Party ready

‘Tis the season to be jolly — and host a rousing party at home! If you plan to entertain guests at home on any scale, you’ll want to give some careful thought to the drinks you plan to serve. And to help you make the right tipple choices, here are a few pointers:

Cocktails are the last word! Cocktails are trendy indeed, and globally, you’ll find that many experimental cocktails are replacing the classics. Bourbons and ryes have become very popular in the cocktail world, as have infusions. Here is some trendy mixology for you:

Vodka is everywhere, but spiced up with sage, basil, oregano, and thyme. Even the classic vodka cocktails are punched up with infusions.

Rum is still the most popular spirit. Tiki cocktails are becoming popular because of their juice mix and smoothness. Mix different rums with juices and flavours to get your own tiki recipe.

Use fresh ingredients When you’re mixing up drinks, be sure to use fresh ingredients, as these always make the preparation that much better. The global trend is to use freshly squeezed juices and herbs in regular recipes. Fresh lemon juice is on ingredient you’ll find very useful. Sugar is being replaced by honey and sugarcane juice in certain recipes.

And fresh garnishes What’s also important is how you “dress up” the drink — unless your presentation is good, the drink will not appeal to your guests. Never use too much garnish to dress the drink. It spoils the mood. Always use fresh ingredients for garnishing. And also make sure that the garnish is part of the drink’s preparation — like, use pineapple slices to garnish only if you are using pineapple juice in the drink.

Wine’s good as back up Now, among your guests, there are sure to be a few non-cocktail drinkers, and for them, you may want to stock up on some fine wine. Wine is a lively beverage — even after being bottled from the cask, the chemical process of yeast breaking sugar to alcohol and CO2 continues. The more the wine travels through other parts of the world, the chances are higher that it will lose its true/actual characteristics. Stocking wine also is very important, although the new world wines are fairly user-friendly. Stocking them at the right temperature and drinking them in the proper way makes the wine more enjoyable.

Be ‘bar ready’ Now if you plan to entertain well, you need to ensure that your bar at home is stocked with a few essentials. A professional bar needs bottles, bitters and tools. For your house bar, ensure there’s a choice of spirits, freshly squeezed lemon juice, simple syrup and seasonal fruits along with a Boston shaker.

Final tips Lastly, before you embark on your mixing duties, do remember that in this new world of cocktails, there are no hard and fast rules about “this goes well with that”. However, vodka does go well with lemon, tequila goes well with orange and gin tastes better with aromatic bitters. You are at liberty to mix and match. The basic guidelines are — ensure the spirits are in the right amount and mixed with the base you want. Be careful about adding sweet and sour to your mix. Cheers!

The writer is the general manager for a leading Mumbai pub