Cocktails At Home…
Dedicated to the Ridge Street Cocktail Trio…
With a surge of interest in mixology (plus the dearth of indoor bar options during our rather recent quarantine), many folks who might have previously just had a bottle of Stoli in the freezer, and little other liquor in their home, are now taking an interest in the ingredients and methodology behind classic cocktails, and creating cocktails at home.
Much as people are intimidated by the world of wine, you might feel intimidated by the idea of making cocktails at home, but I promise you, a little knowledge goes a long way.
As someone who started bartending in the nineties, but wasn’t back behind the bar full-time until after the pandemic, having spent the ensuing period doing virtually everything else one can do in the front of house, I can attest to a sea change from the Martini and cigar bar culture of the nineties, to a beverage world in 2023 that is diverse, vibrant and varied enough that virtually anyone can dip into it with a not too daunting expansion of their skill set at home.
To put it in terms of the venerable French brigade, the cocktail creator in a cocktail-focused bar finds herself both garde à manger and saucier, and while more exotic infusions and flavor combinations can be daunting, the garde à manger work, that is to say combining cold ingredients in a felicitous manner, is really all the home bartender needs to master.
Take the old-fashioned. If you pick up a bottle of Angostura bitters at the grocery store and combine equal parts turbinado sugar and hot water, all you need is a bottle of whiskey, a glass vessel, and a long spoon, and you can make a delicious old-fashioned. If you like big rocks, you can buy a silicone ice tray on Amazon (they work exactly like a regular ice tray).
If you have a cocktail shaker, regular ice and whatever gin or vodka you like (vermouth optional) you can make a great martini! It’s really about shaking it long and hard enough that you get little chunks of ice in the final product. If you like a twist, you can use your vegetable peeler. It’s no different than peeling a strip off a potato.
If you miss the flavored martinis of the early aughts, just add juice or purées to your white liquor and you can shake yourself a martini glass of nostalgia. I’m partial to lychee and pear in cocktails.
In short, most of the most popular cocktails are pretty easy to make. And like when cooking, if you have a question, you can always Google it! A Manhattan uses your long spoon, Angostura and a small splash of red vermouth. A “Bee’s Knees” can be made in your shaker with gin, lemon and honey and hot water that have been combined and cooled into a syrup.
You probably already have a shaker, a vegetable peeler, a long spoon and a glass vessel of some kind. A thicker walled cocktail glass works better, but I often stir Old-Fashioneds in their own glass when pressed for time.
So you already have the basics and Google, so what else might you need? As mentioned, a thicker walled stirring glass and a proper stirring spoon are good investments. You might like a tool to cut long thin strips of citrus fruit, or a simple hand juicer for lemon and lime juice. Beyond that, it’s a question of presentation.
The allure of a Martini is definitely partially based on its glass, and the same is true with an old-fashioned served in a nice cut glass old-fashioned glass. A Nick and Nora glass, a visual hybrid of a Martini and Coupe glass, is a striking vessel for straight up cocktails and has the perfect diameter to suspend a garnish.
There is no need to go down a rabbit hole though. We once had a Sommelier Series Grand Cru Burgundy glass in our cabinet that had previously been gathering dust at the French restaurant I then worked at. One day I looked at it in the cabinet, assessed how much Grand Cru Burgundy we drank at home (none), and re-homed it and made more room for the tuna fish.
So with glassware and tools gathered, what about the liquid ingredients?
Setting up your home bar you want to start with the basics: bottles of good quality vodka, gin, tequila, mezcal, rum, bourbon and rye. Scotch isn’t a terribly common cocktail ingredient (the “Blood and Sand” is an exception), but a bottle of Johnny Walker Black Label will satisfy Scotch and Soda drinkers, and some Glenlivet or Glenfiddich will cover those who enjoy a neat pour of single malt.
But how do you know what to buy? It’s good to note that the “fancier” bottles are charging you for packaging and marketing, which is not necessarily a slight towards the quality of the liquid in the fancy bottle.
For vodka, I recommend Ketel One, or Modest from Madison, WI, or a vodka from a local distillery. If you want to pour one of the frosted glass bottle vodkas, I’m partial to Chopin.
For gin, Beefeater and Tanqueray are good London Drys. Tanqueray 10 is excellent as well. Among newer offerings to the market, Drumshanbo is appealing, as is Malfy, and Hendrick’s and Bombay Sapphire remain very high quality. If you have Watershed Four Peel (produced in Columbus, OH) available in your area, definitely nab a bottle. Genever (Dutch style gin) is also an interesting category.
For tequila, the Don Julio line is an evergreen choice. I also like Cazadores and Gran Centenario. Don Julio 1942 and the line of Clase Azul tequilas are recommended, but you’re definitely partially paying for marketing and packaging, as previously mentioned.
For mezcal, I enjoy Del Maguey Vida and also Banhez, which is grower cooperative produced. I couldn’t find 400 Conejos in Boston on a recent trip, but it is by far my favorite. Nosotros tequila and mezcal are not available in stores yet, but their agave spirits are terrific. Look for them on Chicago cocktail menus.
For white rum, I like Diplomatico or Plantation, and J.M. Rhum for Agricole (made from fresh sugarcane). Where aged rum is concerned, I recommend Ron Zacapa Centenario, Parce 8 or any aged offering from El Dorado, as well as selections from the aforementioned Diplomatico and Plantation. El Dictador from Columbia is not a mixing rum, but certainly a great introduction to the Cognac-like finesse of fine aged rum.
