Preparations
Sugar Syrup ~ Other Syrups (Grenadine / Orgeat / Cinnamon / Honey / Raspberry / Groseille / Rhubarb / Vanilla) ~ Ice
There are a few basic cocktail ingredients that are best made at home. Sugar and ice, being the main ones. Here, for reference, are the relevant bits from my book.
SUGAR SYRUP
Cocktail recipes tend to call for one of two kinds of syrup. Simple syrup is one part sugar to one part water (1:1). Rich simple syrup is two parts sugar to one part water (2:1), therefore sweeter. When I’ve worked in bars, they’ve tended to use the first kind. Personally, I like to use 2:1 syrup, partly because it keeps for longer, partly because you need less of it, and partly because that’s just what I’m used to using. Just use a stingy hand when pouring as there’s nothing worse than an over-sugary cocktail. I find it’s best made with golden caster sugar, sometimes known as cane sugar. It’s the pale brown, unrefined sort, it tastes better and is somehow better for you. It’s what I use in all my recipes unless otherwise specified - but basic white sugar syrup will work just fine.
Golden Sugar Syrup (2:1)
All I mean by this is rich sugar syrup made with raw cane sugar.
Place a saucepan on a low heat. Pour in two cupfuls of golden (cane) caster sugar, then one cupful of fresh water. Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. As soon as it is dissolved, remove from the heat and allow it to cool - on no account allow it to boil. Once cooled, decant into a jar or bottle and it should keep for six weeks or so - do give it a little taste before you add it to you spirits if you’re in doubt.
OTHER SYRUPS
Note that you can make a wide variety of flavoured syrups using this exact same method. If you use pineapple juice, you will have pineapple syrup and so on. A particularly good one is ginger syrup made with fresh squeezed ginger juice. Or you could infuse the water with, say, cinnamon bark - or equally, infuse your sugar with vanilla pods. Some of the most common ones include:
Grenadine (Pomegranate syrup)
Collect one cup of fresh pomegranate juice (either Pom Wonderful 100% or just squeeze out a pomegranate) pour it into a cold saucepan on a low heat. Take two times amount of sugar and introduce it to the pan, stirring it continually until the sugar dissolves at which point remove from the heat. Do not allow to boil. That will do! But for a richer flavour, you might want to dissolve a decent trickle of pomegranate molasses, or spray over some of the bitter juices from orange zest, or scant amounts of orange flower water, rose water, and vanilla extract. But don’t overdo it. Grenadine should look and taste red. It will be roughly the sweetness of rich sugar syrup. And will keep in the fridge for a month or so.
Orgeat (Almond syrup)
Orgeat is delicious and versatile with a wide variety of uses in tropical and classic drinks. You essentially make it the same way as the other syrups but use almond milk as the liquid. Again, you can either buy almond milk (though be sure to get one with no additives in it, e.g. Plenish or Rude Health Ultimate Almond Milk!). Or if you’re feeling adventurous you can make your own: buy some ground almonds… or else smash up your own with a pestle and mortar, liquidiser, or hammer of some sort. Combine these mashed up nuts with an equal volume of water and leave to sit out for a few hours, ideally overnight. Pass through a muslin cloth or similar, really squeezing it to ‘milk’ out all of the precious liquid. If you’re feeling effortful might want to recombine the liquid and solids for another hour and do the same again to extract all of the oils from the nuts (and then again!). Then use the nut milk to make a basic 2:1 sugar syrup: gently warm in a pan with two parts golden caster sugar, stirring until fully dissolved. A dash of rosewater is good here, as is a glug of amaretto and a dash of brandy. Keeps in the fridge for a few weeks at least. (See Mai Tai, Trinidad Sour)
Cinnamon Syrup
You know the sugar syrup drill by now, right? Two parts golden sugar to one part water, warmed in a pan until the sugar dissolves. Only this time, you’re going to add three or four crushed cinnamon sticks to the mix. Bring the mixture to the boil, lower the heat, cover and let it simmer for a while… and turn off the heat and let the whole thing cool for a couple of hours. Strain and decant. You will find this amazingly useful and delicious in all manner of drinks. Combine one part cinnamon syrup with two parts white grapefruit juice to make ‘Don’s Mix’ too.
