Bringing world-class cocktails to your home
A lesson in the cocktail-making tricks of the trade to try at home
So, a girl walks into a bar… in this case that girl is me. I am always watching intently and taking mental notes of the finesse and agility of our mixologists, so I can try and replicate the tricks of the trade at home. Yet, I decided I was tired of trying to decode the colorful mixers and bitters that they make themselves, the prep work I do not see before I sit down at the bar. More importantly, the very subtle and quick accents that if you don’t keep the gaze on the cocktail, you miss (like rimming a glass with orange oil). Call me curious, or lazy, but I’m taking the guess work out for both of us and just going directly to my bar‘friend’ers. As you can imagine, I have many, but was fortunate enough to ask a couple of fabulous mixologists to take a bit of a deep dive into their box of tricks. Here you go: some real tricks of the trade.
Nicole Stipp is the co-founder and beverage director for Trouble bar and Sarah Baker is a bartender at Doc Crow’s Bourbon Room, both in Louisville, Kentucky. They dish out some treasures to remember.
Peggy Noe Stevens (PNS): What are the general measures you take to prepare before guests arrive?
Nicole Stipp (NS): We start by making sure all of our equipment is clean and dry; a shaker is super hard to break when it’s wet.
We cut up bar fruit and pre-peel oranges so we can quickly have cocktails out to guests. We let our peels sit in containers with a damp paper towel as this will ensure the oils stay in the peel and therefore don’t dry out throughout service.
Sarah Baker (SB): Setting up the bar directly affects a guest’s experience. I prefer to get all my juicing, stocking and other miscellaneous tasks done before service. I also take pleasure in staging the space in a way that is aesthetically pleasing and welcoming. I like to keep my workspace organized, with the essentials closest to me and the things I need less frequently in a dedicated spot that I can count on it to be when the occasion arises.
PNS: Do you have your own special bitters/ mixers/juices that you are willing to share?
NS: We use Natalie’s juices and every juice is ultra-fresh, so we don’t have to hand-juice all our lemons and limes, but we still get extraordinary quality.
We do homemade demerara syrups for our Seasonal Old Fashioned at Trouble and are now branching into using tea infusions because of the crazy flavors you can find. We found an extra spicy chai that makes this incredibly fragrant syrup for Old Fashioned.
If you want to add some fun flair, we like to use perfume atomizers to rinse a glass in a fun bitter or tincture. Just like in the classic Sazerac, where you rinse the glass with Absinthe or Herb Sainte, you can use the spray bottle to add a small but super fragrant note to a drink. We made a cocktail for an event at Trouble and rinsed a glass with Aztec Chocolate Bitters (Fee Brothers) and put a brown sugar Old Fashioned in there. It was like a drinking a Derby Pie.
SB: Sustainability awareness is an arena where I feel I have grown as a bartender, and I feel a responsibility to give a second or third life to materials that others might refuse.
Kelsey Ramage and Iain Griffiths have had a major impact on me with their anti-waste initiative Trash Tiki. I’ve employed their techniques to run an extremely low-waste bar program that included infused spirits, homemade liqueurs, tinctures, shrubs, tepache and syrups.
PNS: Does glassware really make a difference when choosing a cocktail, and if so, why?
NS: We only have one type of glassware for every drink at Trouble, so we may be a
bit biased when we say no. We use Duralex Picardie tumblers for everything – the French have been using them for everything from espresso to wine to orange juice for 100 years, so why mess with perfection.
SB: Glassware matters in maintaining the integrity of a specific characteristic in whatever is being served. Stemware allows the drinker to hold a cocktail that is served up (or wine) in a manner that won’t immediately start to warm the glass. In the case of Champagne flutes or highball glasses, it’s to impede the carbonation bubbles from escaping too quickly, keeping the drink adequately fizzy from first sip to last. When one thinks about the purpose of a Glencairn, red wine glass or brandy snifter, it is to trap the aromas in the bulb of the glass to help enhance the tasting experience. Taste itself is focused on distinguishing chemicals that have a sweet, salty, sour, bitter or umami flavors.
But despite all the rhyme and reason, there’s not a rule saying you can’t drink wine out of a Mason jar or have your Martini served in a tumbler with the “dirty” ice on the side. I, myself, can stand upon ceremony when I must, but a good old-fashioned glass covers a multitude of sins.
THIS PAGE (CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT): Creating the right atmosphere; Building up the perfect Manhattan; Preparation is key; Enjoying a little Louisville sunshine;
Heading into Trouble... the bar, that is
PNS: When do you think it is important to use certain types of ice?
NS: We use chip ice and we love it. If you have a bunch of whiskey club guys coming in, they’ll probably complain about not having giant, translucent cubes, but most bars need an entirely separate room and system for that kind of ice. It isn’t always feasible for a small, boutique bar like Trouble and for the guys at home it’s even more difficult.
SB: Ice directly correlates to rates of chill and dilution. Without getting too nerdy about this, cracked ice will melt faster than your denser cocktail ice. Large cubes (especially professionally produced clear ice) can dilute up to three times slower than regular ice. Crushed and shaved ice goes even faster than your bag of party ice from the gas station. Just keep this in mind based on what you want to do. If you’re shaking a cocktail, you may want to utilize cocktail ice with a bit of cracked ice to help get the dilution right before your shaker freezes over. You wouldn’t want to stir a cocktail with crushed ice because you then risk watering down your cocktail before it’s appropriately chilled. If you are presenting a cocktail on pebbled, crushed or shaved ice, pack the glass with ice first and add more on top after your cocktail is in the glass. It will create an insulating effect where the ice won’t melt as fast. Mostly I would say that you should aim to make sure your cocktail is appropriately cold and adequately diluted.
