Shake Strain Done

Cocktails are like music. Just as there is little satisfaction in listening to a single note of a song, drinks built from singular flavors are flat and uninteresting. Great cocktails are orchestrations of flavors, aromas, and textures, an assembly of high and low notes that are coordinated. Understanding those notes and how to balance them not only helps you make better drinks, it also opens you up to discovering new things you didn’t know you liked.

Let’s say you’re a Margarita drinker. You probably are drawn to cocktails that are sweet and sour. So let’s run that spectrum. A lime-spiked gin and tonic is built from lighter touches of both. But the tonic water also introduces bitter flavors. If you like that, an Aperol Spritz is an excellent next step—still sweet, a little sour, a nice dose of bitter. From there, try an Americano, which combines Campari—a slightly more bitter, stronger Italian liqueur—with sweet vermouth. And if you enjoy the spicy-herbal flavors of sweet vermouth, you might as well head straight to a Manhattan, which tosses in some peppery rye or sweet bourbon.

This is a simple concept, but understanding it—and putting it to use—requires that we have a meaningful language for it. Trouble is, cocktail menus and books too often use language that makes sense to bartenders, but isn’t particularly helpful to the rest of us. A list of obscure liquors is fine for the pros, but says little about what to expect from the glass for those of us playing along at home.

So let’s break it down into terms we all can appreciate. Most cocktails are built from a varying mix of 11 characteristics—REFRESHING, CREAMY, FRUITY, SWEET, SOUR, HERBAL, BITTER, SPICY, SMOKY, WARM and STRONG. This is language we can taste. Because knowing a drink is sour, sweet, moderately strong, and lightly fruity is a heck of a lot more informative than being left to wonder what crème de violette tastes like when combined with gin, maraschino liqueur, and lemon juice (the ingredients for a classic Aviation).

This book uses that sensory language to help you know what to expect from each cocktail. And it organizes the recipes two ways. First, by primary liquor. Because sometimes you just know you want bourbon. Or a vodka Martini. Second, by dominant characteristics. Because sometimes it’s 95ºF and you need something refreshing. Or you want to take the chill off with something warm and strong. This book has you covered.

So here’s a quick primer on what these characteristics mean and the multitude of ways we can achieve them in different cocktails.

REFRESHING

A cool breeze in the mouth. REFRESHING drinks are your go-to summer sippers. This might mean the cocktail also is SWEET and FRUITY, but not necessarily. A Gin & Tonic, for example, isn’t fruity or particularly sweet, but it is refreshing. The bubbles of sparkling wine or soda, or sparkling and tonic waters also contribute refreshing notes. The liquors tend to be clear, but juices can help bourbon take a refreshing turn.

GIN & TONIC

3 ounces gin, 4 ounces tonic water, plenty of ice cubes, a lime wedge, and a lemon zest strip or coin. Just stir it all together in a highball glass.

CREAMY

In cocktails, CREAMY too often comes across as heavy and cloying. That’s partly due to an overreliance on milk and heavy cream, the heft of which can dull other flavors. (I’m talking to you, Mudslides and White Russians of the world.) But there are plenty of lighter, brighter ways to achieve creaminess in a cocktail, ways that awaken rather than deaden your palate. A drop of vanilla extract or a muddled vanilla bean heads in that direction. Egg whites shaken into a cocktail—particularly in drinks that are a little SWEET and SOUR—add both a creamy flavor and rich, velvety texture. Also good: coconut milk and coconut water, the latter of which I use to make a lighter, more sophisticated version of a White Russian.

WHITE RUSSIAN

2 ounces vodka, 1½ ounces coconut water, 1 ounce Kahlúa. Stir in a rocks glass filled halfway with crushed ice.

FRUITY

FRUITY can be an in-your-face frozen Strawberry Margarita or the subtle pop of a maraschino cherry dropped into an Old Fashioned. Fruity drinks usually bring an element of SWEET and sometimes SOUR, but fruit-based bitters (such as orange bitters) and strips of citrus zest are great ways to add subtle fruity notes. Chunks of whole fruit, jams, fruit syrups (such as grenadine), and fruit liqueurs also are great sources, but can dramatically sweeten a drink. The Cuban cocktail El Presidente gets pronounced fruity flavors without tasting overwhelmingly SWEET from modest amounts of orange liqueur and grenadine and a strip of orange zest.

EL PRESIDENTE

1½ ounces white rum, 1½ ounces dry vermouth, ½ ounce orange liqueur, ¼ ounce grenadine. Combine in a stirring glass and stir with ice cubes. Strain into a coupe or cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange zest strip or coin.

SWEET

Most cocktails have at least an undercurrent of SWEET. It may be nothing more than a subtle background note balancing other characteristics such as BITTER or SOUR, but it’s essential. Other drinks are meant to be overtly sweet, such as a basic Daiquiri. But even then, I find a light touch is best; sugar can overwhelm other flavors. Simple syrup (sugar dissolved in water) is the most common cocktail sweetener, but it’s just the start. Fruit (such as a maraschino cherry), liquors (such as sweet vermouth and orange liqueur), and even vegetables (the tomato juice in a Bloody Mary) all up the SWEET.

