The ability to create cocktails from scratch with fresh and raw ingredients can leave audiences in awe, and many patrons will be left wondering with important questions to ask: How did the bartender know those ingredients pair amazingly well? Why did the bartender know to use thyme sprigs in his margaritas instead of basil leaves? Who would have known that spiced rum and pumpkin could pair so well?
Questions like that and many others are no strangers to the bars that I have tended. My heart and soul are filled with much joy whenever my fellow patrons have a wonderful experience through my cocktails, and it always encourages me to learn more about my craft so that I can create more wonderful memories. However, learning in the bartending world comes with an old stigma of the bartender mixing many different spirits and products with different ratios; that way they can see what tastes great and what should never see the light of day again.
This will wreak havoc on your finances because a lot of product potentially ends up going to waste since the proper ratio and recipe aren’t discovered on the first few attempts. PROFIT-PROFIT-PROFIT is a word that’s heavily engraved in my retina, and anyone else that has worked, owned, and/or operated a bar will tell you no different.
The grand secret that I would like to share with you may seem a bit like a practical joke that’s meant to get a good amount of chuckles, but rest-assured that’s not what I’m planning on doing. What I need from you is to be able to sit up straight, close your eyes, take deep breaths, and tell yourself the following statement: “Im a chef whom happens to know how to bartend.”
One more time.
“I’m a chef whom happens to know how to bartend.”
This is my secret that I would like to share with everyone that will not only save you product, money, and time, but also bring forth numerous joyous compliments and amazement from all your friends, family, and patrons that are given the opportunity to enjoy your very own libations made from scratch. But you must remember! You’re a chef whom happens to know how to bartend!
Let’s go ahead and start this journey by analyzing the Mojito. The following recipe is commonly accepted and used in any libation den that chooses to use fresh and real ingredients as part of their bar program; pre-purchased bottles of sweet & sour should surely have never had a place in these establishments.
Mojito:
- 2 oz light rum
- 1 oz lime juice
- 1oz simple syrup
- 8-10 spearmint leaves (muddled)
- Topped off with club soda
I want you to focus on the recipe itself at the moment, and not concern yourself with the building and serving method—this will make my advice and secret a lot easier to understand. I will mention the building method later on in this article and its relation to the experience of your libation.
The mojito has the essentials that a drink needs in order to taste magnificent. The combination of equal parts lime juice and simple syrup grants you with a sweet and sour base that’s paired well with the refreshing oils the spearmint leaves offer. Spearmint and light rum pair amazingly well with ice and club soda because they offer a cool and refreshing effect during the summer months—which is when this drink’s request is at its peak.
We know that the mojito offers a cool and refreshing effect to your palette especially during the summer months, but why does it do that?
Surely you could do your research of the mojito and discover how it came into existence, but as I mentioned earlier, part of my secret is to help you save time. As a person that appreciates and respects the craft of mixology, I would encourage you to dive into the history of cocktails and influential figures that have made grand contributions—later on in your journey.
We live in a grand time where we have easy access to books and websites that are dedicated to educating us about food/ingredient pairings, and we can obtain this information in mere minutes. There is one book that I feel confident enough to say that it’s a bartender’s secret weapon for creating new cocktails.
That book is called ‘Culinary Artistry’ by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, and it has changed my bartending career in ways that I never imagined. I will go as far as to say that this is the Lost Ark of the bartending and mixology world—that’s how phenomenal it is! The details and layout are intricate, but they’re easy to understand—it nearly feels like there is an endless list of combinations and ideas that can populate in your mind from indulging in its information.
I’m certain that there are many other culinary books out there that can be used to learn about different pairings and amazing combinations of food, herbs, and spices, but Culinary Artistry has been my main book of reference whenever I’m creating cocktails from scratch. I have also saved a lot of time due to the design and layout of this book—that is tremendously precious.