(See: Jet Pilot)
Honey Syrup
This one’s easy. All you need to do is dissolve three parts honey in one part hot water, just enough to loosen it and make it easier to pour. This is a good way of using up old honey that has crystallised in the bottom of a jar.
(See: Chet Baker )
Raspberry Syrup and Groseille Syrup (Redcurrant syrup)
This method works with most soft fruit! Place about 100g raspberries/redcurrants/etc in a saucepan with around 50ml water and squish them with a muddler (or wooden spoon) to extract as much juice/flavour as possible. Gently heat. Pour in 100g sugar and stir until it is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and strain through a sieve into a jar. You might need to do a bit of scraping. Groseille syrup jellifies in the fridge and can be used in an Artist’s Special, as a substitute for grenadine/raspberry syrup in similarly old-timey cocktails, or as children’s squash.
(See The Rose)
Rhubarb / Gooseberry Syrup
Take one or two sticks of rhubarb, pink as possible and slice up thinly. Place in a saucepan along with 250ml water and 250ml caster sugar (white is best here, colour-wise). Stir as you bring the pan slowly to the boil, then cover and simmer for about ten minutes. Leave to cool and then strain through a sieve. You can use the rhubarb solids as a compote, if you like. The rhubarb syrup will keep for a couple of weeks and makes a versatile cordial: particularly good with a squeeze of lemon and some fizzy water.
(See: Rhubarb Sour)
Vanilla Syrup
To make vanilla sugar syrup, place circa 200g sugar and 100ml water in a pan, heat until just below boiling, and stir until the sugar is fully dissolved. Turn off the heat, split one vanilla pod and drop it in, cover, and leave to cool/infuse for a couple of hours. Then strain into some sort of receptacle and it will keep for a month or so in the refrigerator. You can make a much quicker, though less intensely vanilla-y version of this by simply adding vanilla extract to a basic sugar syrup.
(See: Porn Star Daiquiri)
ICE
I often write things like: “stir with plenty of ice”. Or: “shake with loads of ice.” Or: “Make sure you use lots of ice!” I am not joking. You’re going to need more ice. At least a tray per person per evening, since each tray is really only good for two cocktails. The easiest way to ruin a party is insufficient ice.
So you have three options. The first is to buy one of those huge American fridges with a built in ice-maker… though don’t assume throwing money at the issue is the best remedy. While these machines produce copious ice, they have a tendency to issue stale and unsavoury ice that you really wouldn’t want influencing your gin.
The second option is to buy fresh bags of ice from the shops… which is not a terrible idea if you’re entertaining at short notice, though the ice that come in those bags often comes in very small pellets – which isn’t ideal. In most cases, you want as large lumps as possible. Science: ten 10g ice cubes will melt quicker than one 100g ice cube because they have a larger surface area.
The third and best option is to re-examine your relationship with freezer. Devote a whole shelf solely to ice. Only use large ice trays, not little piddly ones. And think of ice tray less as storage vessels for ice and more as machines for making more ice. Once a tray has frozen, empty its contents into some freezer-based plastic container, and fill it up again. Do this each time you pass the freezer. Do it now, in fact.
Even better, make large ice. Treat yourself to an enormous takeaway and hope that it comes in those plastic containers with lids. (If it doesn’t maybe just buy some plastic containers with lids). Wash out these containers well, fill them with fresh water, replace the lids and put them in the freezer. After a few hours, you will have great blocks of ice. To cuts a slab down into manageable pieces, remove from the tray and run it very quickly under a tap. Great fissures should creak into being. Place the block on a clean chopping board. It should now be easy to hack apart with a short sturdy knife or, better, an oyster shucker (it is possibly to lose the point of your knife to this). Use whichever lumps you need and replace the rest in the freezer.
Not only does large ice make for more efficient shaking - it looks excellent when you serve someone a drink with a rugged lump of Arctic in it as opposed to a few stingy cubes.