For Bourbon, Old Forester is a good cocktail bourbon, as is Wild Turkey and Four Roses. Woodford and Basil Hayden are good reliable high quality bourbons for sipping. I’ve always liked the whole High West portfolio. Depending on availability, Buffalo Trace and E.H. Taylor are also favorites. Wherever you live in this Country, there is very likely an interesting local bourbon (bourbon can be made anywhere in the United States, see: What Is Bourbon? A Guide to America's Original Whiskey). In Chicago, we have a number of them, but Koval is my favorite, and they have some really interesting diversity in the grain base they use. Their millet whiskey is a big seller!
For rye, I like Rittenhouse and Old Overholt for mixing. Sazerac and Uncle Nearest are two ryes more elegant in their expression that can be sipped or used in a cocktail with a more delicate and elegant flavor profile.
Situated thus, with your bar tools and your base spirits covered, you can get more whimsical from there.
The aforementioned are also your stalwart spirits. Over time you will discover spirits like cachaça, pisco, white whiskey and both European and American fruit brandies that can also anchor a cocktail well.
Sugar will pick up flavor from any solid or liquid ingredient, and I’ve had good luck with Monkfruit Sweetener for those avoiding sugar (you just can’t refrigerate it).
This means that people have made versions of oleo saccharum (traditionally citrus peels layered with sugar) with all sorts of outlandish things and produced syrups that taste just like whatever went into the dry sugar to begin with—grilled cheese sandwiches, you name it, but I prefer to layer flavors rather than reproduce them. I delight in the creativity of the menu at https://doublechickenplease.com/, where you can enjoy a “Cold Pizza” cocktail artfully constructed with ingredients not endemic to cold pizza but evocative of it—burnt toast, egg white and honey included.
I like to let ingredients steep in dry sugar a few days, and then add the hot water; in the case of “The Sakura Spritz” from our Summer menu, I would layer salted cherry blossoms (with the salt washed off) in sugar and let the oils merge into the sugar before making a syrup a few days later.
After sugar, citrus is the most common cocktail craft ingredient. When concocting cocktails with citrus, I look at traditional uses of citrus in cooking—beyond having pleasing natural acidity, lemon, lime and orange all have a certain flavor profile that works well with certain other ingredients.
When layering flavor, you can also directly infuse your base spirits either by steeping (bitters are literally just bark and other dry ingredients steeped in high proof spirits—Wray and Nephew high proof rum is my favorite base for bitters) or by fat washing. Any fat will release flavor in alcohol, and you just need to freeze the mixture and extract the fat solids after.
However, what I most enjoy sharing at in-home cocktail tastings are less well-known liqueurs and cordials—which have a novelty that adds a dose of fun to any home cocktail event.
First, there are the venerable liqueurs your grandparents might have found behind every bar back in the day: Drambuie, Benedictine and Galliano are good examples—they tend to be sweeter than the modern palate is accustomed to, but used judiciously, they add a nice note of complexity. Drambuie pairs well with brown liquors and apple. Benedictine jazzes up a margarita and with Galliano in your cabinet, you could introduce a new generation to a drink once considered exotic in the late sixties, the “Harvey Wallbanger.”
There are also lesser known liqueurs that may have been produced for centuries, but have less exposure outside Europe. Now is definitely the time to put by some Chartreuse:(https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/14/dining/drinks/chartreuse-shortage.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare). I also like Boomsma Cloosterbitter, also originally made by Monks, in this case in The Netherlands. Benedictine, previously mentioned, was originally made by monks as well, although neither Boomsma or Benedictine are currently produced in a monastery setting.
With the American cocktail revival having been in full swing since 2000, liqueurs like Maraschino, Creme de Noyaux and Creme de Violette have seen a resurgence in interest. Maraschino is a key ingredient in the delicious “Last Word” cocktail and Maraschino and Creme de Violette are key players in the equally delightful “Aviation” cocktail. Creme de Noyaux is less approachable, but is the linchpin of the wonderfully dated “Pink Squirrel.”
A friend once asked me point blank if I sit around googling obscure liqueurs, and the answer was, naturally: “yes.” Not all fruit liqueur is of high quality, but Giffard, Winter & Rothman and Tempus Fugit are all reliable producers, and there are also a number of smaller producers offering delicious liqueurs with unusual flavors like Paw Paw, Persimmon and Saffron. (https://www.apologueliqueurs.com/). Nixta corn liqueur is also fun.
Rounding out your possible liqueur selections, Ancho Reyes offers both heat and flavor, so both the Rojo and Verde will satisfy spicy drink enthusiasts. Ancho Verde and roasted squash purée make a great cocktail combined with a white spirit and lime juice.
And then there are the great liqueurs that never left: Amaretto di Saranno, Bailey’s, Cointreau and Grand Marnier. If you’ve only enjoyed Amaretto in a sour, which is sweet on sweet, it offers a lot more possibilities if you use it like a condiment to enrich a multi-layered drink. Bailey’s is another liqueur that can add viscosity and creamy flavor to your cocktails in smaller amounts. Cointreau is a lot better than ordinary Triple Sec in a margarita and has a marmalade-like intensity that can enliven any cocktail with rich orange rind flavor. Gran Marnier was my beloved paternal grandmother’s favorite—the addition of cognac offers depth to the bright orange flavor of the liqueur.
And then the only missing ingredient are friends and family and a free night. Have fun!
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