Level Up: Get A Little Fancier
This is about adding some personality to your bar — you’ve got the standards, you’ve mixed all the “and tonics” and a few of the classics and you’re ready to level up a bit. There are about a million things you can do. Here are a few things I recommend because I have fun with them.
Absinthe
I have a lot of absinthe feelings. I LOVE absinthe, and an absinthe rinse can add a dramatic depth to many a cocktail — it’s a very strong, anise/wormwood/fennel flavor that almost changes as it hits different parts of your mouth. It’s also necessary for making my all time favorite cocktail, the Sazerac. You can also drink absinthe all by its lonesome (with just water and sugar), but be careful! It’s a helluva liquor and it’ll knock you on your tuchus before you can say “should I be hallucinating right now?” And by the way, hallucinations were Not A Thing! That was just some propaganda put forth by the wine industry because it was being threatened by absinthe sales.
Campari
This is an Italian product that tastes like bitter orange. It’s necessary for mixing a Negroni, which is one of my favorites but is an acquired taste for most. Up until this point, I haven’t done a Negroni post. Perhaps it’s time to.
Lillet Blanc
This is a light orange taste, a far cry from the above Campari. You can even just have this on the rocks with an orange twist, if you like, that’s how light and pleasant it is.
Pimm’s No. 1
Summer is coming. Pimm’s is fruity and citrusy and tastes like happiness. Plus we’ve done a few recipes with Pimm’s: the Pimm’s Cup and the Wimbledon.
Saint Germain
I love Saint Germain — it’s elderflower liqueur and it goes well with a lot of stuff. To mix with Saint Germain, try the Saint Germain Gin and Tonic and the Hatter Day #2.
Fancy Bitters
Nothing says personality like weird bitters! And for my weird bitter needs, I’ve lately been turning to Bittermens. My two right now are Xocolatl Mole and Hellfire. The Hellfire has become like my Frank’s Red Hot of cocktails: I put that shit on everything.
Tea Strainer
Sometimes in posts on this here Autostraddle, I tell you to “fine strain” something. That means run it through a tea strainer to keep things like pulp, seeds and bits of leaves out of the final product. If you’re going to, say, muddle raspberries or use mint leaves, make sure to grab yourself a tea strainer.
PLANTS!
I feel like no one thinks of this, but yes, plants. Plants are good for bars because fresh ingredients are good for drinks. We just got three that we’re planning to utilize heavily over the next season: spearmint, chocolate mint and basil. They sit in our kitchen window and they make us happy as people. But also they will make us drinks.
Stock Your Bar With Knowledge
This is all well and good, but having all the fun toys is no fun if you don’t know how to play with them. And the internet is a fine resource, especially our Liquor In The ____ and BPM tags. But sometimes you just want to sit down with a good book and some post it notes. These books are for those times:
I don’t say “everyone should have” very often. But everyone should have The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks by David A. Embury. The book came out in 1948, and Embury had plenty of access to pre-prohibition recipes. And this isn’t a recipe book (or rather, it isn’t just a recipe book). It’s a guide to alcohol, technique and all sorts of booze-related knowledge. Plus it’s written almost like a blog? Like, it’s very anecdotal and personal — almost like you’re reading from Embury’s journal and he’s just choosing to share with you. The downside: this book was written a) by a man b) in a very different era, so beware the sexism.
Also try Mr. Boston’s for a quick inspiration hit. While The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks is very much a technique guide, Mr. Boston’s is the opposite — very much a recipe book. But it’s good to have for flipping through and getting some ideas in your head.
Bitters: A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All gives you both information about bitters and the cocktails they’re used it, and it’s gorgeous. Like, really pretty — the amazing photography is inspiration enough, you will want to mix all the drinks.
What Not To Stock
So remember when I said to only stock those two or three mixers? It’s because when it comes to fruit and fruit juices, I don’t think you should keep them around. It can be really tempting to stick those pre-juiced lemon and lime juices in the fridge for when you need them, but I warn ye against that and all that jazz: it’s just so much better to use fresh! Juice limes, lemons and oranges a few hours before you’d like to use them and keep the juices on hand for the next few days at most. The same goes for things like cream and eggs (though you may have them in your kitchen for other things anyway!). Some drinks you can whip up at the drop of a hat, like a Saint Germain Gin and Tonic. Others just require a bit more planning.
So tell me — what do you have in your home bar? What do you want that you don’t have? What did I get totally wrong? Show me pictures of your mixing space, tell me what you’re obsessed with making right now.