There are a few sections that I have saved with tabs so I can easily access the information that I need without having to flip through multiple pages. The following tabs that I have saved on my copy of Culinary Artistry include:
- *Cooking With The Seasons
- Basic Flavors Contributed by Various Foods
- Flavor Pals
- Food Matches Made In Heaven
The book itself is over 400 pages long, and I have certainly not read it from beginning to end because I use this book as a way to save time and access important information without having to learn how to be an actual chef—which takes a lot of time and dedication. I’m a bartender that uses mental hacks (“chef that happens to know how to bartend”) and awesome tricks to create an elevated experience for my fellow patrons, and I want you all to have the same ability to do so as well.
Cooking With The Seasons is a magnificent chapter to use whenever you want to make a cocktail that’s dedicated to a certain season (e.g., autumn theme cocktails). The autumn section will show you which herbs and fruits are prevalent during that time of year; that way your creations are concocted with relevant ingredients.
This is the formula that I use whenever I create new libations, and the following steps are helpful for navigating through the book without feeling overwhelmed. Go ahead and pull out a pen and paper and join me on this cocktail creation journey with this easy guide:
- Decide on your base spirit.
Knowing which spirit will be the base of the cocktail helps me gather ideas and suggestions for herbs and fruits based on the spirit’s flavor profile. For example, I’ve decided to use Makers Mark bourbon, and I know that Makers Mark has aromas of vanilla, caramel, oak, citrus, and a well-rounded sweetness and buttery feel in the mouth. Overall bourbons are going to have signature notes of vanilla, citrus, and oak due to the time they spend in new charred American oak barrels, but I believe it’s best to use a specific brand of a spirit that you are fairly familiar with.
- Decide which fruits you’d like to use.
Write down the spirit you chose in the middle of your paper and circle it; now we are going to give it branches with fruits that are connected to it so that we can see our brainstorming ideas in the process. In this example, we’re going to use apples, strawberries, and blackberries—which are fruits that are available year-round.
- Turn to the pages to discover the secrets.
Since apples are the first fruit that we wrote down, we are going to go to the ‘Food Matches Made In Heaven Section’ and we are specifically looking at page 88 which will show you all the pairings that can be done with apples! However, please keep in mind that there are many different variations of apples, and it’s important to also know the flavor profile of the apple you’re going to use with your base spirit (e.g., green apples are more tart than red apples).
Notice the fruits, herbs, and spices that are in bold; they’re known to be the best pairings with apples. The other pairings shouldn’t be disregarded even though they’re not in bold—it simply means that some standout more than others. Apples have over 50 pairings available, but we are going to narrow it down to a few ingredients.
Apple pairings:
-Blackberries
-Cinnamon
-Ginger
-Lemon
-Maple syrup
-Pineapple
-Raisins
-Rosemary
-Grand Marnier
-Cointreau
-Currants
We are going to do the same thing with the next fruit on our list which is strawberries, and we can find them on page 180.
Strawberry pairings:
-Vanilla
-Lemon
-Cognac
-Cointreau
-Maple Syrup
-Currants
-Pineapple
-Pinot noir and Beaujolais wine
Now we are going to discover the pairings for blackberries which can be found on page 96.
Blackberry pairings:
-Apples
-Maple Syrup
-Lemon
-Strawberries
-Cinnamon
-Oranges
- Brainstorm methods, recipes, ratios, and styles.
This is where our creativity shall flourish, and the best part is that it can be done on paper without having to experiment with product that’s potentially wasted due to not having a starting or reference point to work with—we have a whole list of ingredients to work with!
It’s very apparent that the fruits that we chose all share pairings that grant us a lot of different recipes and methods that we can concoct. Lemon and maple syrup work well with our fruits, and it’s important to decide which style of cocktails we want. Would you like to having something that’s sweet and bubbly? Perhaps you’d rather having something that has a tart profile in the beginning, but a refreshing and sweet finish in the end? Maybe you’re looking for something that is stirred so that your cocktail can have little dilution with a silky feeling.
