Thanks.
Cocktails have had an important part in entertainment and dining for centuries as a means of enjoying
the superb flavours that can be achieved.
A cocktail has a unique place in any time entertaining.
But just what is a cocktail?
Let's ask Alex here my favourite cocktail barman, Alex.
Well Lisa, basically a cocktail is a mixture of two or more spiritual liqueurs.
It can be as simple as a whiskey and water or it can be a lot more complex as your game
to make it.
Well how would your job say differ with that of a wine waiter?
I mean they must know you know dozens of styles of wines.
Well a wine waiter basically has a very concise list of which to read to his customers.
Where a cocktail bartender has to be able to remember a lot more, he has to be creative,
he has to have flair, shaking, stirring, blending etc.
What about me at home?
How easy is it for me to learn how to make cocktails?
Very simple.
Ingredients and recipes, that's what you need to start with.
That's it?
Not quite.
There are certain presentation skills.
If you're going to create new drinks, that sense of adventure is all part of the fun.
What about equipment?
Well you will need some basic tools of the trade.
For instance an ice bucket, a blender, got a selection of cocktail shakers here.
There's three of them all together.
A Boston, an American and a standard.
We've got a bar spoon.
Some tongs.
A small bar knife you use to cut your garnish.
And a bottle opener and corkscrew.
It's known as a waiter's friend.
What about glasses?
Do I need special glasses?
Well I've got a selection of glasses here.
First of all we've got a shot glass here.
This can also double as a measure.
Then we've got a tumbler.
A highball glass.
A champagne flute.
A cocktail glass or a martini glass.
And another variation of a cocktail glass.
So now am I ready to get started?
Not quite.
Every cocktail has to have ingredients and as you can see behind me there's a vast array
of bottles of spirits and liquors that every professional bar has to have.
But that's only half that you see.
Behind me down here is a fridge that I keep all of my solubles.
Orange juice, fruit juices of various kinds, milk, cream and eggs.
And in front of me underneath the bar here are all of my spirit mixes.
Isn't there a starter kit?
Surely I won't need all that.
You're quite right.
You won't need all those things to start with.
But you will need a few basics.
Most cocktails comprise of Scotch, bourbon, vodka, gin, mccarty, tequila, and a little
bit of rum.
Dark rum and brandy.
What about the liqueurs?
The liqueurs are very important.
The liqueurs I suggest you start with are Grand Marnier here, Tia Maria, Malibu, Kahlua,
Baileys and Drambuie.
And then you can add to that with creme de menthe, creme de cacao, creme de banane and
advocat.
Last but not least, the Angostura bitters.
Well I already have about half of those at home so it's not really a big list as it looks
like.
And I've got some mixes.
I've got fruit juices, dry tonic, coke and soda.
So let's make a cocktail.
Can we start with a martini?
We certainly can.
But before I'll just show you a couple of methods that we use to make our cocktails.
First of all we have shaking.
You take the contents with plenty of ice.
Put the lid on very firmly, the top and shake vigorously for about ten seconds.
You must remember that you want to wake the drink up, blend it and shake it together and
I'll send it to sleep.
And that's sufficient to put the drink into the glass for a tall long drink.
It's very cold.
What about stirring?
Stirring again is very important.
This time we want to combine the spirits or the cures in the drink, not shake them up
vigorously.
For instance with a black rushman.
We take a short glass, fill it to the brim with ice.
Then Kahlua and vodka in roughly equal proportions.
Then we take our bar spoon, gently push it down through the ice or the side of the glass.
Give it a small slight stir two or three times.
You can top that with soda or cola or again you can mix it with milk.
That gives you a white rushman.
All together it's a very nice refreshing drink.
Alex what about those lovely fruit cocktails that you're so famous for?
What technique do you use for a Zulu warrior?
Well Lisa we blend a Zulu warrior and I'll show you how to make one.
First of all we take our blender top.
Then we put in about two and a half scoops of ice.
Then some fresh strawberries.
We place those inside the blender along with some pieces of fresh rock melon.
How come you put the skin on as well?
Well the skin adds texture to the drink and it also adds a little bit of colour and some
flavour.
Then we take two shots of Midori and one shot of Rubis.
Like so.
We'll sit that back on top of the blender and add a little bit of pineapple juice.
Warm with the lid firmly.
Once that's blended for about ten seconds we take a glass.
Sit it on the bar here.
Then we pour out our drink.
We leave about a centimetre gap from the top to allow for garnish.
Take a nice red strawberry, a little piece of rock melon and a slice of lime.
