How to Start Making The Best Cocktails At Home! - Home Bar Essentials

So as adults there are some things that we must know how to do well, first we must know how to file our taxes, secondly we must know at least how to cook a good pasta and then we must know how to change the tire of our car and maybe check it well the oil, as they are pretty simple things and if you are a person who likes to throw parties or entertain in any way or if you are a person who will find yourself in that situation, you should know how to make a good drink so today in the educated bar we are going to focus on the essential

cocktails

, these are the

cocktails

that everyone should know when they are adults because when you have people there is nothing better than preparing them a good drink and today I am going to teach you how to do it expertly.

I'm Leandro Dimon Riva and no, honey, it's Leandro's fault. We ran out of vodka, so today at Barfly we're going to do things a little differently and I thought we could go over the tools a little before

making

the video. Now these are going to be the tools that you're going to use in this video, but they also represent a pretty good

start

er bar kit, so the first thing I'm going to do is I'm going to show you a large size can and a mini large, but you have some that are They call them a Boston shaker with a pint glass on one side, there are also cobbler shakers, so basically they're just two different cans, you put them on a flat surface. the small can into the big can at an angle, hit it with the palm of your hand and then it should lock like this when you want to unlock it, just hit it in this little crease with the side of your hand and it unlocks the can like this.

It will be paired with a Hawthorne strainer. The Hawthorne strainer is equipped with a coil on one side and a small metal tab on the other. It fits in the large or small can, whichever you want, and stores ice chips or any type of herbs. or pieces of fruit from your cocktail, this is called closing the gate, it squeezes the coil inside, catches things and sometimes just releases the liquid, although it doesn't get everything out and since I like a really clean presentation, I like to use a fine strainer This is called double straining your cocktail.

I highly recommend a fine strainer now before you put anything into a can you will really need one of these types this is called there are many different styles I like to use this one called graduated it has basic measurements on the inside ranging from half an ounce up to two and a half ounces, so on the outside you have milliliters, tablespoons, and ounces, which is really convenient. I highly recommend getting one because you want to be as precise as possible with your cocktails so you can make consistently good drinks. The next piece of equipment is called a mixing glass.

Now it is not necessary to have a fancy one like this, but we can agree that the bartender is equal parts. sample and works then having a good mixing glass is a must, if you don't have one of these you can use a pint glass of some type with that mixing glass, you will want a bar spoon, this is called a heavy spoon and the reason is because it has a weight on the top end of the spoon when you're stirring, you don't want to use your wrist too much, you want to have it all in your fingers and make sure the bowl of the spoon is on the outside of the glass and it doesn't make too much noise for a beginner .

I really recommend getting a weighted spoon. This is a pretty simple piece of equipment. I'm sure most of you have it. He's a peeler. I like to use a Y-shaped peeler just because it's much easier to peel than a stick peeler. These things are incredibly inexpensive and you'll be using them for a lot of other things besides

making

drinks, so I recommend one, the next thing we're going to do. What you want to have is a mortar. It is a self-explanatory team. Used to mash herbs or fruits or anything you want to lightly press into your cocktail to release flavor.

It comes in various materials. You can get one. made of wood, you can get one made of plastic or something that's like metal with a little plastic end or a metal end. You want to keep these things well oiled so they don't crack. There you have the mortar, so this is it. a fancy version of what you're going to need, but you're going to need a citrus juicer, that's what it is, you can have a manual citrus juicer or one of these. Actually, this is my new favorite team if you choose. For a manual citrus juicer, make sure you get one large format and one small format, obviously this one is quite large format.

I really like it a lot so it has a spout on the side so you can pour it right into your it's really convenient so you're probably wondering about these and these are a really cool piece of equipment that I want to talk about first let's mention To place the rest of these guys like this, these bottles were created. by a company called Crew Supply Company and they sponsored this video and gave us these bottles. So what makes this kit so great and what I love so much and why I think it's so revolutionary is that the bottle has a bottom that you screw out, so not only can you get in there to clean, but that you can also mix things easily, you can put syrups in here easily, you no longer have to go in with a bottle brush and grab the little corner here, um, this is also made from a glass that they call craft technology, the same type of glass that It is used in many bakeware and laboratory equipment, so it is really break resistant, it is difficult to break.

