Tips, techniques, and stories from the world of cocktails
You loaded your frozen drink machine, waited for it to cycle, and instead of a thick, scoopable frozen margarita you got a slushy puddle that won't hold its shape. Or worse — a soupy liquid that the machine churns endlessly without ever freezing.
You found a great cocktail recipe. It makes one drink. You need to make 20 for a party. The obvious move is to multiply everything by 20. And that's exactly how you end up with 20 bad drinks.
Ask a bartender why they shake some drinks and stir others, and you'll usually hear something about texture or tradition. While that is true....
You'll see alcohol concentration expressed three different ways depending on where you look: proof on American bottle labels, ABV on most modern packaging, and v/v on refractometer scales and scientific references.
You can use premium spirits, fresh-squeezed citrus, and the perfect recipe — and still make a mediocre cocktail because of the ice. Ice isn't just a cooling mechanism. It's an ingredient that controls dilution rate, temperature, texture, and even flavor. Bad ice degrades all four.
A bar spoon is a bar spoon, right? It stirs drinks. How different can they be?
Every home bartender has the same debate at some point: do I really need a jigger, or can I just eyeball it? The short answer is that free pouring is less accurate than almost everyone thinks it is, and the difference between a great cocktail and a mediocre one often comes down to a quarter ounce.
You've decided you need a refractometer. Maybe you just bought a frozen drink machine and someone told you to "check the Brix." Maybe you're batching cocktails for a party and want to verify the alcohol content.