Welcome toYour Cocktail Recipe Companion!

Adding a tiny bit of salt or a few drops of 20/80 saline solution to a cocktail will mute bitterness and bring out subtile flavor notes—mainly sweet & sour flavors. Essentially, we want to be using salt in cocktails for the same reasons we use it in cooking.

A Boston shaker is a two-piece cocktail shaker that creates its own create a vacuum-tight seal once closed, reducing the likelihood of leakage while shaking. Boston shakers have one larger tin, usually 28-oz capacity, and a smaller glass or metal tin with a 16–18 oz capacity. They tend to be the preferred style of shaker for professional bartenders, and we like Boston-style shakers because of their large internal capacity, helping to efficiently mix, chill, and aerate your cocktails.

Using a homemade, fresh fruit syrup for your cocktails allows you full control over flavor and sweetness; you can adjust the intensity level by using different amounts of sugar:water:berries. It also gives you a better berry flavor intensity by using the sweetness of the berries in place of some of the sugar but still yielding the same sweetness level.

Macerating is the act of soaking fruit in sugar—instead of adding water—in order to draw out its natural juices and enhance the flavor of your syrup, jam, or jelly.

Whiskey is a broad category of distilled spirits made from fermented grain mash, while bourbon is a specific type of whiskey that must be made in the U.S. with at least 51% corn and aged in new charred oak barrels. Bourbon tends to be sweeter and richer due to the corn content, making it ideal for cocktails like the Old Fashioned and Manhattan.

Whiskey refers to a broad category of grain-based spirits, while Scotch whisky (no “e”) is specifically made in Scotland using malted barley and aged for at least three years in oak casks. Scotch often has a strong smoky & peaty flavor, while American whiskeys like bourbon and rye have sweeter or spicier profiles.

The best whiskey cocktail depends on your preference, but classics like the Manhattan and Whiskey Sour are among the most popular.

For a smooth, refreshing option, try a Whiskey Highball, and those who enjoy bold flavors may prefer a Boulevardier or a Penicillin cocktail with honey and ginger.

A high-quality bourbon or rye whiskey works best in this drink. An Old Fashioned is designed to highlight a whiskey’s natural flavors by adding only a few drops of bitters and a touch of sugar, so look for locally distilled options which will usually deliver more smooth, crisp, unique, and complex flavors over some more mass-produced options.

However, some easier-to-find bourbons like Elijah Craig, Old Forester, or Woodford Reserve will also work; they’ll add smooth caramel and vanilla notes, while rye whiskey like Rittenhouse Rye or WhistlePig gives a spicier kick.

Ultimately, this depends on your preference, but Bourbon’s rich, sweet notes make it perfect for cocktails like the Mint Julep, the Kentucky Mule, the Old Fashioned, and the Bourbon Smash. A Bourbon Sour offers a tangy balance of citrus, sweetness, and creaminess (due to the addition of egg whites).

For a unique twist, try a Paper Plane, which combines bourbon with Aperol and Amaro for a complex, bittersweet flavor.

Gin is essentially flavored vodka; it’s made from a neutral grain spirit infused with botanicals—primarily juniper berries. Other botanicals like coriander, citrus peels, and cardamom give different gin styles unique flavors.

Classic gin cocktails include the Gin and Tonic, Negroni, Tom Collins, Dry Martini, Cosmo, and the French 75. Each cocktail highlights different aspects of gin’s botanical flavors.

Fat-washing is infusing spirits with fats that compliment the cocktail’s overall flavor—such as bacon grease, olive oil, butter, etc. A spirit is mixed with a melted fat, then set aside at room temperature to allow the fat to infuse into the spirit. After a few hours, it’s then chilled in the fridge until the fat solidifies at the top of the spirit, then the at is skimmed off, leaving the fat-infused spirit.

Try this method with bourbon & bacon fat in an old fashioned and thank us later.