Little umbrella and a couple of straws.
And there you have the Zula Warrior.
What about drinks like a B52?
How are they made?
Well the method we use to make a B52 is called building.
It's not as easy as it looks but I'll show you how to make one.
First of all you take your bar spoon and you make sure it's completely dry and it hasn't
got any liquid on it at all.
And then you take your Kahlua.
To the bottom of a Liqueur glass you pour about a third.
Then you take your Baileys, you sit your spoon inside the glass but making sure that the
spoon is touching the inside.
And then we pour on our Baileys also a third.
We do this nice and slowly.
Once you've got the hang of doing this you don't necessarily have to use a spoon.
You can pour it straight down the side of the glass as long as you're careful and slow.
Then we dry the spoon off.
We turn the glass round to one side.
And take the Grand Marnier.
And very, very slowly we pour it in gradually raising the spoon along the inside of the
glass till we reach the top.
There's a B52.
So now can I have my martini?
Yes you can.
But you must remember there are as many perfect martinis in the world as there are perfect
martini drinkers.
I'm going to tell you a little bit about martinis as I make them.
First of all we take some ice into the shaker.
We pour three shots of gin.
Let it sit to one side and let it sit for a few seconds while we take some vermouth.
We spin round in the glass like so so that the side becomes wet just close to the lip.
Then we tip this away.
The original martini was invented in San Francisco in 1860 by a guy called Jerry Thomas.
The recipe was much different then.
But over the years it still managed to keep its name.
And we take our olive, a couple of toothpicks sitting on the side of the glass like so.
And then we have our martini.
We can also make a sweet martini by using a sweet vermouth as opposed to a dry vermouth
which is in this one.
And they can also be made with vodka as opposed to gin.
With that you add a twist of lemon.
I didn't know that but thinking about it it tastes pretty good with vodka.
They taste really good.
What about a more complicated cocktail?
Have you heard of a mint julep?
I think so.
Okay I'll demonstrate how to make one of those.
First of all you need a mixing glass.
Some fresh mint, some loose sugar and your baspé.
Now we'll take the mixing glass, add some water and about half a teaspoon of sugar.
Like so.
Then we add two shots of bourbon.
And we'll stir this up until we dissolve the sugar.
Then we add the mint.
With the side of the spoon we press it against the side of the glass.
This releases the flavour and gives the mint julep its distinctive taste.
Where does the mint julep come from?
The mint julep originated way down south in the Mississippi and Kentucky areas of the
United States.
It's very very popular at the Kentucky Derby which is America's largest horse race.
Once we press this against the glass for around 10-15 seconds, release the flavour, we'll
let it sit to one side.
Then we take our glass and we add ice.
Fill it to the top.
Give it a little twist.
This just chills the outside of the glass.
Then we pour in our mint julep mix.
Like so.
Then we take a lemon, cherry, sprig of mint, two straws and there you have a mint julep.
Alex tequila seems to be a pretty popular spirit these days.
What can you make with that?
Well, a margarita, an all time classic.
I'll show you how to make one.
You'll need your cocktail shaker, a plate of salt, a wedge of lime or lemon, your margarita
glass, tequila and Cointreau.
First of all you take the lime and you just run it around the rim of the glass like so,
just to make it moist so that the salt sticks.
Why do you use salt?
Salt sort of goes back a couple of hundred years in Mexico from the climate down there
basically, the use of salt tablets.
They sort of manage to combine their drinking with the taking of salt.
Could you use sugar?
You can use sugar.
If salt isn't to your taste and you want something a little bit sweeter, using the same method,
a plate of sugar.
Now we have our glass prepared.
Now we have to make the margarita.
We take our cocktail shaker and we heap it full three quarters with ice.
We take our tequila and we add two shots like so.
One shot of Cointreau or triple sec and then we need some fresh lemon juice.
One measure.
A little dash of lime cordial to make it a little bit sweet.
A little of our cocktail shaker on firmly and we shake vigorously for about ten seconds.
We want to combine all those ingredients, we want to make it cold as well.
Take off the lid and we pour it into the glass.
Why the name margarita?
The drink was apparently named after a very beautiful Mexican dancer that lived about
a hundred or so years ago.
Whether or not that's true, we don't know.
We'll just take a slice of lime for garnish and there you have your margarita.
I think now we should look at a few rum cocktails, rum based cocktails.
Can we start with the daiquiri?
Everyone's drinking them and I love them.
You've got what?
Rum and fruit and what else?
Well to put a daiquiri together you need your rum to start with.
