HowTo A beginner’s guide to cocktails
If handing her a warm can of beer just doesn't cut it, why not be a bit more adventurous? g3 shows you how to mix it up...
Making a cocktail isn’t rocket science, but making a really good cocktail is a bit trickier than it looks. Now I’m sure we can all put our hands up and say that we’ve been at a party, spotted a cocktail shaker and given our best Tom Cruise impression, only to come up with something that tastes like drain cleaner. Finding recipes online or buying a cocktail book could be just what you need. But, if you take your cocktail making a little more seriously than just shaking it up at your mates’ house parties then you’re going to need a little more than a cheap cocktail shaker you found in the 99p store.
As well as a decent shaker and a load of booze, you’ll also need stirrers, a pourer or measurer, a sharp knife to slice up fruit and some appropriate glasses in which to display your colourful concoctions. A bottle of grenadine and some food colouring might not go amiss either.
You might also want to consider taking classes. There are plenty of courses designed to help you turn your toxic combinations into a strawberry dykeari (sorry I mean daquari) that would rival any swanky bars. These classes not only teach you how to make them and present them, but also how to up your ‘flair’. Flair is that thing that the barmaids do with the cocktail shaker that make you go, “Wow…I want one of those” (the cocktail, not the barmaid).
Shaker BarSchools are the UK's leading bartending school. They are dedicated to providing bartending, cocktail and flair training courses. The world & UK bartending champion, Jamie Stephenson, manages the company along with a team of expert trainers. Shaker BarSchool bar training academies operate courses in London and Birmingham. The London Bar School also offers excellent courses for all abilities.
And if you’re not ready to splash out on a course then there are plenty of books out there with thousands of different cocktail recipes in. There’s no excuse – get mixing!
Easy cocktails…
Black Magic
1.5 measures of Russian vodka
1.5 measures of Tia Maria
1 dash of lemon juice
Bikini Martini
1.5 measures of Hendricks Gin
1 teaspoon Peach Schnapps
1.5 measures of De Kuyper Blue Curacao
Glamour Puss
1 dash of Angostura Bitter
2 measures of Russian vodka
1 measure of lime juice
A splash of grapefruit soda
0.75 measure of peach puree