DAIQUIRI

3 ounces white rum, ½ ounce lime juice, ½ ounce agave or simple syrup, dash Angostura bitters. Shake with ice cubes. Strain into a coupe. Serve neat.

SOUR

SOUR notes—which also can be described as acidic—brighten and lighten cocktails. In STRONG drinks, SOUR gives lift, keeping them from becoming heavy and dense. In lighter cocktails, SOUR pulls the flavors toward REFRESHING. Like SWEET, SOUR is easily overdone, leaving your mouth feeling astringent and unable to appreciate other flavors. Most cocktails get sour notes from citrus juice, as in a Raspberry-Lime Rickey. But don’t limit yourself to lemon and lime. Orange, tangerine, mango, pineapple, peach and grapefruit each add varying levels of SOUR as well as SWEET. Citrus sodas, such as those from Sanpellegrino, also are great.

RASPBERRY-LIME RICKEY

3 ounces gin, 1 ounce lime juice, 1 tablespoon raspberry jam. Shake with ample ice cubes. Doublestrain into a highball glass with ample ice cubes. Top with club soda.

HERBAL

Herbs add freshness, but their pungent aromas and flavors also can overwhelm more delicate ingredients. The bushel of fresh mint typically added to a Mint Julep generally is too much for my taste; I prefer the more modest sprig or two muddled into a Mojito. But mint is just the start; other herbs play well with cocktails, too, including fresh basil, sage, thyme, and rosemary. Regardless of how much you use, controlling an herb’s intensity is simple—the more an herb is bruised, the stronger its flavor. An unblemished sprig added as garnish offers the lightest touch. Smack that sprig between your hands and the flavors and aroma will be stronger. Muddle it and it will be even more intense. For the biggest blast, use a blender to finely chop it into the liquor, then strain for a quick and intense infusion.

MOJITO

2 sprigs fresh mint, ½ ounce agave or simple syrup, 3 ounces white rum, 1 ounce lime juice. In a cocktail shaker, muddle the mint and syrup. Shake with the rum, lime juice and ice cubes. Strain into a highball glass with ample ice cubes. Top with club soda and garnish with more mint.

BITTER

Essential for balance, BITTER rarely plays alone. It often is a partner to SWEET, STRONG, and FRUITY, as in the Americano, which manages to be BITTER, SWEET and REFRESHING thanks to the way the sweet vermouth and lemon zest balance the bitter Campari. A little goes a long way, particularly with the most obvious source—cocktail bitters. Think of them as the salt of the cocktail scene. You often won’t directly taste that dash or two you add, but they round out and heighten the other flavors. Some cocktails call for more pronounced bitterness, which can come from liquors such as Aperol or Campari, or herbs such as rosemary.

AMERICANO

2 ounces Campari, 2 ounces sweet vermouth, 3 ounces club soda, lemon zest strip or coin, 1 large or 2 standard ice cubes. Stir in a rocks glass.

SPICY

The term makes us think of chilies—which certainly are delicious when paired with tequila—but there is so much more. Cocktails can get SPICY notes from ginger, as in the ginger beer used in a Moscow Mule; from liquors, such as a particularly assertive rye; from dried spices, such as black peppercorns or a pinch of cayenne; or from a hit of hot sauce, as in a Bloody Mary. The trick, of course, is to keep the spice moderate so it doesn’t blow out the other flavors; it usually helps to pair it with SWEET. Just a hint of heat acts like salt, heightening and enhancing the other ingredients; this works in cooking, too—try a few drops of hot sauce in your next mac and cheese. And let’s not forget, SPICY also may involve no heat at all. Cinnamon and cardamom used in the right place can add SPICE without heat.

MOSCOW MULE

3 ounces vodka, ½ ounce lime juice, ¼ ounce agave or simple syrup, generous pinch cayenne pepper. Shake with ice cubes. Strain into a rocks glass with ice cubes. Top with ginger beer and a lime wedge.

SMOKY

As with SWEET, SOUR and SPICY, a little smokiness goes a long way. The easiest way to add it is with liquors, such as mezcal, some tequilas, and scotch, which have naturally smoky notes. A Rob Roy uses the peaty flavor of scotch to create a drink with subtle SMOKY notes balanced by sweet vermouth. You also can use real smoke, as in the smoked cinnamon stick in the Spiced Old Fashioned (here). For instructions on smoking cocktails, see here.

ROB ROY

3 ounces scotch, ¾ ounce sweet vermouth, dash Angostura bitters. Stir with ice cubes. Strain into a rocks glass and serve neat.

WARM

Think fireside sippers. WARM drinks kindle the soul and—depending on how STRONG—put a fire in the belly. They often are bold and brown; cue a Manhattan, please. WARM also comes from spices, such a cinnamon and cardamom, spice-based liquors such as vermouth, or even some botanical-rich gins.

MANHATTAN

2½ ounces rye or bourbon, ½ ounce sweet vermouth, 2 dashes Angostura bitters. Stir with ice cubes. Strain into a rocks glass. Serve neat with a maraschino cherry stirred in.

STRONG

The strength of a cocktail generally is determined by the ratio of liquor to other ingredients, such as juice, soda, water, ice, and lower-alcohol mix-ins, such as wine. Drinks such as the Old Fashioned and Gin Martini generally involve little more than alcohol, so they tend to be STRONG. A Gin & Tonic—which is diluted by both tonic water and ice—usually is much lighter. But note that FRUITY and SWEET ingredients are brilliant at masking STRONG, which is why it is so easy to slurp down one too many boozy Daiquiris before you know what hit you.

GIN MARTINI

2½ ounces gin, ½ ounce dry vermouth. Stir with ice cubes. Strain into a cocktail glass. Serve neat and garnish with a green olive or two.

Too often in cocktails—as in life—we get trapped by what we know we like. We enjoy the Strong, Warm and slightly Sweet attributes of an Old Fashioned, and so we become an Old Fashioned drinker. Which is great, but it doesn’t have to end there.

Rather than see preference as a limit, I see it as the beginning. If you love an Old Fashioned, what else might you like? By using a consistent and natural language with cocktails—those 11 characteristics that sum up how they taste and feel—we are able to use what we like as a jumping-off point to explore new things.

The maps on the following pages cluster the cocktails in this book by dominant characteristics, making that exploration easy. Each chart starts with a classic cocktail that exemplifies the key flavor, then traces out the many ways it can express itself.

So if you like the STRONG, WARM and slightly SWEET flavor of an Old Fashioned, it’s easy to discover cocktails with similar profiles, including cocktails that might seem outwardly different enough that you wouldn’t otherwise have considered them. Like the STRONG, WARM and HERBAL Sazerac 2.0, which cuts back on the rye in favor of brandy and anise flavors.

Likewise, if you enjoy the SWEET, SOUR and FRUITY notes of a Margarita, you probably also would like the SWEET, SOUR and STRONG flavors of the Ginger Caipirinha. Or flip the equation and start with a FRUITY, SWEET and BITTER Rose-Tinted Glass, which combines gin, white wine, and Aperol with mint and grapefruit juice.

Finally, each chapter of the book is organized to begin with the lightest cocktail and build up to the boldest, making it easy to navigate the recipes within each liquor, depending on your mood and preference.

REFRESHING

Gin & Tonic

CREAMY

Peruvian Orange Grove

Orange You Glad

Cabana Boy

The Arctic Guac

Naked Russian

SOUR

Pisco Sour

The Gin and Dock

The Stinger

Kombucha Spritzer

STRONG

Tender Negroni

Pom Bliss

Race for the Sun

HERBAL

The Celery Stalker

Cilantro-Mint Gin and Tonic

Green Teaser

Liquid Crystal

The Russian Hotel

SPICY

The Cranky Pineapple

Frigid Mary

WARM

Cinnamon Toast

Everything Nice

FRUITY

The Sophisticate

Drain the Swamp

The Lemon Bush

OG&T

The Threeway

Sal’s Martini

Frothed and Fruity

The Rumbles

Minted and Popped

Mango Diva

The Blazing Grapefruit

Korean Punch

The Sundowner

Madly Mimosa

SWEET

Peruvian 75

The Airstream

The Sidearm

Citrus Sparkler

The Bitter Slap

The Dirty Gimlet

Tiki Time

The Seedling

T&T

The Sweater Weather

See No Evil

Uptown Party

Blushing Aperol Spritz

Vanilla Blood

CREAMY

White Russian

BITTER

Campari Kiss

REFRESHING

Peruvian Orange Grove

Orange You Glad

Cabana Boy

Naked Russian

SOUR

Pisco Sour

Key Lime Pie

Thai Me Up

STRONG

French Kiss

Lychee-Mint Martini

Cinnamon Nut Bread

Snowy London Stroll

Chai Slide

The Chocolate Orange

Apple Cream Pie

Espresso Martini

Feeling Seedy

Southern Pleasure

The Green Mountain State

Pooh Bear

The French Sap

Kentucky Creamsicle

Celtic Coffee

HERBAL

The Deep Plum

Sum of Its Parts

Minted Lemon Drop

FRUITY

Only the Lonely

Up and At ’Em

Moscow’s Sunny Side

SWEETY

Vanilla Beach

The Arctic Guac

Chamomile Craze

That Wascally Wabbit

The Sly Chris

Vanilla Love

Mashed and Creamed

Butterscotch

Cornshine

Almond Joy

Tropical Tartan

Monk’s Love

SPICY

Peas and Thank You

Red Bush Bliss

WARM

Caribbean Christmas