We use a white rum such as Bacardi and we take our blender.
Put in a little bit of ice.
We put in about as much ice as you'd fit in the glass so that gives you a rough idea of
what you're using and we take some fresh strawberries.
About four or five like so, straight in the top and then we take our Bacardi.
Can you use any fruits?
You can use any fruit that you like to make a daiquiri with, anything that applies to
your taste.
We add two shots like so.
We'll sit that back on the top.
A little dash of grenadine.
This just gives it a little bit more color.
Strawberry color is a little bit bland from the fresh fruit and this brightens it up a
bit.
Just a little drop like that.
Then some lime, exactly the same.
About half a shot of lemon juice.
This brings out the flavor in the liqueurs and the spirit that we've put in there, like
so.
We'll take a strawberry liqueur to bring out the flavor of the strawberries.
We'll use one measure, like so.
On with the lid and on with the blender for about eight to ten seconds.
Where do daiquiris come from?
Daiquiris originated from the slave miners in the Caribbean almost 200 years ago.
They weren't anything like this.
They were just a sugar and white rum based spirit with a little hint of herb and spice.
We've got a nice red cocktail so we want to decorate it with some nice red fruit, a little
bit of watermelon.
A nice fresh strawberry.
A little pineapple feather with a cherry.
A little umbrella, like so.
And a couple of straws.
Looks great.
There you have strawberry daiquiri.
Rum based cocktails can get pretty exotic.
How would you like to try a Mai Tai?
Oh I like them.
I used to have them in Fiji and it'll bring back some good memories.
We'll make one of those.
First of all you take a large glass and you fill it to the top with ice.
We want plenty of ice to keep the drink long and cold.
Then we take the dark rum and light rum.
What's the difference between them?
White rum's a little bit smoother than dark rum.
The dark rum gives it that extra bite.
Then we need some almond mcure.
We usually use amaretto, it's a lot more available.
We add about half a shot, like so.
Then we take some lime cordial, just a dash.
We take some grenadine also, just a dash.
Now some orange juice and pineapple juice.
Do Mai Tai's come from the South Pacific?
They sure do.
They were invented by the American GIs in the South Pacific in the last war.
Now we need some garnish.
As I said before, this one's real exotic.
We take some pineapple, some orange, some rock melon, slice of lemon.
A slice of lime.
And a little piece of watermelon.
Cherry and orange.
Strawberry.
A little bit of kangaroo paw.
And a sprig of mint.
I think you might need some straws to drink that one.
You sure will.
You just leave enough room through the centre of the fruit to slide the straws down.
Like so.
And there you have your Mai Tai.
How about a screwdriver, Alex?
Does that have rum in it?
No, it doesn't.
It carries vodka and it's very simple.
Take a glass.
Fill it to the top with ice.
We take our vodka.
Like so.
Pour in a shot and a half.
And we simply add orange juice.
That's it?
That's it.
Where did it get its name from?
The Texas Oil Fields.
Developed by the oil drillers there.
One straw.
Very simple.
What's left now?
Brandy?
Brandy.
It's responsible for some of the most popular cocktails of all time.
Such as the Brandy Alexander, the Stinger, Between the Sheets and the Sidecar.
What would you say would be an easy one to start with?
Perhaps a Sidecar.
It's relatively simple to make and it's very refreshing.
We take our cocktail shaker.
We fill it with some ice.
We add one measure of Brandy.
Half a measure of Contreau.
And we can add half a shot of lemon juice or perhaps a squeeze of lime, which I think
we'll use now.
Like so.
We can drop the lime inside the shaker.
Take the lid.
The top.
And we shake vigorously for around ten seconds.
Take our martini glass.
Like so.
And we pour.
A little bit of garnish.
And a straw.
Sidecar.
What about something a little more contemporary?
I think the other night I had a banana Jaffa.
Banana Jaffa.
Very contemporary and a very nice drink.
We blend it and the ingredients are Brandy, Kahlua, cream, orange juice, about half a
banana.
First of all we take plenty of ice.
We need a half a banana first.
We top and tail it.
Take off the skin.
Can you use other fruits or is it only bananas?
You could use other fruits but it goes down best with banana.
Half a banana.
We take our brandy.
One shot.
One shot of Kahlua.
One shot of cream.
And a shot of orange juice.
Put this back on the blender.
Put on the lid and blend.
How long do you have to blend it for?
You blend it for around 10 seconds.
Maybe a little bit more.
You just wait until the ice stops rattling.
If you like to have it chunkier can you blend it for a short time?
