Cocktail infusion is a drink obtained by mixing several liquids. Cocktails are alcoholic (as one or more ingredients in alcoholic beverages) and non-alcoholic.
Sometimes cocktail parties are also called cocktails. Such parties are common in diplomatic and elitist environments and activities in fiction.
Alcoholic cocktails are made mostly based on gin, whiskey, or rum. Recently cocktails based on vodka and tequila are gaining popularity. In addition, various liquors, honey, milk (or cream), spices, etc. are used as ingredients.
Unlike other mixed drinks, cocktail recipes are not allowed to indicate the exact amount of all ingredients. Only the proportions of the main parts (½, ¼, ¾, etc.) are given. The volume of one cocktail serving is usually no more than 75-100 ml (this does not apply to long drinks).
Cooking Methods
Depending on how easily the ingredients included in the cocktail mix together, for the preparation of which the following methods are often used:
- Mixing in a shaker.
- Mixing in a blender.
- Cooking in a mixing glass.
- Cooking directly in the glass.
Often glasses with cocktails are decorated with a slice of citrus fruits, etc. When drinking, a straw is often used.
Alcoholic Cocktails
Three large groups stand out among alcoholic cocktails.
- Digestives – cocktails traditionally drunk during or after meals, usually sweet or sour.
- Aperitifs are cocktails traditionally drunk before meals and appetizing, as a rule, stronger.
- Long drink – refreshing cocktails, served in large portions, usually with ice.
There are many types of performances (punch and popular history from the 17th century) and recently received information or selected in a separate group of cocktails: punch, flip, highball, cobbler, Collins, julep (English Julep), sour cocktails, layered cocktails, eggnogs, and others. Over time, the composition of different types of cocktails can change, so eggnog differed from flip by adding cream, but in recent decades, cream has also been included in the recipe of cocktails referred to as flips.
In addition to specific types, cocktails can be classified by the main alcoholic beverage (cocktails based on vodka, gin, whiskey, brandy, tequila, rum, liqueurs, wine, sparkling wine, and beer).
Cocktail Infusion Kits
The necessary bar equipment can be divided into two categories: main and auxiliary. Main includes electromechanical equipment (coffee makers and coffee machines, blenders, mixers, and juicers, generators, and ice crushers). Auxiliary includes inventory, dishes (mainly glass), and serving items.
The smallest set for a small bar can consist of the following inventory:
- Cups of different sizes,
- A measuring container,
- A jigger,
- A bartender’s spoon,
- A rimmer,
- A rug for dishes.
Shaker
It is impossible to imagine the work of a bartender without it because it is the main tool for preparing cocktails by shaking the components. The main materials used for the manufacture of modern shakers are stainless steel, glass, and less often plastic.
There are four types of shakers, but two of them are used by bartenders more often than others. This is a European (classic) Shaker and a Boston Shaker.
The first one consists of three metal parts:
- A shaker cup, a sieve (filter),
- A cap-cap. (sometimes),
- A cap is used as a measuring cup.
Basic volumes of a shaker cup: 500 and 700 ml. This type of shaker is the most common due to the presence of a sieve and ease of use.
Boston Shaker (American Shaker) consists of two glasses that are inserted into one another. The larger diameter base is usually metal, the mixing bowl that is inserted into the base is glass or metal. The standard volume of the base glass is 800 ml, the mixing part is about 568 ml (pint). This type of shaker is preferable for professional bartenders. The main advantage is the speed and beauty of the cocktail preparation.
French Shaker consists of two metal parts, a mixing glass and a bowl-shaped lid. It is rarely used.
Speed Shaker consists of a metal base glass, like the Boston Shaker, the mixing part is used in the container in which the final drink will be served.
Cocktail Spoon
It is a specialized bartender tool. Most often they are made of stainless steel, but they are also made of chromium-nickel steel and cupronickel. Silver is used by manufacturers to make elite-class bar spoons. The price for them is quite high. Such bar stock is now difficult to find in an ordinary institution.
The design of the bar spoon resembles the classic one but has a number of features, an elongated handle (from 15 to 50 cm), twisting along the entire length or to the middle of the handle, an average volume of 5 ml, and a disc (pestle or fork) at the other end of the handle.
A cocktail spoon is used in the following cases:
- Mixing drinks (the spiral serves as an excellent guide for the liquid pouring by the bartender directly onto the spoon handle).
- Grinding ingredients such as sugar, berries, herbs.
- For various measuring procedures with liquids and bulk materials.
- For uncorking bottles (the disc at the other end of the handle serves for this).
- For a professional bartender, everything is important in it, the material of manufacture, the shape of the handle and the peculiarity of the nozzle at its end.
The length of the handle is chosen depending on the depth of the bar glass in which cocktails and mixed drinks will be served. The material of the spoon depends on the financial capabilities of the bar owners and the concept of the establishment. The type of spoon – that is, the nozzle on its handle – depends on what kind of drinks will be served. It is better to purchase several types of bar spoons.
Strainer
It is called a bar strainer or filter. The strainer is a professional bartender’s tool that serves to sift out large particles such as fruit pits, ice, and large pieces of fruit. Used as a compliment to the Boston Shaker (it does not have a sieve).
All strainers are made of stainless steel. The design is basically identical for all, a metal plate and a spring stretched around the perimeter. From two to four protrusions are made on the plate for ease of fixation. Thanks to the spring, the gap between the edge of the shaker and the strainer can be controlled.
Jigger
A jigger is a measuring cup for a bartender – an irreplaceable thing. It represents two metal conical vessels, which are interconnected in the manner of an hourglass. Most often, jiggers are made of stainless steel.
The volume of the classic American jigger is 44 ml by 22 ml. There are also European ones with proportions of 50 ml to 25 ml.
Jiggers are made most often from steel and glass, rare options from precious metals.
Rimmer
Bartenders have to use all their imagination in order not only to create a unique taste, but also to arrange the glass accordingly. The business is not limited to umbrellas and fruit decorations. Special devices help to effectively decorate the dishes. Such a device is a rimmer or decorator.
Sugar, salt or, for example, coconut flakes on the edge of the glass are formed precisely with the help of a rimmer. Most often they are made of plastic and represent a container with several containers in the form of discs, fastened with one axis. They may differ in the number of disks. The best option is three containers. The diameter of the discs in the rimmer is standard and corresponds to the diameter of the glasses.
Siphon
Bartenders need a siphon, with its help they prepare an airy cream for cocktails, delicate mousses. Bartenders are increasingly experimenting with the contents of the siphon. Violets, strawberries, or cheese can all be turned into a luscious, luscious foam to garnish a cocktail or dessert. It is a flask with a dispenser. The set comes with replaceable attachments to give the whipped mass a beautiful shape.
Ice Pick
Despite the fact that there is special equipment for crushing ice, some bartenders are switching to manual ice crushing. Why, because the irregularly shaped ice blocks protruding from the glass are beautiful and they give the drink an additional man-made personal touch. In reality, the splitter is like a mini-pitchfork with six times. It requires uncommon dexterity, endurance, and enthusiasm from the bartender.
Bar inventory also includes rubberized plastic trays used by waiters to serve drinks, rubber mats and nets designed to keep the workplace clean, ice and sugar tongs, ice buckets and much more. We have considered the most necessary in our opinion.