5 Mixology Skills To Master At Home
Ryan Chetiyawardana prepares a sour
Admiring online cocktail recipes, but lack the techniques to make them? Experts share their tips.
Right now you may be inspired to tackle a big project or check off a list of to-dos in-between Zoom calls with friends. While you are socializing in a social distancing-friendly way, why not perfect your home bartending skills too? Here, savvy mixologists and brand ambassadors share techniques to practice while we are sipping at home.
Note: During the COVID-19 crisis and the age of social distancing, obviously it’s necessary to make cocktails at home for now. However, to aid the cocktail industry at this crucial time, Campari America’ s Shaken Not Broken campaign has donated $1 million to Another Round, Another Rally, an organization that benefits the hospitality industry. If you’re a bartender or other hospitality employee in need of assistance, or to learn more and participate in the #AnotherRoundChallenge to help local bars and donate to the organization’s virtual tip jar, please click here.
Properly Shake a Cocktail
It’s the quintessential skill needed for so many drinks, but one that even professionals can struggle with, says Ryan Chetiyawardana, master bartender and owner of several concepts in London and the US, including the recently-launched Silver Lyan in Washington, D.C. A vigorous shaking movement whips air into the drink, but it needs to be controlled. He also says the amount and type of ice also plays a factor. He advises to get accustomed to how frosty cold the outside of a shaker feels on your hands, then the rest is trial and error. “Try different movements until you can comfortably rattle a large volume of ice moving across the full length of the shaker (it should sound very loud as it hits either end) for around thirty seconds or more,” he says. Practice with water to see how much air you can add to the mix. “You'll feel a little ridiculous at first, but it will give you great control over your shaken drinks.”
Try it with: A Daiquiri
“When made correctly [it’s one] of the most majestic drinks out there,” says Chetiyawardana. “And once you have these mastered to your tastes, you will have much greater control over every drink you make.”
2 oz. white rum (we suggest Copalli, a rum from Belize that one Gold in the 2019 NY International Spirits Competition)
1 ½ tbsp. freshly-squeezed lime juice
⅓ oz. to ½ oz. simple syrup (2:1 ratio sugar to water, simply heat water in a saucepan with the sugar until dissolved, and allow to cool)
Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker, add ice and shake until it’s blisteringly cold and well-aerated. Double-strain into a frozen glass and enjoy immediately.
Properly Stir a Cocktail
As a rule of thumb, spirit-forward libations without any mixers, citrus, cream or other non-alcoholic ingredients should be stirred rather than shaken. Classic examples include the Negroni, Manhattan and Martini (and here are some to try if you ran out of vermouth). “The purpose of stirring a cocktail is to gently allow all of those ingredients to marry together while adding just enough water to bring down the potency,” says Rachel Potts, Brand Ambassador for Slane Irish Whiskey and BenRiach Single Malt Scotch Whisky. Dilution and technique are key, and take a bit of trial and error just as shaking a Daiquiri would. She says that stirring too long or too hard waters down the drink, while not stirring enough may lead to a tepid tipple with an alcohol burn.
Always add ingredients to the mixing glass before the ice, then follow Potts’ method. “Hold the bar spoon about two-thirds of the way up the handle between your middle and ring finger and let the back of the spoon rest against the inside of the glass. Keeping your elbow still, slowly rotate the spoon, keeping it hugging the glass as it makes full revolutions. The motion is mostly in the fingers (imagine a push-and-pull movement between your fingers gripping the spoon). It should be a smooth and gentle stir. Avoid any choppy motions.” There shouldn’t be any bubbles or cloudiness forming in the glass and the process should take twenty to thirty seconds. (To see a demo of how to properly stir a drink, please click here.)
Try it with: The Burton Manhattan
Potts recommends sampling the cocktail every fifteen seconds while stirring. “By tasting the cocktail at different points in this process, you can train your palate to identify where that perfect dilution is.”
2 oz. Irish Whiskey (Potts obviously makes this with Slane. For a guide to Irish whiskeys for cocktails, please click here.)
½ oz. blanc vermouth
½ oz. rouge vermouth
2 dashes Angostura Bitters
1 dash Orange Bitters
Orange peel, for garnish
photo by Adam Jaime via Unsplash
Add all ingredients except garnish to a mixing glass, add ice and stir until well-chilled. Strain into a cocktail glass or into a rocks glass over one large cube. Express the orange peel and add to the glass.
Get comfortable working with egg whites (or aquafaba)
Shaking a cocktail with egg white adds attractive frothiness to its surface and a lusciously silky texture. (If you or your guests are vegan or vegetarian you can substitute aquafaba, the liquid found in a can of chickpeas, for the same amount of egg white.) To practice working with either, start with a basic sour recipe (like these), suggests Brooke Toscano, general manager of Pouring Ribbons in New York. “Don’t overdo it and make it a ten-ingredient cocktail while working on the basics,” she says. Once you feel comfortable you can try drinks that call for a dry shake (shaking first without ice to emulsify the ingredients, then shaking with ice to chill and dilute) or a reverse shake (shaking first with ice, straining out the ice and shaking enough for a more consistent frothiness). “A lot of that knowledge comes from practical use and understanding why techniques don't work for you even if you see others utilizing them. When you are ready flex your expertise—and help build muscles—with what she calls “the ever-so-scary Ramos Gin Fizz.”
