COCKTAILS

History

Types

Recipes

HISTORY• The History of the Cocktail• • The true creation of a popular cocktail can be traced to the nineteenth century. One

early written reference to the term "cocktail" (as a drink based on spirits with other spirits and additives) can be found in an American magazine, The Balance, published in May 1806. It stated that a "Cocktail is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters..."

• 1860 to 1920 – California: The Birthplace of the First Cocktails• The cocktail's fragmented history begins in the nineteenth century. One of the first

modern cocktails to be named and recognized is the martini. It can be traced back to an 1862 recipe for the Martinez. This American recipe consisted of four parts sweet red vermouth to one part gin, garnished with a cherry. "Professor" Jerry Thomas tended the bar of the old Occidental Hotel in San Francisco and reputedly made the drink for a gold miner on his way to the town of Martinez, which lay forty miles to the east. The recipe for the Martinez in Thomas' 1887 bartender's guide called for Old Tom gin, sweet vermouth, a dash of maraschino and bitters, as well as a slice of lemon and two dashes of gum syrup.

•  • What we do know is that by 1900, the martini had become known nationwide and had

spread to the other side of the Atlantic. This is said by some to be the beginning of the golden age of cocktails. During this time a basic list of cocktails emerged and steadily became more and more popular.

• A popular story behind the Cocktail name refers to a rooster's tail (or cock tail) being used as a Colonial drink garnish. There are no formal references in recipe to such a garnish.

• The rooster theory is also said to have been influenced by the colors of the mixed ingredients, which may resemble the colors of the cock's tail. This would be a good tale today given our colorful array of ingredients, but at the time spirits were visually bland.

• The British publication, Bartender, published a story in 1936 of English sailors, of decades before, being served mixed drinks in Mexico. The drinks were stirred with a Cola de Gallo (Cock's tail), a long root of similar shape to the bird’s tail.

• Cocktail may have derived from the French term for egg cup, coquetel. • The word Cocktail may be a distant derivation of the name for the Aztec goddess,

Xochitl. Xochitl was also the name of a Mexican princess who served drinks to American soldiers.

• Another horse tail supposes the influence of breeders term for a mix breed horse, or cock-tails. Both racing and drinking were popular among the majority of Americans at the time and it’s possible the term transferred from mixed breeds to mixed drinks.

• There's a quirky story of an American tavern keeper who stored alcohol in a ceramic, rooster-shaped container. When patrons wanted another round they tapped the rooster’s tail.

• In George Bishop’s The Booze Reader: A Soggy Saga of Man in His Cups (1965) he says, "The word itself stems from the English cock-tail which, in the middle 1800’s, referred to a woman of easy virtue who was desirable but impure…and applied to the newly acquired American habit of bastardizing good British Gin with foreign matter, including ice

COCKTAILS

• It is a mixed drink consisting of two or more ingredients

• Usually a spirit base and a flavouring, colouring ingredient or a ‘modifier’.

• Cocktails maybe short or long• Can be served before dinner or after dinner• Pre dinner cocktails are Whisky Sour,

Manhattan, Martini etc• After dinner cocktails are usually sweet and

creamy – frappes, Alexanders etc

COCKTAILS

• Measures for cocktails:

1. Nip – 30 ml

2. Dash – just a few drops

3. A Split - a small drink bottle( about 285 ml) that is used for cocktails mainly as bigger bottles can go flat

RULES FOR MAKING COCKTAILS

Keep it simple Follow formula – one base spirit plus one

or two liqueurs and one or more non alcoholic ingredients

Do not make cocktails with more than 3 spirits

Present it well

METHODS OF MIXING COCKTAILS

• SHAKING – Put all ingredients together with plenty of ice in a cocktail shaker and shake them till the shaker is ‘frosty’- unless recipe states, always strain and serve – NEVER Shake fizzy ingredients such as champagne or post mix – always add fizzy drink later

• A traditional shaker has three parts – the based, strainer and the lid – not common in bars now

• Boston Shaker – Two halves – one fitting over other

• American Shaker – Two halves, one is glass and other is metal

• Hawthorne Strainer – is designed to strain mixed drinks – the prong fit over the side of the mixing glass to hold it. The wire coil can be removed to clean

• STIRRING – Clear drinks are stirred with ice, not shaken. Clear drinks do not contain any milk, fruit juice or cream. Put all ingredients in a mixing glass, stir with a long handled bar spoon, strain and serve

• BLEND – usually done in an electric blender – used with fresh fruit, fruit pieces, cream – Key is to use little ice as it will dilute the cocktail. Carbonated drink if any used in recipe is always added after the ingredients are blended and at the end.