The following recipes are examples that I have created from using the information we obtained from the book. I would also like for you to get creative with naming the cocktails, but for now I’m going to assign them numbers to help differentiate them.
Cocktail #1:
-1 ½ oz Makers Mark (bourbon)
-1/2 oz Cointreau
–1 oz Lemon Juice
–3/4 oz maple syrup
-2 strawberries
-3 blackberries
-1 rosemary sprig
-3 to 4 ounces of sparking apple soda
Method:
- Muddle strawberries and blackberries inside of Boston shaker tin.
- Fill ¾ of the shaker tin with ice, and combine Makers Mark (bourbon), Cointreau, lemon juice, and maple syrup.
- Shake all ingredients, and double strain with a fine mesh net strainer to a tall collins glass that’s filled with ice.
- Top off the top of the glass with 3 ounces of sparkling apple soda.
- Give a couple of smacks to the top of the rim with the rosemary sprig and put the sprig inside with a bit of the leaves exposed on the top layer of the cocktail.
Cocktail #2:
-2 oz Makers Mark (bourbon)
-1/2 oz Cointreau
-1 oz vanilla simple syrup
-3-4 dashes of apple bitters
-Cinnamon powder
-Rosemary Sprig
-Orange peel oils
Method:
- Combine Makers Mark, Cointreau, vanilla simple syrup, and raisin bitters into a cocktail mixing glass and top off with ice. Make sure that your ingredients are all combined first before adding the ice—that way dilution is kept to a minimum.
- Stir with a bar spoon for 8-10 seconds.
- Strain into a rocks glass with a single large ice cube/sphere.
- Express the oils of an orange skin on top of the cocktail, but make sure to discard the skin after the oils have been squeezed out; don’t leave the skin inside the cocktail.
- Give a couple of smacks to the top of the rim with the rosemary sprig and put the sprig inside with a bit of the leaves exposed on the top layer of the cocktail.
- Add a couple dashes of cinnamon powder to the top of the drink.
Cocktail #3:
–1 ½ oz Makers Mark (bourbon)
-1/2 oz Grand Marnier (orange cognac)
-1 oz pineapple juice
-3/4 oz cinnamon syrup
-1/2 oz lemon juice
-3 strawberries
-4 basil leaves
-1 oz pinot noir/Beaujolais red wine.
Method:
- Muddle strawberries and basil leaves inside the Boston shaker tin.
- Fill ¾ of the shaker tin with ice, and combine Makers Mark (bourbon), Grand Marnier, Pineapple juice, cinnamon syrup, and lemon juice.
- Shake all ingredients, but it’s important to shake hard for at least 10 seconds because you want a foamy layer on top that’s provided by the pineapple juice. After shaking is completed, go ahead and strain with a fine mesh net strainer to a rocks glass that’s 3/4 filled with ice.
- Add 1 oz of either pinot noir or Beaujolais red wine to the top of the cocktail. Use a standard spoon for the process to help you nicely layer the top of the pineapple foam.
- Garnish with thinly sliced strawberries on a skewer stick and compliment it with a few basil leaves on top.
Eureka! We’re able to make 3 cocktails by using a culinary book to assist us in our bartender duties! There are countless combinations and recipes you can make by using this secret weapon that I believe every bartender should be armed with. Even if you’re not a bartender, and you simply want to make drinks for yourself and others at a gather/event, this book will still work wonders for you and leave people in amazement after experiencing your libations.
Here are a few important things to keep in mind whenever you’re creating cocktails from scratch:
- What works on paper (theory) may not always taste what you imagined.
Your cocktail may need to have some slight modifications before you triumphantly hit the nail on the head. For example, you may have created a recipe that calls for ¾ oz of honey and 1 oz of lemon juice, but your drink ends up tasting a bit tart and doesn’t have the sweet finish that you originally imagined. This is where you need to increase your honey measurement and possibly decrease the lemon juice measurement.
- Know which fruits have more acidity than others.