Sure.
We take a cocktail glass, sit it on the bar and we pour.
Like so.
Then a little bit of garnish.
It's a banana cocktail so we put on a slice of banana.
Some rock melon.
Little strawberry.
Slice of lime.
Little umbrella.
And a monkey.
Banana.
What have we got left now?
Whisky.
How about you make me a whiskey sour?
My favourite.
Shaker.
About half full of ice and we take a scotch.
About two measures.
Like so.
Then we add some egg white.
Just over a teaspoon full.
Then about a half a teaspoon of sugar.
And then we take about an ounce of lemon juice.
One shot of lemon juice.
Now shake it up.
Now lid.
And then we shake vigorously for about ten seconds.
We want to break up that egg white and make it nice and fluffy.
We take a champagne flute or a short glass.
I prefer a champagne flute.
Is it essential to have the egg in it?
Essential to have the egg in it.
And we garnish it with a slice of orange and a maraschino cherry.
Like so.
There you have a whiskey sour.
Another very popular whiskey based cocktail is a rusty nail.
I'll show you how to make one of those.
Okay what's in that?
We use scotch and we also use a whiskey based liqueur known as Drambuie.
First of all we take our glass and we fill it full of ice.
Little shake to make sure it's full.
Then we take our scotch and Drambuie and we add equal parts.
Looks pretty lethal.
It's fairly strong.
Then we take our bar spoon and we just give it a small stir just once or twice.
Like so.
And there you have a rusty nail.
Now I should show you a few of the skills and the tricks of the trade that we use when
we present our cocktails.
Like what?
For instance the way we cut our fruit for garnish.
Anyone can put a slice of lemon on a cocktail.
But for instance a twist we do like this.
We take our lemon and our zester.
And from the top of the lemon we pull it almost two thirds of the way round.
Like so.
We then twist it.
Tie it in a loose knot.
And there you have a twist.
Can you also do that with oranges and other fruit?
Sure.
What about vegetables like celery that go into Bloody Marys?
Well again it's quite simple.
We take the celery close to the top where the leaves are.
It makes it a lot more attractive.
And the length about the same length as a glass so you don't lose it when you put it
in.
Like so.
We've also got a selection of swizzle sticks.
Such as these.
Some flags.
Toothpicks of course.
And some small plastic animals.
You can use to hang off the sides of glasses.
And those parasols I like them.
Last but not least the famous parasol.
A quick flick and it opens it up.
Really colourful.
They look great at a party.
They look great in virtually any drink.
What about me at home Alex?
I don't want to be continually shaking and stirring and everything.
Is there some sort of drink for a crowd?
There certainly is.
A great party starter is a kamikaze.
I'll show you how to make one.
You take a shaker.
You fill it up to the top with ice and then cover it.
Give it a little shake to make the ice settle.
You seal it up on the bar.
And we take our ingredients, Cointreau, tequila, lime and vodka.
We add equal parts almost to the top.
We take some fresh lemon juice and we fill it to the brim.
We take our strainer and lid and we just give it a small shake.
Like so.
You can drink it out of shooter glasses like these or lacquer glasses as sometimes they're
called.
Or as one drink it can go in a cocktail glass like this over ice.
Either way it's very pleasant.
Will those shooter glasses be drunk straight down?
You can sip on them or you can drink them straight down.
Either way you'll get the same effect in the end.
It's a kamikaze.
Well Alex there's nothing like having an expert to show you the ropes.
Do you think I could swap places with you and I'll make you a cocktail?
Sure why not.
It's all yours.
So sir what'll it be?
How about a brandy Alexander?
You would have to pick one that you haven't shown me.
How do I make it?
Well just down there is a cocktail book and if you flick through the pages you should find
a recipe for one.
Okay brandy Alexander.
Okay we start with a martini glass.
We do.
There we go.
And what's next?
Our shaker with some ice.
Absolutely.
Two scoops?
Two scoops.
Okay one ounce of brandy.
How do I measure an ounce?
It's quite simple.
One, two, three when you pour.
Okay here we go.
One, two, three.
Right?
Right.
One third of creme de cacao.
One, two, three.
That's right.
And some fresh cream.
One ounce too.
Okay now for the shaking.
Ten seconds?
Ten seconds.
And some nutmeg.
Little trick here.
Two straws?
Two straws.
There sir is your brandy Alexander.
That looks great.
Oh well done.
That's great.
And here's to your success at home with your own cocktails.
Cheers!
Stay tuned for more exciting cocktail recipes following in just a moment.