Some good quotes here. "Mixing is easy, bartending is difficult." (paraphrased) " Negroni If it takes you longer than 30 seconds to learn how to make a decent Negroni, you might want to think about hiring a real bartender to fix drinks when you have folk over. Repeat after me: Gin. Campari. Sweet vermouth. Equal proportions. On the rocks. Orange-wheel - or orange twist - garnish. Got it?" Cheers, Jim 10 essential cocktails you can make at home Gary Regan Sunday, April 19, 2009 Daiquiri Manhattan Mai Tai Old-Fashioned More... The Chief asked me to come up with a list of 10 drinks that you absolutely must learn how to make if you want to hold your head high in this world of cocktail mavens. Although it wasn't easy to keep it to 10, I'm pretty pleased with the drinks that we ended up with. I say "we," because the Chief played a role here. And you should be happy that he did. Without him you might have a list of 10 different styles of Manhattans. If you learn how to make the drinks I've detailed here, your repertoire will be diverse enough to convince anyone that you're a dab hand with a shaker. If you don't learn how to make them, you might find yourself in a spot of bother. I'm planning on turning up on your doorstep sometime next week to test you. Have plenty of ice on hand. And plenty of whiskey, too. Before we get down to the cocktails, though, perhaps it would be good if I pointed out some fairly straightforward, but often overlooked, facts about making drinks in general. -- It's best to shake a cocktail over ice for at least 10 seconds, and if you're stirring, double that amount of time. Any less that that and your drink will not be cold enough, and neither will it contain enough water melted from the ice to make the cocktail "gulpable." The water soothes the soul of the spirit in the drink. -- Serve cold drinks in chilled glasses. -- Recipes are not written in stone. Unless specific brand names are called for in the case of each and every ingredient, try to look at recipes as guidelines. A good way to master this is to taste your ingredients individually before you make the drink for the first time. Now follow the recipe precisely, and taste the drink. If it's too "this" or not "that" enough, think back to each ingredient and alter the ratios of the ingredients accordingly. Now you're thinking like a bartender. -- Don't use those marzipan-flavored, clown-nose-red maraschino cherries. You can buy Luxardo maraschino cherries online if your gourmet food store doesn't carry them, or you can make like the Windmill Lounge in Dallas, Texas, and marinate some frozen cherries in Luxardo maraschino liqueur for a minimum of two days. Either way, if you use one of these, you'll bring your cocktail geek friends to their knees. -- Make simple syrup by dissolving 1 cup of granulated sugar into 1 cup of warm water. Allow it to cool, and store it in the fridge. I have one more thing to add, and it's a tidbit of information that all good bartenders know: Making drinks is easy. Don't be intimidated. It's a piece of cake. Honest. Now, what's not easy is being a bartender: being able to deal with a multitude of people - owners, managers, waitstaff, chefs and guests that can include lawyers, grocers, bikers and experts on just about every subject under the sun - while making drinks, making change, making fancy garnishes and making eyes at the one customer you're hoping will stick around until your shift ends. Don't for a moment think that because you can make drinks you might be a great bartender. But learning how to make great drinks? It's a cinch. Inside: The quintessential recipe for 10 cocktail classics, plus wallet-friendly tips on stocking the home bar. Stocking the liquor cabinet As Gary Regan was hard at work choosing his 10 must-know cocktails, we wondered: How much would it cost to be fully prepared to show off your bar skills? (Clearly, we'd been Boy Scouts in the distant past.) To make all 10 of these drinks, special ingredients are required. Some are available in mini-bottles, but the cost might prompt you to become a master of, say, eight out of 10. Unless the Aviation cries out to be your signature drink - or you're not wedded to its original formulation - you might pass on the creme de violette. Still, you can fully stock a bar, and respectably so, for less than $250. Here's a handy road map, using prices in Bay Area stores (750 ml bottles except as noted). The dashing bar cart costs extra. Vodka: Don't bother splurging. Locally owned Skyy ($15) or Tito's ($18) from Austin, Texas, are both very good. But Smirnoff ($13) works just fine and leaves you cash for other things. Cost: $13 Gin: How much you enjoy gin will dictate your