• BUILDING – Put ice in glass first and other ingredients, stirred and garnish added. Usually a stirrer or swizzle stick is added.

LAYERING –These drinks are built in the glass, NOT STIRRED.

Drinks are poured over end of a bar spoon to minimise disturbing

the drink. Usually the most thick liquid at the bottom followed

by less thick etc – Eg Shooters

• MUDDLING –Refers to drinks that are crushed • using a ‘muddle stick’ in a mixing glass – • Most popular cocktails today Eg. Mojito

• SHOOTERS – Served in a shot glass. Layered drinks – pour on the side and start to bring glass upright – a mixologist technique! Eg B 52

• PRESENTATION –• Presentation of cocktails is very important – correct glass, correct garnish etc

COCKTAIL GLASSES• Shot – 60 ml

• Martini – 90 ml

• Manhattan – 140 ml

• Champagne Saucer – 180 ml

• Champagne Flute – 180 ml

• Champagne Tulip – 180 ml

Old Fashioned – 200 ml

Hi Ball – 300 ml

Brandy Balloon – 300 ml

Colada Glass – 400 ml

• Frosting a glass – done by ‘wetting’ the rim of glass with lemon, water, spirit or orange juice and then placing glass upside down on a small plate of sugar or salt

• Chilling of a glass – Use glasses that are chilled in fridge or place ice in glass when cocktail is being made – the idea is to serve the cocktail in a chilled glass

COCKTAIL GARNISHES

• Garnish is added to cocktail to add colour and flavour – Eg cocktail onion is used for Gibson, Cherry for Sweet Martini, Olive for Dry Martini

• Garnishes should be made fresh for the day – but not all fruit can be cut in advance

COCKTAIL GARNISHES

• Rules for Fruit garnishes – Bananas & Apples to be cut only when needed – they

will go off otherwise Celery can be cut before service Cherrries can be cut and prepared before service Melon can be prepared before service Pineapple wedges can be prepared before service Kiwi fruit should only be cut just before cocktail times eg

4 pm Mint must be refrigerated after cleaning and in air tight

container Citrus Fruits – Lemon, Limes, Orange can

COCKTAIL GARNISHES

Twists – Fruit to be cut thin(about 1 cm wide and five cm long) for a twist and then twist the slice over the drink – used in Martinis

Spirals - Use a peeler or a paring knife to cut a long peel – used in cocktails where one end of the spiral is held inside glass by ice and other over glass

SYRUPS AND NON ALCOHOLIC INGREDIENTS

• Coconut Cream

• Grenadine

• Orgeat Syrup – almond flavoured syrup

• Sugar Syrup

• Juices

• Fruit Flavoured Syrups – ‘Monin’ brand such as hazelnut, cherry, coffee etc

SERVICE OF COCKTAILS

• Usually served in lounge bars

• Always use a tray to carry glasses

• Place glasses on tables with coasters under them

BUILD COCKTAILS

Name Ingredients Glass Remarks

Screwdriver Vodka & Orange Juice

Hi ball Orange Slice is garnish

Rusty Nail Scotch & Drambuie Old Fashioned No garnish

Godfather Scotch & Amaretto Old Fashioned No garnish

Irish Coffee Irish Whiskey, Coffee & Cream

Latte Glass Coffee bean

Cuba Libre Rum & Cola Hi Ball Glass Lime Wedge

Dark & Stormy Rum & Ginger Beer Hi Ball Glass Lime Wedge

Bucks Fizz Champagne & Orange Juice

Champagne Flute Orange Peel

Old Fashioned Bourbon, sugar syrup, bitters

Old Fashioned Orange twist and cherry

Tequila Sunrise Tequila, Orange Juice, Grenadine

Hi Ball Glass Orange Slice