These bottles come in three different styles. You have your 750 milliliter and then you also have a chubby bottle, now they're going to be great for syrups or little infusions, things that you're going to make in a small amount and then they also have a 750 that has a milliliter measurement, which is really useful and it's backwards. you just do like this and then you can see how far you're filling and that's it, another thing they do is these nice color coded pouring spouts, they have different colors that you put on your bottles and then you'll know which syrups are in which bottles which is very useful so I love these bottles and you will see them a lot more on the show and I think you love them too so if you want to see them yourself go to the video description click on the link and now let's

start

preparing cocktails, so the first cocktail we're going to make today is a Moscow mule.

This is just a very simple drink that you can make. It's refreshing, it's a crowd pleaser. Everyone loves it. As long as you have some high quality ginger beer and some high quality vodka you can eliminate them, it's pretty limited, it's cheap to make and that's all I have to say about it, so the first thing we're going to do is cut a file in three. quarter ounce of lemon juice, I'll put it directly into a glass and two ounces of vodka, then we'll open our ginger beer. I like to pour a little ginger beer into the glass to get the fizz.

We're going to add our ice, fill it up, give it a slice of lemon and there we have the Moscow mule. The next cocktail we're going to make is a negroni, which is also a very standard drink that everyone should know. This one is a little less. It's a crowd pleaser and a bit more of an acquired taste if you haven't acquired a taste for Campari, but I will say that this is the first negroni I've ever had. I tried it and almost spit it out because I just didn't have any. the kambari palette but over the years as a bartender I really acquired that taste and once you acquire the taste of kambari there is nothing better and now the negroni is one of my favorite drinks so this is another very simple drink to do, it's the same. parts campari sweet vermouth and gin, so all we're going to do is just an ounce of sweet vermouth, an ounce of cambari and then an ounce of gin, then we're going to take a big rock of ice, drop it into our glass and give it a good stir and just stir it until you start to see a little bit of condensation appear on the outside of the glass.

It would be very difficult to over stir something that has ice that just came out of the freezer and lastly We're just going to add an orange peel and give it a nice touch. I like to rub the oils around the glass, so there's the negroni, so the next one we're going to make is a martini, another must-have cocktail, this is something that everyone should. I know how to make it, it's only three ingredients again. What I love about this cocktail is that it has endless variations, no two martinis are the same, you can swap out your gin and driver's mouth for different brands, and because they have proprietary blends of herbs, spices, rinds and citrus elements, you can really play around with the combinations and make wonderful and fantastic variations of this drink, so we have your cold mixing glass, we will just add a few dashes of orange bitters.

I like to use a mix of regan and fee. bitters uh, but any orange bitters will do and then we're going to use lo-fi aperitif dry vermouth today we're going to do one ounce of our lo-fi and two ounces of our gin, we're going to use plymouth which will give it a nice earthy quality and that's it , then we're just going to crack our first piece of ice and give it a good stir, so now I'm going to get my mixing glass out of the freezer, which I like to keep in there until the last minute to make sure everything's nice and cold and then we're just going to pour our cocktail into our glass, so there are a couple of different garnishes that you can do with your martini.

I love having my martinis with a slice. of orange peel, but you can make orange peel and olives if you want or just olives. Olives actually go very well with orange bitters, so if you put orange bitters in your martini, don't be afraid to put olives in it, so if you put a good zest of oil on top, you get that fresh orange flavor . Let's correct it. There you have the martini, so the old one should definitely be in your repertoire because not only is it a classic cocktail, it's an iconic cocktail and easy to make, but it's also one of the most popular cocktails today, so the good thing is which has a very clear template for experimentation: you simply remove any of the elements and plug in something else. and you have a completely different cocktail okay let's get into it so the first thing we're going to do is just a few dashes of Angostura bitters a sugar cube today I'm going to use demerara sugar because I'm using a little bit sweeter from a bourbon to satisfy my sweet tooth, so we're using the manufacturer's brand, which is a grassless bourbon, on top of our sugar, we're going to add just a little bit of soda to help the sugar dissolve and then I'm going to mash it up.

