Guys, you all know that at some point, you aspired to become a bartender. You probably thought it was a pretty romantic idea.
In truth, mixology is a craft we can all respect. Most of us can benefit from it. For those who can’t stay awake past 10 pm or landed in different professions, there’s still hope to impress the crowd at hangouts and holidays.
Here’s a quick guide to garnish to make your drinks pop.
1. Express Yourself (and your Garnish)
Maybe you’re clever enough to have shorn a piece of orange or lemon peel off into your drink. But you might have noticed that it doesn’t carry flavor quite the same way as the one you get at the bar.
The oils in these citrusy garnishes won’t just seep out into your drink in-full. Instead, point the colored, skin side down towards your drink and fold the peel in half the long way.
If you look close, you’ll be able to see the oils spritz into your drink. Now gently rub the “expressed” peel around the rim of your glass. It adds flavor in a way that will stand out when your lips touch the rim of the glass.
Similarly to citrus, mint and some other aromatics need a little help to fully open up into your drink. Give leafy greens a clap between your hands before you add them as a garnish to bring out their flavor.
2. Add a Salt or Sugar Rim
Maybe you’ve got a great margarita recipe that’s just lacking the look and feel of the one you get at a nice restaurant. Adding a salt rim can be just the way to spice up your Cinco De Mayo, or any other summer-time celebration.
All you need is the proper tray, a little fruit juice, and the salt or sugar you want to add. For margs, we suggest using a spicy salt with some color in it.
Apply a thin veneer of fruit juice to the rim of the glass to give the salt something to stick to. Dip the glass upside-down into the salt and rotate. Boom, professional-quality rim salt. It also works with sugar for certain old-timey cocktails.
3. Meal-in-a-Glass
If you’ve ordered a bloody Mary in the last decade, you might have noticed that they’ve become quite the ordeal. Forget the traditional glass of spicy red wake-up juice, today’s bloody Marys have the caloric content of a visit to Dairy Queen. Don’t worry, they’re better for you.
You can pay homage to the “meal-in-a-glass” movement by adding some sustenance to your home-made bloody, a drink that’s best made at home if ever there was one.
Look for small pickles, olives, cheese blocks, and for extra points, include a meat straw, slice of salty bacon or pickled string bean. Or add them all. If the bars have proven anything, it’s that more is better with this drink.
4. Fruit Cocktail
Adding thinly-sliced fruit to your highball glass is one of the oldest and most eye-pleasing garnishing tricks out there. It’s not difficult and unlike the peel trick from above, the flavor will infuse your drink because in this case, you’re exposing cut flesh from the fruit to the liquid.
That’s why you can even use this on a tall glass of ice water and it works, infusing your drink with color and flavor. For a more professional aesthetic, slice fruit thin using a very sharp knife or mandoline slicer and then slide it down the side of your glass, allowing ice to hold it in place.
5. Choose the Right Drink, and Glassware, for the Occasion
While it might not always involve a garnish, understanding what to serve when can be a make-or-break skill for any aspiring barman. An old-fashioned garnished with maraschino cherries for poker night, a tidy (or dirty) vodka martini to serve before a fancy home-cooked meal, complete with blue-cheese-stuffed olive, or pink champagne on valentine’s day and don’t forget the glassware.
A champagne flute is every bit as important as your rocks glass or old-school coupe.
Learn From This Guide to Garnish
Ultimately, the best drink is the drink you want, the way you like to enjoy it. Adding some flair to your mixology is fun, and it should be something everyone can enjoy. If you encounter the occasional hold-out who insists on drinking their wine with ice or making their old-fashioned with Irish whiskey, save some face and tell ’em to go for it.
No one likes a pretentious bartender, but it’s hard to quarrel with a knowledgeable drinking companion who just happens to have all the necessary ingredients in their well-stocked bar. This guide to garnish will prepare you for any situation.
Dylan Bartlett is a men’s lifestyle blogger from the City of Brotherly Love. He runs the site Just a Regular Guide, looking at other topics related to health and wellness, relationships, the outdoors and DIY. You can follow him on Twitter @a_regular_guide to get frequent updates on his work.
