The bare bar essentials

Deepak Sharma tells you how to raise the bar while enjoying cocktails at home

With the turn of events in these past two years that sent the world reeling at the hands of a pandemic, staying home has become the norm and fewer people took the risk of venturing out to socialise at their favourite watering holes. Instead, most people turned to make their usual fixes right in the comfort of their homes. To start with, people used to limit their bar to the bare essential hard liquors that were mostly had straight or over some ice, but now many are looking for that luxury experience of a fine well developed and stylishly presented cocktail at home. This has sparked off the already popular home cocktailing trend.

You don’t need to be a professional bartender to put together some really sophisticated cocktails that appeal to a very discerning palate. This can be achieved easily with a few key ingredients and a careful selection of liquor bases. To set up your bar at home you can go the traditional full bar route and mimic a professional bar set-up that includes the essential liquors and mixers needed for all the popular cocktails offering versatility in the cocktails you can make but you don’t really need to include everything in your home bar, limit it to what you actually drink. Customise and focus on what you prefer if you prefer whiskey over vodka, focus your attention on diversifying your whiskey collection. The same goes for liqueurs and non-alcoholic mixers. After all, there’s no need to stock something you are not going to use.

Think about what you like to drink and create your bar to fit your individual style, taste, and budget. You can always add more to your bar collection as you discover new cocktails or stumble upon a newly distilled spirit you would like to try. After the base alcohols, move on to the mixers and there are a lot of things that are used as mixers. There are both alcoholic and non-alcoholic mixers as well as various syrups and bitters, that add depth of flavour and sophistication to cocktails. Some of these go into multiple different cocktails making them must-haves in your bar. A great way to simplify and avoid adding a huge collection of mixers to your bar is by using kitchen staples in your cocktailing at home.

Use more fresh fruit, fresh juice and ingredients from the kitchen and pantry to make your cocktails. A little bit of experimenting can be a lot of fun. It is recommended to have a basic set of bar tools at your disposal since they will greatly enhance the final outcome and ease the making of some seemingly complex cocktails. Keep handy shakers, strainers, bar spoons, a muddler and a jigger or two. These are the basic commonly used tools apart from a set of different types of glasses that are used for different styles of cocktail presentation. Talking of presentation, how can we skip the garnish in a cocktail as garnishes add aroma to a drink and also helps one know what to expect in that drink.

A garnish could just be a simple slice of lime or a twist of orange peel but they add that touch of panache that accentuates the cocktail experience with its enticing aromatics and visual aesthetics. Sometimes the smallest of details can make or break a cocktail.

Mint Julep

With their interesting names and origins, cocktails serve up a lot of history and tradition that makes for great conversation. Add this refreshing mint cocktail with its chunk of history to your collection. Originating in the Southern States of America, Kentucky in particular. Big hats, bets and, of course, Mint Juleps — it’s time for the Kentucky derby! The Mint Julep is the official drink of the Kentucky derby and is served in their souvenir cups.

Ingredients

60ml Highbury Classic Whiskey
A handful of mint leaves
10 ml lime juice
Crushed ice

Method
Muddle the mint leaves gently in a tall glass. Then, add the whiskey and lime juice, and fill with crushed ice. Stir well and garnish
with mint leaves.

(The author is a mixologist.)