expense. For cocktail basics, Beefeater ($17) or Broker's ($20) more than suffice. Myself, I'd skip the vodka and splurge a bit on gin: Plymouth, Martin Miller's, Damrak and American stars Bluecoat and 209 all hover around $30. Cost: $17 Whiskey: For cocktail purposes, choose two between bourbon, rye and blended Scotch. If guests are that particular about whiskey, they can bring their own. For Scotch, Famous Grouse ($19) continues to outperform. For bourbon, a value choice is Evan Williams Black Label ($10); up the chain are Elijah Craig 12-Year ($20)and our pick, Buffalo Trace ($21). But rye will make a bigger impression. Try the Rittenhouse 100 Proof ($20) or its 80-proof cousin ($18). Cost: $39 (Famous Grouse and Rittenhouse 100) Rum: Aged rum seems like the way to go, especially once Dark and Stormy season comes around. Good aged rum isn't cheap, but the Barbancourt 8-year ($26), or even the Haitian brand's 4-year ($20) or White ($19) offer depth and slightly higher proof. Cost: $26 Brandy: Tough choice, because quality shows. Some reliable picks: Hardy VS Cognac ($26), Ferrand Ambre Cognac ($33) and Asbach Uralt ($28) from Germany. Backups include Hennessy VS ($25) and Korbel VSOP ($14). Cost: $26. Tequila: A proper bar includes a 100 percent agave specimen (marked on the bottle). Yet, affordable choices are tricky to find. Look for Milagro Silver ($25), Cabrito Reposado($20) or Pueblo Viejo Reposado ($25). Cost: $25 Liqueurs and bitters: You could skimp with things like cheap triple sec, in which case your drinks will suck. Instead, choose your needs carefully. Real Cointreau is most economical in the 1-liter size ($42). Other essentials: Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur ($28) and Campari ($24). Buy others in 50 ml sizes as needed; they'll stay fresher. A bottle of Angostura bitters ($6) is mandatory. Cost: $72 (Cointreau, Campari, Angostura bitters) Vermouth: Buy small bottles; keep them in the fridge. Noilly Prat (for dry) and Martini & Rossi (for sweet) come in 375 ml sizes ($4). Cost: $8 Equipment: One steel shaker ($6) with pint-size mixing glass ($3). Jigger ($3). Bar spoon ($2). Strainer ($2.50). Cost: $16.50 Total cost: $242.50 - Jon BonnéDaiquiri Manhattan Mai Tai Dry Gin Martini Champagne Cocktail Ramos Gin Fizz Aviation Negroni Margarita Old-Fashioned Champagne Cocktail Teach yourself to make the best Champagne cocktail on the face of the earth, and once you've fixed it, drink it. Toast your own self for a job well done. The secret behind this one lies in a scant half-ounce of the very finest Cognac you have on hand. Add this to a traditional Champagne cocktail - a drink that dates back well over 150 years - and you'll know what good drinks are all about. They're about complexity, and they're about simplicity. It's that easy. And it's that intricate. Makes 1 drink * 1 sugar cube soaked with a few drops of Angostura bitters * 1/2 ounce Cognac * 5 ounces chilled Champagne * -- Lemon twist for garnish Instructions: Pour the ingredients into the order given in a Champagne flute. Add the garnish. Mai Tai Now you're going to learn how to make a mai tai, and you can't make a mai tai without orgeat syrup - mainly almonds with a hint of orange flower water. You might not find any in the convenience store on the corner, but it's not too hard to locate in a city like this. The mai tai is akin to the Ramos gin fizz in that the recipe makes it look a little daunting, but in reality it's a piece of cake. The other thing you should know about the mai tai is this: It sounds kitschy, but it tastes oh-so-serious. If you don't have the two rums called for in this recipe, ask at the liquor store for an assertive aged rum and substitute it for the full 2 ounces of rum - you won't go too far wrong. Makes 1 drink * 1 1/2 ounces 10 Cane rum * 1/2 ounce Wray & Nephew overproof rum * 1/2 ounce Grand Marnier * 3/4 ounce orgeat syrup * 1/2 ounce fresh lime juice * 1 mint sprig, for garnish Instructions: Fill a cocktail shaker two-thirds full of ice and add all of the ingredients. Shake over ice and strain into a crushed ice-filled old-fashioned glass. Add the garnish. Negroni If it takes you longer than 30 seconds to learn how to make a decent Negroni, you might want to think about hiring a real bartender to fix drinks when you have folk over. Repeat after me: Gin. Campari. Sweet vermouth. Equal proportions. On the rocks. Orange-wheel - or orange twist - garnish. Got it? The incredible aspect of the Negroni that not everyone understands is that it works every time, no matter what brands of gin or sweet vermouth you use. And you can slap my wrist and call me Deborah if it doesn't also work no matter what ratios you