5 Tips for Making Better Cocktails at Home 

Making cocktails at home is an affordable, fun way to entertain guests. It is easy to get overwhelmed by the number of choices and techniques that are involved with making any cocktail. We want to make sure we are doing everything we can to enhance our drinks while keeping it simple and saving time too. However, it can also be a fun and intimidating task to take on by yourself.

While it is not difficult, it can be tricky to make them taste like those you have had at the bar. Whether it is too bitter or too sweet, the five tips in this article will help you make better drinks.

Make Correct Measurements

Wondering why all bars use jiggers? It is because they want to ensure consistency so that every drink has the same taste. It is not that bar owners are trying to cut down on waste, nor is it that they are trying to make sure they are making enough. It is actually about consistency. If you measure accurately and use the right technique, you will enjoy that cocktail at home as much as you do at the bar. To ensure that you are making quality cocktails at home, get a jigger, find a recipe you like, and write it down.

Use Better Ice Cubes

The ice you put into your drink makes up 1/3 of the final product. For making cocktails, it is advisable to use ice cubes that are at least 1 inch per side. Crescent-shaped ice that comes out of automatic ice makers in fancy refrigerators is not nice at all. The best ice is shaped in a way that maximizes chilling power, which gives you the ability to achieve the ideal dilution for each drink.

Infuse your spirits

If you have enjoyed a cocktail at a bar involving an infused spirit, you can make it yourself. We recommend starting with inexpensive base spirits. Experiment with flavor infusions that are already familiar to you. We love spruce and pine flavors in cocktails so we may make some gin with a few spruce tip tea bags. It only takes half an hour of soaking before you strain and remove the ingredients from the liquid.

Use Fresh Fruit and Herbs

Fresh juices will taste much better than store-bought juice, but you will have to squeeze them yourself. Many store-bought juices also contain added sugar, so you should reduce the amount of sugar in your cocktail recipes. Fruits and herbs make a lot of difference between a good drink and the one you will love. An easy way to elevate a cocktail is to add citrus peel to the rim of your glass. This gives you the pleasant scent of citrus, which triggers your brain to perceive the drink as fancy, pleasant and flavorful before you even taste it.

Remember to Sample Before Serving

Tasting drinks before serving them is a good way to assess the quality of your drink, just like doing a small test run with your product to assess its quality. A bartender taste-tests drinks to make sure they are good before serving them to patrons. Even though it is barely noticeable (and not meant to gross you out), this is an example of using great tasting cocktails to make your homemade cocktails better. There are times when your expectations do not pan out. It is better to find out early on, rather than after you spend a lot of time or money.

The Takeaway

Anybody can recognize the basic elements of a cocktail: liquor, juice/sweetener, ice and garnish. But when it comes to making your own, sometimes the combinations seem endless. What makes the perfect drink? Is it something that is shaken or stirred? Or is there more than one way to create the same drink with different liquors and fruit juices? Whether you are hosting a dinner party or just trying to create something new for yourself at home, the tips shared above will surely help you take your cocktails to the next level.