Everything you need to know before getting started in the hobby of home cocktail crafting. We're covering the importance of quality ingredients, how to choose the right bottle of alcohol, and why you don't have enough ice. Oh, and we need to have a serious conversation about your bottles of citrus juice. And throw away that Margarita mix and get in here!

Recipes from the show are below after all the things.

Too Long, Didn't Listen:

(00:00) Introduction

(01:33) Quality cocktails require quality ingredients

(03:42) How to choose your booze

(08:17) Loose the (citrus) juice

(12:53) Homemade syrups are, well, simple

(16:53) You don't have enough ice

(23:18) It's the Cocktail of the Week: Fresh Ginger Fizz

(30:05) Closing

RecipesSimple Syrup

• 1 part sugar
• 1 part water
• Measure parts by volume or mass. Combine water and sugar in a sauce pan and heat over low heat and stir until sugar is just dissolved. Immediately remove from heat and let syrup cool to room temperature before using. Alternatively, you can combine sugar and water in a sealed container and shake until sugar is dissolved.

Rich Simple Syrup

• 2 parts sugar
• 1 part water
• Measure parts by volume or mass. Combine water and sugar in a sauce pan and heat over low heat and stir until sugar is just dissolved. Immediately remove from heat and let syrup cool to room temperature before using. Alternatively, you can combine sugar and water in a sealed container and shake until sugar is dissolved though this process will take longer at larger quantities.

Ginger Syrup

• 4 oz fresh ginger, roughly chopped (about 2-3 “thumbs”)
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup water
• Combine the ingredients in a saucepan and heat over medium heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Once it begins to simmer, reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer for at least five minutes. For a stronger flavor, simmer longer. Remove from the heat and allow the syrup to cool to room temperature before straining out the ginger using a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth. You can store in the syrup in the refrigerator for up to two weeks in a tightly sealed container.
• Note: You can peel the ginger if you want (a spoon works quite well) but it’s not necessary as the skin will be strained out later.

Fresh Ginger Fizz

• 1 1/2 oz Rum
• 3/4 oz Homemade Ginger Syrup
• 1/2 oz Freshly squeezed lime juice
• 4 oz of chilled club soda
• A lime wedge for garnish.
• Combine the rum, ginger syrup, and lime juice to a mixing glass and stir to combine. Add ice to a separate highball or similar glass until nearly full. Then pour the rum mixture into the serving glass over the ice. Add the club soda by pouring the soda against the side of the glass, not over the ice, to help preserve the bubbles. Gently stir with a long spoon by pulling your spoon up the side of the glass. Make a small cross-wise cut into the flesh of the lime wedge and use the cut to place the wedge on the rim of the serving glass.

Books & Equipment Links

The links below that point to Amazon are affiliate links. If you click on them and make a purchase we may receive a small compensation at no extra cost to you. Links to any other destination are not affiliate links.

Books

We own and recommend these books:

The 12 Bottle Bar: Make Hundreds of Cocktails with Just Twelve Bottles by David Solmonson, Lesley Jacobs Solmonson

Liquid Intelligence: The Art and Science of the Perfect Cocktail by Dave Arnold

Imbibe! by David Wondrich

Cocktail Codex by Alex Day, Nick Fauchald, David Kaplan

Equipment

Products we own, like and use:

• Measuring tools
• OXO Good Grips Mini Angled Measuring Cup, 2 Oz capacity
• OXO Metal Angled Measuring Cup
• OXO SteeL Double Jigger
• Shakers
• This shaking set is sold as two separate items on Amazon, you will need both
• Cocktail Kingdom Koriko Small Weighted Shaking Tin
• Cocktail Kingdom Koriko Large Weighted Shaking Tin
• Mixing Glasses/Tins
• Viski Crystal Mixing Glass, 17 oz
• Pint glass: you don’t need a link for this do you?
• Peelers
• OXO Good Grips Y-Peeler
• Bar Spoons
• Crate & Barrel: Bar Spoon with Muddler
• Cork Screw / Bottle Opener
• True Truetap Double Hinged Waiters Corkscrew
• Bar Towels
• White Flour Sack Towels
• Glassware
• Highball
• Strauss 13-Oz. Cooler Glass
• Lowball
• Crescent 10-Oz. Double Old-Fashioned Glass
• Strauss 11-Oz. Double Old-Fashioned Glass
• Stemmed
• Mercer 10-Oz. Coupe Glass

Products we don’t own but would consider buying:

• Measuring Tools
• Cocktail Farmer Standard Jigger
• Piña Barware Bell/Leopold Style Stainless Steel Jigger 2oz. / 1oz.
• Piña Barware Slim/Japanese Style Stainless Steel Jigger 2oz. / 1oz.
• Shakers
• A Bar Above Weighted Craft Boston Shaker Set (Single set slightly less expensive than the Koriko)
• Houdini Boston Cocktail Shaker (a well rated pint glass set)
• Barfly Double Wall Diamond Lattice Mixing Tin
• Knives
• Cocktail Kingdom Buswell Paring Knife
• Victorinox 3.25 Inch Swiss Classic Paring Knife (Green - Black seems to be in high demand)
• Cutting Board
• Jelli Reversible Black Marble 14.5"x11" Cutting Board
• Bar Spoons
• Cocktail Kingdom Skull (We wouldn’t really buy this but it looks cool)
• A metal finger, not a spoon (I could resist linking to this one)
• Homestia Gothic Skull Bar Spoon (A cheaper skull)
• Viski Stainless Steel Weighted Barspoon
• Hawthorne Strainers
• Barfly Bar Strainer, Stainless Steel
• A Bar Above Hawthorne Strainer
• Julep Strainers
• Cocktail Kingdom Premium Julep Strainer

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