Christ all of the same objects can be had for less than 20 bucks at your local restaurant supply store. I mean I recently picked up the same list of stuff (plus some extras minus the shaker) and it was $11, and I was buying the slightly nicer stuff. Those tongs are the bad tongs, small spring tongs from Winco are much, much better. And you don’t need tongs at home, we only use them professionally because of the health code. Though they’re nice for getting things out of jars, and for handling cherries (maraschino cherries are evil disgusting things). The pourers are also the cheap, do not want kind. Those ones jam, let in bugs, tend to get stuck in bottles, and have a flow problems. What you want are these.
In terms of shakers I don’t like that one either. Its cute, but awkward to work with. And glass breaks. I work with one of these. The larger half is a standard metal bar shaker for use in a boston shaker set up with a 16oz mixing glass (you probably know that as a pint glass, but it isn’t for drinking out of!). The smaller bit is a 12-16oz metal mixing cup. I prefer this setup over the classic Boston shaker. Metal can’t break, and the all metal mixing cup cup is a lot smaller and easier to handle than the full size Boston set up. I can use it with one hand. If you want to be super classy you look for models without the welded on cap at the bottom, that seem collects gross.
Don’t buy any of this stuff online, you’ll likely over pay. If you’ve got restaurants near you, there is a restaurant supply some where. None of this stuff (shaker aside) retails for more than a couple bucks each. So even discounted as is that stuff is vastly over priced.
All it takes is one overzealous muddler with a mason jar to ruin a cocktail party.
Overzealous Muddler… Brb
Yeah way better off going to a supply store.
Ror actual recipes The Savoy Cocktail Book will be more than most people need.
Yeah mason jars are thin man. I know they’re trendy and I love them as jars, but I know for a fact they wouldn’t stand up to the absolute fury of muddling I use on my mojitos (personally I prefer to render my mint into a paste then strain the bits out after shaking, I know its counter to current cocktail trends but people seem to love it).
I actually find google much more useful than any cocktail book, but they’re great for flipping through if you don’t know what you want to make and you don’t have a few decent cocktail or food blogs bookmarked. The Savoy or any other well regarded crafty cocktail book will do you good. As will any given standard, alphabetically listed cocktail reference.
Well I am old enough that a lot of that was not online way back when. It is also just a great book to thumb through but almost useless at least for me as I tend to go with straight bourbon most of the time when I want hard liquor.
Yeah the longer I do this the more I just default to a glass of whiskey or a cheap beer. Also tiki drinks. Even a poorly made cocktail tastes better when it’s blue and covered in plastic tchotchkes.
In terms of bar books the best thing anyone should look for is something that covers technique and organization well. Traditionally most books have ignored that aspect, but more and more are covering it these days. Personally I don’t really need that, I’ve got most of it down, and I can expand by talking shop or working with talented people.
Rum and fruit juice is a magic combination of booze flavored heaven even when not in awesome mugs with paper umbrellas.
There are few places here that make fresh squeezed juice (like when you order it) for their cocktails and with that I will happily get an old fashioned or a whisky sour.
Two years ago spontaneously, across state lines my department decided without even a text message that Moscow mules were it. Easy to make and delicious.
And I agree about blue drinks. I am not being facetious, I feel manlier with a blue drink in a huge martini glass with like a peacock feather.
One last anecdote, there is a bar somewhere in phx that, if you order a bloody Mary for breakfast, you won’t need breakfast.
((This is not it)
More my style
There’s a bar in Waco called Trojan’s that sells something called a Fishbowl. 84oz of random (at least, I’m not sure what goes into it) alcohol and mixers in a fishbowl with something to turn it blue. I think you’re meant to share, but I knew people that didn’t…
that’s not a cocktail that’s a hangover in a tub.
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