How to Make a Great Drink

Mixing drinks is an art form that can be mastered if you pay attention to a few important details. Remember to always use fresh, cold ingredients and chilled glasses.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

General guidelines

1. Start with immaculate glassware. Handwashing and drying with a clean, lint-free towel gives the most sparkling results.
2. Use the highest-quality liquor you can afford without going into premium brands that are best sipped alone.
3. Use fresh lemons, limes and other fruit for mixing and garnishes.
4. Use bottled water for mixing and making ice if your tap water doesn't taste good. Or buy ice from a source that uses better water.
5. Choose the correct size and shape glass for each drink. We all know a martini or a cosmopolitan goes in a stemmed cocktail glass - but there's also the tall, 8- to 10-oz. highball glass for drinks such as whiskey-and-soda; the squat, stemless 8- to 10-oz. old-fashioned glass for drinks such as the old-fashioned and the 2-oz. shot glass for sipping premium liquors.
6. Chill glasses well, either by placing in the refrigerator until cold or by filling glasses with crushed ice while mixing the drink.
7. Don't splash more alcohol into a drink than the formula calls for - it may throw off the taste, you'll run out of liquor sooner and your guests' well-being won't benefit by it.

Blend, Shake, Layer or Stir

8. Add ingredients to a cocktail shaker or mixer in this order: fruit juices, then liquor, then other ingredients.
9. Shake or stir the drink, then strain it into a cocktail glass to serve "straight up."
10. Add ice, then liquor, then mixer when using a blender. The alcohol melts the ice, making it easier to blend.
11. Shake 4 to 5 times when using crushed ice and 8 to 10 times when using cracked ice.

Garnish and Serve

12. Skewer half an orange slice with a maraschino cherry to make a flag.
13. Cut fruit slices about 1/4-inch thick with a slit cut toward the center so the slice can rest on the rim of the glass.
14. Make a twist by slicing only the colored part of the rind of a lemon, lime or orange. There's a special zester available from cookware and bar suppliers that makes this cut easily.
15. Rub the twist over the rim of the before dropping it into the drink.
16. Pour drinks as soon as you make them.

Tips & Warnings

• Add a little lemon juice to the water when washing glasses, to help keep spotting to a minimum.
• Dry glasses as soon as you wash them.
• Always use a jigger to measure liquor.
• Avoid overshaking; it melts the ice too much and waters down your drinks.
• Frozen drinks should be just thin enough to run out of the blender.
• Add ice if a frozen drink is too thin or mixer if it's too thick.
• Always put the ice into the glass first.
• Stock more ice than you think you need - cracked or cubed for stirred or shaken drinks; crushed or shaved for frozen drinks.
• Use fresh fruit and juices in fruit drinks whenever possible.
• Keep fruit and juices in the refrigerator.
• When consuming alcohol, always use moderation.
• Never drink and drive.