Remember when you were young, and all it took to keep you satisfied was a red Solo cup filled cheap rum and coca cola? Now that the days are adulting are here, it’s time to step up your cocktail game, or at least check out some pointers on what you might be doing wrong.
Bad Ice
How does frozen water go bad? By absorbing all of the gross freezers smells over time. After being in the freezer for too long, ice soaks in the odours of everything surrounding it (including that expired bag of chicken wings). These offensive aromas can seriously impact the flavour of your cocktail, so sticking with fresh ice is a smarter move.
Eyeballing Instead of Measuring
Using a jigger as well as properly measuring the ingredients in your cocktail is the key to it tasting its best. Just like when you try to wing it with pancakes and they come out tasting a bit funny, when you do so with cocktails, it can taste a bit off. Invest in some measuring spoons and you’re good to go.
Not Using Real Citrus
When a recipe calls for it, shell out the extra couple of bucks and invest in some fresh lemons an limes. Replacing it with one of those tiny plastic bottles with “real” juice sold at the supermarket won’t cut it. It’s definitely not real, and it will make your drink taste old and unpleasantly acidic without that signature citrus flavour.
Using Premade Mixers
Even Martha Stewart gave a lecture on this one, telling her viewers that juice has to be fresh. This doesn’t mean spending hundreds on a juicer or buying pricey organic concoctions – just create your own version of the store-bought kind at home. It’ll save your waistline and taste buds will thank you for passing on all those unsavoury additives and preservatives.
Shaking Instead Of Stirring
007 might have been wrong on this one. Shaking a cocktail brings air into the liquid, frothing it for mixers that involve citrus or cream. This method causes ice to break down which dilutes the cocktail, helping balance flavours. Stirring is a way to delicately chill liquid and blend ingredients without the air, keeping your drink clear and perfectly dense. Most cocktails without mixers(like martinis and Manhattans) need to be stirred.
Not Filtering Cheap Vodka
You might have never graduated from that cheap bottle of vodka you were so loyal to during Freshman year of university. But If you refuse to budge on budget, you can turn cheap, harsh vodka into smooth Grey Goose just by busing a Brita water filtration pitcher. This is a similar filtration process to the one that expensive alcohol brands charge more for.
