The “Balance” in Cocktails
Saturday, September 27th, 2008ACHIEVING BALANCE WHEN CREATING COCKTAILS
Technically when making new cocktails they should be initially made according a classic standard recipe: proportions of two strong, one sweet, and one sour, in most of these cocktails, classics in particular you can break the ingredient s down into four Sensations of Taste; they are strong, weak, Tart and Sweet.
When a drink has “Balance” each of these Sensations of taste will cancel its opposite out. If the drink is out of “Balance “, it means that one of the Sensations of taste is overpowering the rest of the flavours in the drink, consequently all your taste is that Sensation of Taste, thus making the drink taste too tart, sweet, weak etc…
Taste it, and if you deem it well balanced you can continue use that recipe, providing you using the same spirits each time. It’s up to you to be familiar yourself with many different spirits, you need to find how the spirits taste like and start play with other flavour ingredients when making a new drink, whenever possible, pour a small amount of a base spirit into a glass; then do the same with all the liquid components of the drink, now dip a straw into the first glass and, by putting your finger over the top of thestraw, capture a tiny amount of the liquid; drizzle this over your tongue by releasing your finger, repeat all the process with each ingredient until you have a clear picture of what individual flavours are bringing to the party, and you be surprised at how easily you’re able to make a well balanced drink, and after years of experience you should be able to alter the proportions in the drink when need be in order to create a well-balanced drink every time.
It’s our job to take into account the taste of the individual customer, some like sweeter drinks, while others prefer sour drinks. Start by asking which spirit the customer wants you to use in the drink, then describe that particular spirit to them, making suggestions and also ask them if they like the drink: sweet, sour, dry, strong, week, herbal or fruity. Tell them that you would recommend bitters in the drink to add depth and complexity.
The best Cocktails and mixed drinks are made with the best ingredients, but that doesn’t mean that you must use only the expensive ones, opting for high quality applies not only in spirits items, it’s important also using fresh fruit juices, fresh herbs and spices when making a drink.
I would recommend also you make your own flavour syrups; they will taste better then the others in the market and is very simple to make them.
