Glasses

Glass is an integral part of the cocktail. Because of this fact is not unimportant detail in what kind of glass you will offer a drink. Good cocktail served in the wrong glass will go completely unnoticed. A number of cocktails are traditionally served in glasses with precise size and shape, which are perfectly able to highlight features and visually display drink's flavor. A simple rule is that drinks with ice require taller glasses, but sometimes it is not so easy to decide which glass to use.

Liqueur glass

In general, strong drinks, which are served undiluted and without ice, are served in a small glass with stem, the so-called liqueur glass (3 or 5 cl). This glass is particularly suitable for vodka, liqueurs and fruit brandies, and the British serve in it and their finest whiskey (single malt).

Old fashioned glass

Whiskey is generally served in a short tumbler. Tumbler is a glass with no stem, slightly narrowed at the bottom. Basic types are short tumbler and tall tumbler, also named Delmonico after a famous bar in New York who had first started to use it. Besides short and tall tumbler, there is a middle tumbler (which is higher and wider than the short tumbler and with equal volume to tall tumbler), known as the old fashioned and suitable for mixtures with a lot of ice, soda and fruit.  For whiskey with ice, short tumbler (14 cl) is being used. This tumbler is also suitable for a number of cocktails that are based on whiskey, vodka, gin and brandy, and are served with lots of ice.

Cocktail glass

Dry mixtures, at which the ice must percolate, are traditionally unimaginable in some other glasses besides classical cocktail glass. Cocktail glass has a long stem and it is clean in shape so that the color and viscosity of the drinks come to full expression. The stem is preventing warming of cocktail while it is held in hand and this way it stays cold long enough. Typical cocktail glass has a volume of 13-15 cl., but there are and double cocktail glasses with capacity up to 20 cl.

Unlike cocktail glass, tumbler is held with the whole hand. Because of this way of serving drinks, to keep them cold for a long time, a lot of ice cubes are added. Hence, short tumbler is also called rocks glass.

Highball glass

For long drinks (tall drinks), where strong drinks are diluted with soda, sparkling wine or other non-alcoholic or mild alcoholic supplements, or maybe pure fruit juices and various beverages based on milk, tall tumblers are used for serving. They are also called high-ball glasses or Collins glasses. They usually have a volume of 28 cl. (some large tumblers can have a volume of 50 cl.), and this is particularly useful type of glass. From it even beer can be drank, ice tea, soda and mineral water; and, above all, in it cocktails can be mixed (it replaces mixing glass).

White wine glass

Red wine glass

Wine glasses, like cocktail glasses, must have a stem which prevents warming of wine with hands and allows you to see the wine clearly. Never pour wine into colored glasses. For all types of wines you can use a universal wine glass in tulip shape, with volume of 23 cl. Some cocktails may look nice in them, especially with whipped cream. White wine glasses have a slightly higher stem and higher volume than ones for red wine, and they can also be used for making mixtures with greater amounts of fruit.

Champagne coupe

Sparkling wines, and their cocktails, also require special glasses - high slender glass placed on a short stem, with 14 cl. of volume, or traditional shallow, wide champagne coupe with stem of medium length, that is no longer in use today. If you already have one, it can serve you for serving some kind of cocktail mixes.

Balloon glass

You probably know that brandy, especially cognac, is a drink of most noble bouquet. To really enjoy them, good-quality brandy and cognac must be drunk from a glass for cognac, with 28 cl. volume. This glass on a short stem has a balloon shape and it is often called balloon glass. At the top it is narrowed - not to lose aroma. Glass of brandy is held with the entire palm and from such a warmed beverage breaks more intense aroma.

Punch bowl

Punch and other warm, and some cold, drinks, are served in a glass bowl of thick, fireproof glass, with volume of 20 cl.

Beer mug

Beer, except from Paris Goblet or tall tumbler, is drank, of course, and from the beer mug, with 36 cl. volume.

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Tools you need.

In professional cocktail terminology all terms and names are in English. English is the official language of all the bartenders of the world. All technical terms and names have their source in the English language.

Shaker is a metal container in which cocktails and other mixed drinks are hand-prepared and mixed, with ice. They are made of stainless steel or other high quality metals, and some of them are plated, made of silver or gold. According to the number of parts of which they are composed, they are divided into two- and three-part shakers.

Three-part shaker consists of a high cup, the middle part, in which is a built-in strainer, and cover. Parts are precisely closed to avoid leakage of liquid. Three-part shakers are commonly used by amateurs, while professionals often use the two-part shaker who does not have the middle part, ie. strainer, but consists of a high cup and cover. Strainer is a special part of the inventory.

Shaker can also be made from a special glass. We call such Boston-shakers. In fact, one or both sides of the shaker are special glasses that can be used for serving mixed drinks. They are very popular in America, where drinks are served with a large quantity of ice.

Steiner is a spiral bar strainer which is placed on the two-part shaker or a barglass when we pour in it prepared mixed drink. It consists of a holed metal plate with a handle. Metal spiral is built around that plate. When we are using the strainer, spiral is turned to inside of shaker. Amount of mixed drink, wich we want to squeeze out, is controled by tightening or relaxing the spiral.

Barglass is a special glass cup, with size of half to one liter. It is used in the preparation of simple mixed drinks that do not require too much mixing or blending, and only need cooling with ice. During the outpouring of the finished mixed drink from the barglass, we use Steiner or bar strainer.

