ago.
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