UP YOUR COCKTAIL GAME LISA HOEKSTRA Experts’ tips on how to make that perfect cocktail at home.

COCKTAILS ARE AS COMPLEX (AND INTERESTING) AS ANY OTHER FLAVOUR-BASED, INGREDIENT-DRIVEN DISH.

There’s a reason why experienced mixologists and bartenders get all the praise … they’ve learned a few tricks here and there, which allows them to craft the perfect cocktail for every individual taste. The question now is, how do we make that perfect cocktail at home? I reached out to three experts to find out. These award-winning mixologists are among Canada’s best bartenders.

The experts

Toronto-born Kaitlyn Stewart crafts delicious cocktails at Royal Dinette in Vancouver using local spirits and seasonal ingredients. Her passion and experience carried her all the way to Mexico City in 2017, where she was crowned the World Class Bartender of the Year. (She shared her Cider Cocktail with Quench back in 2018.)

Calgary-based Makina Labrecque is the Diageo Reserve Portfolio Brand Ambassador and Activation Manager for Alberta. Last year, she won the Canadian leg of the 2019 Patrón Perfectionist competition with her spruce tip cocktail (which was featured in our November 2019 issue).

Chris Thibodeau is the head bartender at Gio Restaurant and LevelBar in Halifax. Thibodeau is a trained sommelier and certified whisky ambassador. His resumé includes stints at Met et Soleil, The Middle Spoon, Noble, Five Fish and Gahan House. Thibodeau is passionate about helping people learn more about cocktails so that they can drink nice things wherever they are.

A Tasteful Balance

When it comes to the perfect cocktail, balancing sweet, sour, salt, bitter and umami is key. Throw in a pleasant mouthfeel, some fancy aromas and an attractive glass, and you’ve got yourself something great.

KAITLYN STEWART

Depending on the cocktail, each “taste” is created differently. But typically, you have citrus juice for sour, sugar syrups for sweetness, bitters for bitterness, salt or saline solution for salty and for umami, it could be as simple as adding Worcestershire sauce to a Caesar or using bacon fat to fat-wash a spirit. Like in cooking, taste in cocktails is all about balance — bringing up the brix to even out sourness or adding bitters to round out the flavours. I practise “less is more” until I know I have dialled in the desired taste of the cocktail.

To achieve some sense of perfection, it’s all about flavour pairing. Knowing the base flavour profile of the spirit you are using, and complementing it, is the best way to start a perfect cocktail. Many of my favourite “perfect” cocktails use a 2:1:1 ratio. Meaning: two parts liquor, one part sour, one part sweet. If I want to achieve a sour cocktail, I turn to lime juice first. Or use a less sour juice like grapefruit and add an acid alternative to bring up the acidity. You have to think of the final cocktail and what exactly you want it to come across as.

MAKINA LABRECQUE

Usually you can divide cocktails into a few main categories — sweet, savoury, floral, spirit forward, refreshing. Of course, a