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Sooner or later, every bar culture lover gets tired of coming up with his own cocktail recipe, but after several unsuccessful attempts, 99,9% of applicants are disappointed and give up the dream of writing their name in golden letters in the history of the bartending craft. Only a few years go to their goal, eventually achieving the desired result. Tips from successful mixologists on the development of alcoholic cocktails are collected together in this material.
1. Study the classics
One cannot become a good writer without reading many volumes of classical literature. The same principle works in mixology – it is also impossible to come up with a good cocktail recipe without knowing and understanding the taste of generally recognized drinks.
However, you need to study and try not the alcoholic experiments of friends, created in a drunken stupor by mixing everything that came to hand, but classic cocktails invented at least 50-100 years ago. These drinks have been tested by several generations of connoisseurs of bar art, and therefore deserve attention.
Another advantage of learning from the experience of others is that there will be no repetitions and too similar recipes, otherwise it may happen that the unique cocktail created in the throes of creativity will be known since the middle of the XNUMXth century as “Margarita” only in slightly changed proportions.
2. Know the properties of the ingredients
Try individual alcoholic drinks, juices and syrups, try to remember their aroma and taste in its purest form. Start by mixing the two components, evaluate the properties (taste, smell and color) of the resulting combination.
If something worthwhile comes out, add a third component that can improve the composition, and so on … Mixing more than 6 ingredients in one cocktail does not make sense: they will not complement, but interrupt each other. Most cocktails have 3-5 ingredients.
Vodka, gin, orange and raspberry liqueurs, and carbonated mineral water are considered versatile ingredients that complement each other and almost any blend well. That’s where you can start experimenting.
At the same time, it is important that the cocktail is not only tasty and easy to drink, but also does not cause a severe hangover. This can be achieved in only one way – by mixing alcohol only from similar raw materials. For example, combining cognac (raw material – grapes) and whiskey (raw material – grain) is undesirable, because these drinks have different groups of harmful substances that reinforce each other, causing a severe headache in the morning.
Don’t forget the serving temperature. The same cold and room temperature drinks differ markedly in taste, the cold levels out the aroma. Most cocktails are served with ice or chilled, but this is not a dogma.
Ice and foam are not always a bartender’s best friend. The ice melts quickly, and the resulting water dilutes the cocktail, making the taste “watery”. Sometimes this is good, but in most cases, a cocktail is valued for its rich taste, not cold water.
3. Don’t Forget About Balance
No single cocktail ingredient should stand out strongly, drowning out the rest. It is also desirable to avoid extremes: too sweet or sour, fragrant and odorless, strong and almost non-alcoholic (online calculator for calculating the strength of a cocktail).
The composition of any cocktail is conditionally divided into 3 parts:
- The alcohol base is the dominant alcoholic beverage, on which the strength of the cocktail depends.
- Flavor fillers. Liqueurs and other flavor-forming ingredients.
- Sour and sweet parts. Often represented by syrups and citrus juices. Finally form the balance.
In most cases, the same component performs several functions in a cocktail. For example, orange liqueur can be responsible for the strength, create taste and sweetness – be present in all three parts.
4. Consider the target audience
So far, no one has managed to create a cocktail that absolutely everyone would like. The preferences of different demographic and social groups differ markedly.
For example, women prefer low-alcohol cocktails (8-15 degrees) with sweet fruit, chocolate and milk flavors. Men, on the other hand, respect drinks of medium strength (15-30%) and without excessive sweetness, maybe even slightly sour. At youth parties, simple and cheap two-component mixtures such as gin-tonic and rum-cola are relevant, and the older generation does not exchange for trifles, and is ready to drink only exquisite cocktails based on quality ingredients, even if it is more expensive, but tastier and more presentable.
When creating a recipe, you need to imagine who might like this cocktail and in what direction to improve it. It will not work to please everyone, every cocktail has both admirers and critics. The only difference is that successful drinks have a more or less wide range of supporters, although there are often many more critics and “non-understandings”, but this does not prevent the cocktail from finding its niche.
5. Be patient and persistent
Almost all well-known cocktails are created through many years of experiments by their authors, so the chances that a new alcoholic masterpiece will turn out in a couple of attempts are minimal. Yes, sometimes recipes appeared by accident, but it’s akin to winning the lottery.
6. Come up with a memorable name and take care of the appearance
A ready-made cocktail can be very tasty, but without the right appearance, a beautiful name and an original presentation, it is doomed to fail. No one wants to drink a dull brown liquid called “Plumber’s Joy” from a faceted glass, made by a bartender with a “lean” face. Cocktails are not only the perfect balance of taste, but also an essential part of the show. Our online cocktail color selection service will help you predict the color even before mixing.
In addition to the catchy name, most successful cocktails have a memorable appearance and are served in stylish glasses with decorations. Interest in a drink can be warmed up by original preparation or serving, as well as an incredible story of creation, even if invented, but without obvious deception.
7. Do a blind test
Experienced mixologists test new cocktails on friends and relatives, but do not immediately say that they came up with the recipe. The fact is that most of the “tasters”, even with a gag urge, will order their eyes with delight and praise the creation of their friend, just so as not to offend him, and a self-respecting author needs an objective assessment.
It would be more correct to say to the “guinea pigs” that they read this recipe on the Internet or learned about it from a bartender friend. It’s better to test the drink on 6-8 members of the cocktail’s target audience individually than having them all together, because once the most authoritative member of the group has their say, most others will blindly follow.
A cocktail has a chance of success if at least 2-3 people out of 10 like it. In other cases, either the wrong target audience was chosen, or a bad mix turned out, this also happens, it’s okay, you need to move on.
