Hosting a holiday party this year but unsure what to serve? Mixologist Jeremy Parsons breaks it down, from bartending basics to how to riff on a classic.
First, here are Jeremy’s five tips on what to have on hand for guests:
- Invest in a Boston shaker, muddler, jigger and pour spouts for more accurate pours
- Keep it simple: three spirits, two liqueurs, bitters and sweet and dry vermouth can make a ton of different recipes
- Use a high quality mix such as organic ginger beer, soda and tonic
- Make a batch of simple syrup (see recipe below) with some sort of flavour to make cocktails have an extra burst and also to eliminate having a ton of juices – flavored simple syrup and soda with a spirit is a great cocktail
- Flame any citrus that you use for garnishing to build flavour intensity
Try at home: the gin Old Fashioned
Gin is becoming increasingly popular, riding the tails of the small batch bourbon trend with consumers looking for more of a craft flavour. Many small batch distillers and micro-distillers are changing up the traditional botanical mix seen in mainstream brands to include or exclude the typical juniper and citrus tones for other flavour profiles, making gin more interesting than ever before.
Recipe:
- 2 oz. Boodles gin
- 1 oz. honey lemon and sage simple syrup
- ½ oz. water
- 6 dashes of orange Angostura bitters
- 2 demerara sugar cubes
- lemon peel for garnish
Add sugar, simple syrup, half the boodles gin and bitters into the glass. Muddle until well dissolved. Add ice and remaining gin and water. Serve chilled with a lemon peel if desired.
How to make simple syrup:
- Fills one 8 oz. squeeze bottle
- 3 cups of water
- 1 cup of honey
- 1 lemon sliced
- 5 torn sage leaves
Bring to a boil and stir until reduced by half. Decrease and cook at medium for another 15 minutes. Strain and cool. Pour into a squeeze bottle and refrigerate.
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