Citric acid isn’t only exclusive to lemons and limes. We can find acidity in pineapples, oranges, grapefruits, and a few other drinks, but the point is to know that you’re not limited to only lemons and limes. The more you’re familiar with other acidic fruits; the better you’re going to be at creating cocktails.
- Each brand tastes differently even though it’s the same spirit.
The more you’re familiar with a certain brand of a spirit; the better you’re going to be at pairing it with ingredients. Don’t make the mistake of using any tequila for a tequila-based cocktail that you have in mind. For example, Casa Amigos Reposado tequila is going to have a lot of citrus and vanilla notes than Patron Reposado tequila—which is known for having citrus notes complimented with pepper and earthy tones.
- Don’t be upset if you don’t get it right the first time.
If your cocktail doesn’t taste the way you imagined it to be based on the recipe that you created—don’t get upset! This formula is still going to help you narrow down the problem and help you find the solution to creating a delicious cocktail. Like I said earlier, it’s about saving time and not losing money. If you own a bar or work as a bartender then you know that PROFIT-PROFIT-PROFIT is crucial and you’ll look for every possible way to make it happen. You’re still a lot more likely to waste money by using a trial-and-error method instead of the formula that I have provided—keep your head up.
- Look for alternatives with your ingredients.
This is an excellent way of not limiting yourself! Let’s pretend that it’s a hot summer in July, and you want to make a refreshing vodka cocktail with cucumber.
Page 114 reveals that basil, cilantro, ginger, lemon, lime, mangoes, mint, strawberries, and yogurt all pair well with cucumber.
Even if we narrow it down to cucumber, cilantro, mangoes, lemon, and mint; I still highly recommend not throwing a piece of each of those fruits in your shaker tin simply because they all pair well with cucumbers. Instead, think about the different styles those ingredients can be added to help you create an awesome cocktail. The following are examples of different combinations we can use:
Combo #1
-Muddled cucumbers and cilantro
-Mango puree
-Lemon juice
-Mint sprig garnish
Combo #2
-Muddle cucumbers and mint
-Mango soda
-Lemon bitters
-Cilantro garnish
Combo #3
-Cucumber and mint simple syrup
-Muddled mango chunks
-Lemon juice
-Cilantro garnish
Combo # 4
-Cucumber and mint infused vodka
-Cilantro syrup
-Lime juice
-Mango sparkling water
This should give you an idea of how you can use ingredients in different forms to help you with your cocktail concoctions. It’s important to think outside the box and write down the many possibilities that come to your mind.
- Learn how to make bitters, syrups, reductions, and infusions.
As I mentioned earlier, we are blessed to have the internet and libraries that can teach us how to make bitters, syrups, and other things for our cocktails. This is something that I’m not going to go into depth about because you’ll be able to find recipes online with basic questions that are typed into different search engines. What’s important is for you to know that you can save a lot of money and expand your cocktail recipes by knowing how to make bitters, syrups, and other things for yourself—regardless of whether it’s for recreational or professional needs.
- Be creative! Think outside the box!
Don’t allow the book to take full control of your imagination, even though it is filled with a tremendous amount of helpful information. If your budget allows for it, and you have a good feeling that using an ingredient that isn’t in the pairings recommendations—then go for it! Write it down and figure out how you can implement it into your recipe. This could include using sodas from different ethnic grocery stores or topping off your cocktail with an imperial stout beer reduction.
There you have it, folks. This is the same formula that I use as a professional bartender and mixologist, and it has gotten me incredibly far in my career. I have worked for Marriott’s Ritz Carlton brand which is known as one of the most luxurious brands of hospitality in the entire world, and I now work for the official bartending team of the Dallas Cowboys in Frisco, Texas—I have awed and bedazzled countless patrons with libations they’ll forever remember! I would like for you all to have that same ability and experience in your lives by using this formula; whether it’s your friends, family, or patrons at your bar top—CHEERS AND SALUD!