Try it with: Ramos Gin Fizz
“A bit of practice makes you realize it’s not so scary after all,” she says. Be sure to keep your Collins (tall) glass and soda water chilled, shake the drink with quality, hard ice, and add an inch of soda water to the glass before pouring in the drink. Then pour in the rest of the soda to the cocktail tin to “rinse” out any leftover cocktail before adding it to the Fizz, she recommends.
2 oz. dry gin (such as Brooklyn Gin, Silver medal winner in the 2019 NY International Spirits Competition)
½ oz. lime juice
½ oz. lemon juice
1 oz. simple syrup
1 oz. heavy cream
1 egg white
9 drops orange flower water (2 reserved for garnish)
Soda water
Add gin, lime and lemon juices, simple syrup, heavy cream, egg white and 7 drops of orange flower water to a cocktail shaker and dry shake to emulsify. Add 2 solid ice cubes and shake again until they are gone. Add an inch of water to a chilled Collins class and double-strain the cocktail into the prepared glass. Pour an ounce of soda water to the tin and swirl to “rinse” the glass, pour the soda water and “rinsed” cocktail to the Collins glass and then top with more soda water. Garnish with 2 drops of orange flower water.
peels and sugar for oleo saccharum, photo by Amanda Schuster
Make Oleo Saccharum
It may sound like something created in a chemistry lab, but oleo saccharum is just a fancy word for a syrup flavored with the peels of citrus fruit. “[It’s] a great way to get the most out of citrus fruits since you’re using both the juice and the flavorful oils in their peels,” says Luke McKinley, marketing director for Novo Fogo Cachaça.
To prepare it, peel citrus fruit into wide strips, put into a glass bowl and cover with superfine sugar. (A general ratio is the peels from 2 pieces of citrus fruit to ½ to ⅔ cup sugar.) Using a muddler or wooden spoon gently press down on the peels for several minutes to mash the sugar into the peels without pulverizing them, or put on rubber gloves and do it with your hands. Transfer the mixture into a Ziplock bag, pressing out all the air, and let it rest at room temperature overnight; the next day you’ll have a dense, fragrant syrup, McKinley says. Strain out the peels, squeezing them with your hands to remove the liquid, and store the syrup in the refrigerator for up to a week. “Use this oleo saccharum as a sweetener in cocktails, and you’ll be rewarded with a rich, complex flavor that is far more nuanced and delicious than using sugar or simple syrup alone,” he says. “Moreover, this is a fantastic low-waste way to maximize the flavor from citrus fruits.”
Try it in: Chameleon Punch
This is a festive punch-style libation that’s not too sweet thanks to sherry and spicy allspice liqueur, and is a great use for oleo saccharum. It’s also easily batchable.
1 ½ oz. cachaça (McKinley uses Novo Fogo Chameleon)
½ oz. amontillado sherry
¼ oz. allspice liqueur
½ oz. lemon juice
¼ oz. lemon oleo saccharum
1 oz. chilled sparkling wine
Grated nutmeg and an orange slice, for garnish
Add everything except sparkling wine and garnish to a cocktail shaker, add ice and shake until well-chilled. Strain into a glass over fresh ice, top with bubbly and garnish with grated nutmeg and an orange slice.
throwing a cocktail is a time-honored technique
Learn How to Throw a Cocktail
Back in the nineteenth century before the shaker was invented drinks were “thrown”—poured back and forth between two glasses with the glasses pulled increasingly far apart each time. It’s believed the technique was brought over from Spain and was quickly embraced by Cuban bartenders (cantineros).
The technique, which naturally aerates the drink, is enjoying a revival in modern cocktailing by bartenders seeking a silky texture to drinks. “Throwing a cocktail is something that takes a little bit of practice and would be a great skill to have when you get back to your bar,” admits Michael Toscano, brand ambassador for Woodford Reserve. “It's better to look bad doing it in your own home than in front of guests!” Start with small distances and then slowly move the tin that’s catching the liquid farther away. “It's important to have the tin you are throwing full of ice with a julep strainer firmly holding it in place; you may have to add more ice as you throw because it's melting and you'll lose the connection between the julep strainer and it will all come spilling out.” Once you’ve gotten the hang of Throwing 101, add some flair like twisting your body and adjusting the catching tin mid-throw.
Pro tip: because of its molecular structure, it doesn’t work to practice with water because it won’t behave the same as alcohol when it is transferred. So if you’re just starting out, try it with something you might be looking to use up anyway. Here’s a video from Diageo Bar Academy starring Erik Lorincz or reference.
While learning to make these cocktails at home, please consider donating to Another Round, Another Rally to help the bar community
Try it in: Boulevardier
Toscano believes throwing a cocktail could be used to aerate a Manhattan without over diluting it, and would also be a cool technique for a Boulevardier, which is a variation on a Negroni made with American whiskey.
1 oz. American whiskey (rye or bourbon, Toscano uses Woodford Reserve Double Oaked bourbon for richness)
1 oz. bitter aperitivo (such as Campari)
1 oz. sweet vermouth
Orange peel, for garnish
Add the first three ingredients to a cocktail tin and add ice. Pour the cocktail from the tin through a julep strainer to an empty cocktail tin, then back into the original tin, repeatedly for 30 to 45 seconds. Strain the cocktail into a rocks glass over a large cube and garnish with an expressed orange peel.