If we’re anything here at A Lovley Affair, we’re cocktail girlies. Nothing like a tasty drink in my hand makes all my problems seem a little bit smaller. Cocktails, for me, are all about the experience and they are to be savoured not guzzled. Gone are the years of pouring whatever liquor I could afford into diet coke and downing it before the uber arrived (who hasn’t been there though?). I’ve come to appreciate the little things that make a difference to the experience.
Quality ingredients. Using quality ingredients makes a world of difference. You don’t need top shelf liquor and farmers market ingredients, but consider spending a bit more on your main ingredient and using fresh rather than packaged. Our best secret? Catering lemon and lime juice like Funkin Pure Pour Lime Juice. It’s much easier than fresh limes (esp off season!) and much nicer than the standard concentrate sold at supermarkets.
Glassware. Using the correct glass for your cocktail elevates the experience 10-fold, investing in a small collection is a good idea if you’re a cocktail enthusiast. When in doubt, a short ball does the trick for many drinks. Skip the novelty glasses, please.
Good ice, and enough of it. You can go through the fuss of creating clear ice, if you want but simply using the right sized ice cubes and enough is a good start. If you aren’t blessed with an ice-maker (I’m not either!), you probably know the annoyance of opening the freezer to find 2 and a half ice cubes left and wondering if you can make a margarita with that. Make plenty of ice in advance throughout the week, and store in a covered container to prevent sublimation. (Sublimation is where your freezer can perform a magic trick and evaporate your ice straight from solid to gas when you’re not looking, a lid goes a long way to slowing this process)
Salt rims. Adding a salt or sugar rim is the easiest garnish around. The key is the correct salt, please don’t use table salt or rock salt. Fine or flaked sea salt is ideal. Experiment with flavoured salt rims too. A favourite is Tajin rims with margaritas.
Serving the right cocktail at the right time. Seasons, the meal to follow, all play a part in the cocktail experience. Many will say an aperol spritz just doesn’t taste right when not in Italy. And they’re right, an Aperol Spritz is a summer cocktail through and through and is best enjoyed in the sun. Match your cocktail to the season, warmer flavours like rum and coffee liquor work better in winter, while light, fresh flavours like lime and orange work better in summer.
Consider blended cocktails. A novelty element (and great for parties) is blended cocktails. Don’t be put off by the idea that you need a high end vitamix to make this happen, a decent blender is all you need, I personally use a Ninja 900w. Convert a recipe to blended by freezing an element of the cocktail, like frozen coffee for a blended espresso martini.
These are a few little tips to really up your cocktail game. You don’t need a full bar or bartending experience to make high quality cocktails, just a few little tweaks and a bit of consideration.