Dashbottle is a small tube with a built-in slug in the stopper and it is used for injecting aroma or syrup in mixed drinks. We use it by taking the bottle by its neck between our forefinger and middle finger, with palm turned up, and with our thumb we are holding it on the top. While holding the bottle like that, with a sharp twitch we are injecting aroma, syrup, alcohol or soft bitterness or some other thing prescribed by the recipe. With one injection, a gram of liquid is added. Bitterness, such as Angostura Bitters, Tabasco sauce and similar, are packaged in such bottles. In recipes is a common mark (dash – one spurt), which warns how much spurns or injections is necessary to ad to the drink. It is important to remember that the injections are always added to the prepared drink, ready for serving.

Bar spoon is actually a small spoon for white coffee with extended handle, and it serves for mixing drinks in the barglass, decoration of mixed drinks, adding fruit, sugar and other ingredients. One such spoon contains three grams of liquid, for example rum, juice and similar, and 5 grams of coffee, sugar or similar. This is necessary to know because in recipes, amounts are expressed in grams. In recipes is often mentioned short b.s. which stands for bar spoon.

Electric blender is an electric mixer which all well equipped bars have. It consists of a pedestal with an electric motor, cup with a lid in which knives for cutting and crumbing of fruit and ice are built, lemon strainer, orange, and so on. Electric mixers are indispensable in the preparation of high-quality drinks with fresh fruit, milk, ice cream, eggs, etc..

Jigger is a small metal measure for measuring whiskey. It’s two-folded, on one side of volume it’s 20 and on the other side its 40 centiliters and it is very suitable for measuring drinks.

Herry measure is a special measure for measuring drinks at the bar. It is usually a glass shot with marked quarter and thirds measures with blue and red color.

Bar knife is a sharp knife.

Bar forks are present in various sizes. They are very suitable for decoration.

Ice tongs are for grabbing ice.

Bottle opener is present in various sizes.

Corkscrew is for opening wine bottles.

Ice scoop is for grabbing ice.

Tin opener opens cans, mostly with fruits and vegetables.

Swissler is a mixer for sparkling wine.

Stirrer is a mixer for drinks in the glass.

Straws are mostly for decoration.

Squasher is a lemon squeezer.

Squeezers are pliers for the squeezing lemon.

Ice bucket is for holding ice.

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Recipes and measures.

Cocktails will always have the same look and taste if we strictly fallow recipes. To make a good cocktail, it is not necessary just to use all the ingredients mentioned in the recipe, but also to strictly adhere measures mentioned. It is important to know that, while preparing mixed bar drinks, quantity is calculated in grams, not centiliters which would be logical given that we are mostly working with liquids. This is because mixed drinks are not only prepared with other drinks, and we often use other ingredients, such as fruits, vegetables, ice cream, cream, sugar, honey and other.

Mixed drinks, prepared by the European standard measures, can keep their originality, if we stick to the recipe and measures. Measures are divided into quarter measures and thirds. Measures, quarter and thirds, have a common starting point measure - 1 / 1 = 50 grams.

Quarter measures are:

• 1/1 = 50 grams

• 1/2 = 25 grams

• 1/4 = 12 grams

• 1/8 = 6 grams

Thirds measures are:

• 1/1 = 50 grams

• 2/3 = 34 grams

• 1/3 = 17 grams

• 1/6 = 8 grams

Tenth measures are:

• 1/10 = 5 grams

• 1/5 = 10 grams

You will not find a measurement like this in every place. So, it is good to known and other measures that are being used in recipes.

Dash – this is one of the smallest measurements. It is equal to 1/8 or 6 grams (drops).
Bar spoon – about 8 grams or 1/6.
Liqueur glass – about 25 grams.
Wine glass – about 80 grams.
Cocktail glass – about 50 grams.
Glass for other drinks or non-alcoholic drinks – from 120-125 grams.
 

Typical American unit of measure is jigger, and it is corresponding to quantity of 40 grams or 4/5.

Properly written recipes includes a method of preparing mixed drinks or cocktails.

Due to technical possibilities and our aim to make a better mixed drink, we distinguish 4 basic ways of preparation:

• directly in the glass in which we serve the drink,

• in barglass,

• with hand mixer or shaker,

• with electrical mixer.

Some mixed drinks, because of their simplicity and, maybe, visual impression or they do not include ice, are prepared directly in the glass from which they are served. When mixed drinks are prepared in this way, we usually see TG label in the recipe, which means tumbler glass.

In barglass we are preparing mixed drinks that are needed to cool with ice and which are, according to recipe, simple compounds, with two or three components which have common attributes, and do not need mixing with some stronger method to become compact.

With the shaker, which is actually an essential tool in the preparation of cocktails, we make other mixed drinks that need to be really cooled down and mixed with ice.

With electrical mixer we prepare mixed drinks that have, in their composition, components like fruits, vegetables, ice cream, and others, that have to be pulverized with mixer blades.

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What Is "Cocktail"?

Cocktail is a mixture of alcoholic and soft drinks that usually contain at least 18 percent of alcohol. Pleasure in the consumption of cocktails is threefold: primarily, when are served in an appropriate way, a cocktail is a remarkable sight for the eyes. Diversity of its colors is enticing sighs. Degustation is next pleasure, depending on the nature of cocktails, namely, whether it is aperitif drink or digestif (after meals), do we drink it for a short or long, etc. There is no mood, place and circumstances, person and society, in which well-prepared cocktails do not come as a balm for the soul. And third, the last pleasure, is guessing which ingredients are mixed in a cocktail that you just drank.

Now that you know what a cocktail is, advice follows: it is necessary to drink cocktails as soon as they are served because their taste is changing over time - due to warming and melting of ice (which, when turned to water, changes the taste of drink), and also, due to stratification of mixed ingredients. However, this does not mean that cocktails should be speedily drunk, in one breath.

Cocktail cures equally a toothache and jealousy, it makes sleep go away, stimulates appetite and, most important, love.

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