use, too. Seriously. Go up on the gin, go up on the Campari, go up on the vermouth. These three ingredients are soul mates, and they support each other no matter how you try to fool them. And to serve Negronis before dinner is, indeed, a thing of great beauty. Makes 1 drink * 1 1/2 ounces Campari * 1 1/2 ounces sweet vermouth * 1 1/2 ounces gin * 1 orange wheel, or orange twist, for garnish Instructions: Pour all of the ingredients into an ice-filled old-fashioned glass and sir briefly. Add the garnish. Manhattan The Manhattan is in the same ilk as the martini inasmuch as everyone has his or her own favorite way of making them, but some rules hold true for near-as-darn-it everyone when making this one: Use a goodly amount of sweet vermouth, don't spare the bitters and use a good bourbon or straight rye whiskey as your base. (Read my full take the Manhattan at sfgate.com/ZGSK.) Balance is everything in a Manhattan, and the best way to achieve same is to taste each ingredient - bitters included - before you assemble the drink. Now let the universe take the reins, and just pour till it feels right. I prefer mine on the rocks, and if you do, too, it's best to prepare it exactly the same way you'd prepare a straight up version, then strain it into an old-fashioned glass filled with fresh ice cubes. Makes 1 drink * 2 ounces bourbon or straight rye whiskey * 1 ounce sweet vermouth * 2 to 3 dashes Angostura bitters * 1 Luxardo maraschino cherry, for garnish Instructions: Combine all the ingredients in a mixing glass. Add ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Add the garnish. Old-Fashioned You'll need to know how to make a great old-fashioned if you want to impress your boss when you have her over for dinner. And get ready to put your dukes up for this one - many a cocktail geek will tell you that the only fruit that belongs in an old-fashioned is a lemon or orange twist. Historically, they're right, but make this baby with muddled fruit, and enough Angostura bitters to make a grown man cry, and you'll win this round hands down. The secret is in the bitters. And the cherry. You do remember what I said about the cherries, right? Makes 1 drink * 1 sugar cube * 3 to 5 to 7 dashes Angostura bitters * 1 Luxardo maraschino cherry * 1 half-wheel orange * 3 ounces bourbon or straight rye whiskey Instructions: Muddle the sugar, bitters, cherry and orange in an old-fashioned glass. Add ice and the whiskey. Stir briefly, for about five seconds. Dry Gin Martini Would you like to know how to make the quintessential dry gin martini? Me too. It's absolutely impossible to begin to tell you how to make this correctly, simply because every martini-drinking man and woman on the face of the earth has his or her own version. Even though mine happens to be the very best dry gin martini that anyone has ever tasted in the known universe, I've yet to find anyone who agrees with me. Go figure. Here is a recipe that's not even written in soap, let alone stone. Fiddle with ratios. Choose your own gin - Beefeater, Junipero, Plymouth and Tanqueray all work. Pick whichever dry vermouth you like - so long as it's Noilly Prat. And decide for yourself whether it's an olive or a lemon twist that tickles your fancy. Just don't be silly enough to pick the lemon twist. Do try adding a dash or two or orange bitters, though. They were present when the drink was born, circa 1900, and they stayed there for about half a century, so . . . Some people like to shake their martinis. I'm pretty sure that they have to explain themselves for this when they reach the pearly gates, so I highly recommend that you stir this baby. Makes 1 drink * 2 ounces gin * 1/2 ounce dry vermouth * 1 to 2 dashes orange bitters * 1 olive, for garnish Instructions: Combine all the ingredients in a mixing glass. Add ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Add the garnish. Ramos Gin Fizz The Ramos gin fizz is one of God's gifts to the bibulous. It's not as hard to make as everyone seems to think, so this is a great drink to have up your sleeve. You'll impress the snootiest of guests if you can pull this one off, and as long as you don't get intimidated by the ingredients, it's easy. Henry Ramos, creator of this Fizz, had his own methods of making sure that the drink was prepared correctly: He hired a bevy of bartenders who passed the shaker from one to the next until the drink reached the desired consistency. At the 1915 Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans, "35 shaker boys nearly shook their arms off, but still were unable to keep up with the demand," reported author Stanley Clisby Arthur in his book, "Famous New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix 'Em." Guess what you have that Henry Ramos didn't have? A blender, that's what. The Ramos Gin Fizz is not a frozen drink, so you're using the blender to get the right consistency, not to turn it into a Slurpee. The rule of thumb when making frozen drinks is use as much ice in the blender as it takes to fill the glass, but for a drink like this you'll need just half that much. They make fabulous brunch drinks. Just fabulous. Makes 2 drinks * 2 ounces gin * 1 ounce cream * 1 raw egg white * 1/2 ounce simple syrup * 1/2 ounce fresh lime juice * 1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice * 2 dashes orange flower water * -- Club soda * 2 half-wheels orange, for garnish Instructions: Combine in a blender everything except for the club soda with enough ice to fill one Champagne flute, and blend until the ice is pureed. Divide the mixture between two Champagne flutes, and top each drink with a splash of club soda. Add the garnishes. Aviation First detailed in the nineteen teens, the Aviation has come back into vogue in recent years. When it first captured the attention of cocktailian bartenders, it was impossible to re-create the original, but now, since creme de violette, a liqueur that for a good many years was unavailable in the United States, is back on the scene, we can once again taste the drink as it was meant to be made. And the Aviation is indeed a high-flying cocktail. I use the Rothman and Winter bottling of creme de violette, though there might be others out there that I haven't yet heard of. Maraschino-wise I'm a fan of the Luxardo brand - it's highly scented and marries very well indeed to a good gin. I like a straightforward, gutsy gin when I make Aviations. There's actually a gin called Aviation, which works well here. Otherwise I suggest you go with Beefeater, Junipero, Plymouth or Tanqueray. The Aviation is a great drink to serve to people who are fond of telling you "I don't like gin." It tends to go down far better than a slap upside their head as you yell, "Well, it's about time you learned to like it, you . . ." Makes 1 drink * 1 1/2 ounces gin * 1/2 ounce maraschino liqueur * 1/2 ounce creme de violette * 1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice Instructions: Combine all the ingredients in a shaker. Add ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Daiquiri The daiquiri is a simple drink, but when it's badly made it's an abomination. Most daiquiris served at bars are frozen and watery, and many of them contain products that taste green rather than like lime, but if you can make a good daiquiri - and you can - your guests will marvel at the frisky romp that takes place in their glasses when sugar, lime juice and a good rum get together to play. The secret is in the balance, and it's also in the rum. Use a good white rum: Appleton makes a sterling example, for instance. If you insist on Bacardi, use Bacardi 8, not its white rum. That's a rule. It's written in stone. Makes 1 drink * 2 ounces light rum * 1 ounce fresh lime juice * 1/2 ounce simple syrup * 1 lime wedge, for garnish Instructions: Combine all the ingredients in a shaker. Add ice. Shake and strain into an ice-filled wine glass. Add the garnish. Margarita The margarita is probably the most important drink to know intimately, since once you can make a margarita you'll also be able to make a sidecar, a kamikaze, even a cosmopolitan. All four of these classics have the same mainframe: three parts liquor, two parts orange-flavored liqueur, and one part fresh lime or lemon juice - with a splash of cranberry juice for the cosmo. I tend toward Cointreau when I make margaritas, though I've been known to use Grand Marnier on occasion, too, and if that's the case I usually add a little extra lime juice to the drink to help balance the relative sweetness of that liqueur. Tequila-wise I recommend sticking to white Tequila, and try to use 100 percent agave bottlings if you want the pure peppery vegetal qualities of the spirit to shine through. Makes 1 drink * 1 1/2 ounces white tequila * 1 ounce Cointreau * 1/2 ounce fresh lime juice Instructions: Combine all the ingredients in a shaker. Add ice. Shake and strain into a salt-rimmed (optional), chilled cocktail glass. Gary Regan is the author of "The Joy of Mixology" and other books. E-mail him at food(a)sfchronicle.com. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/19/FDJD16V9E3.DTL This article appeared on page E - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle -- ------------------------------ * Dr. James Ellingson, jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * University of Minnesota, mobile : 651/645-0753 * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *