Guide · cocktails
Eight cocktails that actually work
Home cocktails usually fail for three reasons: not enough ice, bottled juice and the wrong ratio. Fix those three and you do not need a bar.
The recipes
Quantities per glass. Always plenty of ice.
50 ml gin, 150 ml cold tonic, glass full of ice, citrus peel. Ratio 1 : 3.
50 ml white rum, juice of half a lime, 2 tsp sugar, 8 mint tops pressed, ice, soda on top.
50 ml blanco tequila, 25 ml fresh lime juice, 20 ml orange liqueur, shaken with ice.
30 ml gin, 30 ml sweet vermouth, 30 ml bitter red liqueur. Stirred with ice, orange twist.
50 ml vodka, 20 ml coffee liqueur, 30 ml cooled espresso. Shake hard until it foams.
90 ml prosecco, 60 ml aperitif liqueur, a splash of soda, plenty of ice, orange slice.
50 ml gold rum, cola, juice and peel of a quarter lime. Ice before the cola.
50 ml bourbon, 25 ml lemon juice, 15 ml sugar syrup. Shaken with ice.
Four rules
These four things improve every recipe above.
Fill the glass with ice
A little ice melts fast and dilutes more. It only sounds contradictory the first time.
Citrus fresh
Bottled lemon and lime taste rubbery. One lime yields 25–30 ml of juice.
Shake when there is juice or egg in it
Stir only when every ingredient is clear — Negroni, Martini, Manhattan.
Sugar syrup, not sugar
Sugar will not dissolve in a cold drink. Boil equal parts sugar and water and keep it in the fridge.
What you actually need
The list is shorter than bar shops suggest: a jigger, a shaker (or two glasses and a jar with a lid), a strainer, a long spoon and plenty of ice. The handle of a wooden spoon replaces a muddler.
Five bottles cover nearly everything above: gin, white rum, blanco tequila, bourbon and sweet vermouth. The sixth is orange liqueur. That set produces more than twenty classic cocktails.
Common questions
Why does a home cocktail come out weak?
Almost always because of too little ice: a small amount melts quickly and adds water. A glass full of ice dilutes less.
Do I need a shaker?
Not necessarily. Two glasses pressed together, or a jar with a lid, do the same job.
When do I stir and when do I shake?
Shake when there is juice, cream or egg. Stir when everything is clear — that keeps the drink bright.
What kind of ice should I use?
Large cubes. Ice that has sat in the freezer for a long time picks up smells — make a fresh batch.