PNS: When should we shake or stir?
NS: Always shake when there’s citrus involved; the citrus juice (especially when it’s fresh) has a really hard time bonding with the liquor if not shaken. Stir when you’re going for a cocktail with a silky, heavy mouthfeel like a Martini or a Manhattan.
SB: Does it have juice, dairy or egg whites? Shake it. The whole point is to blend the ingredients while aerating the cocktail. When working with eggs, I tend to do a reverse dry shake (shake with ice/no egg, then strain back into the tin, add egg/no ice and shake until your arm feels like it might cramp up or fall off altogether). If the recipe is a mélange of spirits and/or bitters, the rule of thumb is to stir it. This combines these more fragile ingredients in a gentler fashion and is less likely to “bruise” the flavors of your spirits. Martinis have become somewhat of a tossup... I always ask shaken or stirred. Though I am in the stirred camp, there are many who want their martinis shaken, usually extra cold, hint: that’s not a real thing, but to each their own.
PNS: What is your opinion on whether to chill or not to chill your glass prior to making the cocktail, and how do you do it?
NS: We don’t chill glassware at Trouble simply because a chilled glass can accidentally
numb the lips if it’s too cold. However, if it’s a hot, humid day and you want a cold Sazerac, go ahead and throw some cubes and soda water in the glass while you mix up your drink. Dump the iced soda water and drop your cocktail in there. Sometimes you just need cold all over.
SB: Chilled glassware is a nice gesture, specifically for up-cocktails in stemware or cocktails served “down” (a somewhat obscure term for a cocktail that normally would be served up, that is, instead, put in a rocks glass). It’s a luxury to have glassware chilling in a refrigerator, which is an option, but you can always quick chill by putting cracked ice in the glass. Then top it with still or soda water while you build the cocktail.
PNS: What are your essential bar tools that everyone should have in their home?
NS: A Boston Shaker (watch a couple hours of Youtube videos and you’ll learn to break
the shaker; it looks harder than it really is!), a nice jigger with measurement marks inside, a heavy crystal Yarai (“Yari”) glass, a Hawthorne or Julep strainer, a nice cocktail spoon and lastly speed pours for your bottles so it’s easier to control the measurements.
SB: Do yourself a favor and get a doublehinged wine key. You’ll never go back to that winged contraption again. Beyond that, you will likely want a shaker tin, a pint glass for stirred cocktails, a bar spoon and a Hawthorne strainer. Having an accurate measuring tool is essential for making real cocktails. I favor Japanese and Leopold styled jiggers, in addition to a quarter, half and full teaspoon. A dependable, sharp paring knife and Y-peeler are also important for upping your garnish game. Having a wooden muddler is nice if you want to make Mojitos or a Pendennis Club Old Fashioned, but it also doubles as a handy ice cracker. Keep it classy and get a small ice scoop or tongs to handle your guest’s ice.
PNS: What is your favorite way to garnish that a home entertainer should know about? NS: A fruit peel goes a long way in brightening up a cocktail and you can pre-peel fruit if you’re expecting a crowd. Spring for the nice cherries! You won’t regret it.
SB: Citrus peels are your friend! If you can get a healthy, even swathe with your Y-peeler, express the oils over your cocktail and wipe the outer rim of the glass with the peel. Then trim the edges neatly with a paring knife and twist into a tendril. Drop it in your drink and serve. If you’d like to adorn the glass with the garnish, make a slit down the center of the peel before you twirl it, then affix it to the rim of the glass.
PNS: I’m very intrigued by this, would you say that the person’s personality tends to match the cocktails they will choose?
NS: Yes, and also their mood. Sometimes you just need a fun, fruity Bourbon smash and other days you’re in the mood for a silky, strong Manhattan. At Trouble, I tell people to think about how they want that first sip to feel: do they want something that will calm down their frazzled, post-commute postworkday vibe; or, do they want something effervescent to re-energize them? I’m a big fan of that old Einstein quote that always holds true: A bartender is just a pharmacist with a limited inventory.
SB: I would say this isn’t always true. I like to find out what already tickles a guest’s fancy to get an understanding of their palate and exposure, then I work from there. Of course, there are times where people will order exactly what you assume, but other guests will surprise you. I’d rather build rapport and go on a cocktail journey together.
PNS: Any other hidden tricks you wish to share with us?
NS: If you’re making up cocktail recipes try and stay under three ingredients. If you can make a cocktail amazing with just three ingredients, you are well on your way to creating great home concoctions. In the wise words of Peggy Olson from Mad Men, “You need three ingredients for a cocktail. Vodka and Mountain Dew is an emergency.”
Batching is also your friend. For holidays or big parties at Trouble, we batch up at least 30 to 40 servings of a cocktail. It helps get through the rush right when people arrive, or if you’re like me and still cooking when folks arrive it’s a fun pour and go drink option.
SB: Start with a few classics you love and begin tweaking ingredients or proportions. Look to your favorite meals, snacks and desserts for cocktail inspiration. Sometimes my favorite ideas come from meals I’ve had on vacation or for special occasions and still hold a candle for. I also get inspired by memories of childhood favorites. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes or be embarrassed by a cocktail that seems uninspired... creativity thrives in moments of vulnerability.
Who knew there would be a myriad of tricks and styles that mixologists use (behind the scenes) to accentuate the one perfect cocktail that is carefully placed in front of you to enjoy? Try some of these in your own home. Admiration, anticipation and a Bourbon-thirsty nation is being served by these great mixologists and I thank them for showing me the tricks of the trade.