My sugar cube is here, so if you want to crush your sugar cube, you don't want to dissolve it completely because I like my older models to have that grainy quality that will help it evolve over time because as the ice melts, the sugar will dissolve and the cocktail will go from a little stiffer to a little sweeter. Then we'll add two ounces of bourbon. We have this nice ice rock that we pre-cut. We're just going to pour it into the glass and make sure that if you're cutting ice by hand, always cut the ice for the glass so that it has that nice presentation and then we'll give it a little bit of citrus zest, now traditionally this cocktail calls . for just an orange peel, but I like to do an orange and a lemon, she's going to take a nice orange and lemon peel, I'm going to give it a good twist on the top, extract those oils and then I'm not going to cut. or anything, I think I'm just going to stick them on some sort of bunny ears, if you want to put some luxardo cherry in there you can, it's not necessary, it's a nice touch, sometimes it's old fashioned, so the pigeon is a really refreshing tequila cocktail if you love margaritas you will really love this drink and who doesn't love a margarita? kiss, let's start preparing the cocktail, so the first thing we're going to do is take our can and set it aside because that's not the first thing we're going to do, the first thing we're going to do is squeeze a three-quarter ounce lime of lime juice, half an ounce of simple syrup, then three-quarters of an ounce of grapefruit juice, and then one and a half ounces of tequila.

I really like making fresh grapefruit palomas because they are so refreshing that it is not the traditional way. brew it, but it just gives it that nice juicy character, it's not too sweet and it's like a fantastically balanced drink, so we're just going to add a little bit of ice into our can and then we're going to add our cocktail, we're going to give it a nice heart-shaped shake and We'll add a little ice. our glass and before we put the cocktail in, I really like to add a little bit of sparkling water in before the cocktail because the cocktail is going to be denser, so if you put it in at the end, it will form a layer on top of what you want. make sure everything is mixed properly so we're going to give it a good double strain so to decorate I like to take a nice long strip of grapefruit peel and sprinkle it a little bit with the essential oils from the peel and that's it.

I'll just like to wrap it around the inside of the glass and there you have the paloma, so the last cocktail we're going to make today is the mojito, which is that iconic Cuban cocktail. I decided to use a small havana club 3 here because why? Don't make the Cuban cocktail with Cuban rum, but if you don't havea vana club available, use any white rum you like. Also just a little disclaimer. This is not a traditional mojito. This is my favorite. To build, I don't put sparkling water in it, so the first thing we're going to do is cut half a lime into four wedges, then we're going to add a pinch of mint and it could be six to eight leaves.

Put our lime slices in our can as well and what we're going to try to do is place the peel side down, then we'll make a sugar cube plus a half ounce of simple syrup which may seem like a lot of sugar to you. but it's actually only three-quarters of an ounce of sugar in total, the simple syrup will immediately balance the lemon juice, while the sugar cube will begin to dissolve as the cocktail dilutes and will become a little sweeter over time . which is good because you have a nice evolution in the glass so what we're going to do is just lightly press the lime and the reason we put the mint on the bottom and the lime on top is so you can extract the juices from it. lime, but lightly press the mint, you don't want to press them too much, you will get a very vegetal bitter taste, you also want to make sure the peels are very light.

Since you also don't want to extract too much bitterness from the lime peel, so just press lightly and you want to make sure to break down the sugar as much as possible, so we're going to add two ounces of white rum. it spilled a little bit so we're going to make up the difference and then we're just going to add a little bit of pebble in there and this is just to get the dilution going and the cooling to kick in you can shake it until no If we don't hear any more ice in the can that it's practically gone, so what we're going to do is we're just going to pour the contents into our glass and then fill the glass with pebble ice like this, then we're going to take our mint sprigs and we're going to give them a nice little poop squish, little squish pants, Squash the leaves slightly, though twist the ends and then we'll just add our little bouquet of mint right there and then when you put the straw in, you want to make sure you put it in correctly. mint so that when you are drinking you get that nice mint smell while you drink the cocktail.

Now I didn't put sparkling water in this because sparkling water lengthens the flavors. The way you think about it is like you know. you drink rum or something and it has a very condensed flavor when you add water, it kind of extends that flavor profile and I just don't think this needs it. I think the intense lime and sugar really make this drink so I wouldn't want to drag it out, so there you have it, the mojito, so there you have it guys, six essential cocktails to make your hosting experience. be much better and they can be adults like me, well, I'm an adult most of the time anyway, but maybe well, okay, okay. maybe 60 of the time it's adult if you liked the crew bottles that we featured in this episode, go to the description and click on the link and you'll find out all about them.

Don't forget to visit us at Educatedbarfly. .com where we do items, we do our virtual bottle program where you can buy a bottle, we'll let you know and you can help the show that way and we also have some products that you should also check out and not. Forget about liking and subscribing or, as our good friend Graham Stefan says, hit the like button and I'll see you another time.