Ensure you’re the host with the most this summer with a few simple steps for summer cocktails at home.
So summer is finally here in all its sun-baked and sweaty glory. The ladies are dressing in less and going out more; the clubs are thumping (again) and the beer is cold. You’ll also likely be entertaining again, from the mates coming to watch the match, to the lovelies coming to inspect the plaster cracks in your bedroom ceiling. Having nothing to drink but cooking wine and a final splash of well-intentioned bijou simple won’t cut it. Fortunately, you can entertain like Huge Hefner with these easy steps.
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The Basics
Let’s take this in degrees. You need the basics first, the ability to give her something. Rule of thumb: always have one bottle of standard white and one bottle of non-champagne bubbles in the fridge, and one bottle of red in the cupboard. After all, you have sheets on your bed don’t you? If you want to be a bit more Tom Cruise about things, then house vodka, gin and white rum are a great place to start with because not only can you throw them into almost any fruit juice, but they are the building blocks for an outstanding number of cocktails. And yes, you should print off cocktail recipes from the web or get a free cocktail app on your phone. Good cocktail making is like a proctology exam – don’t try and go it alone.
Building Blocks
Now, many of the ladies like something sweet, and we don’t mean your vintage Van Halen collection. They like liqueurs, the low-alcohol, high sugar additions to your home cocktail set up. Trouble is, there are a lot of flavours out there. Your best bet is get a cheap bottle of white crème de cacao (chocolate), a cheap coffee liqueur (no point in spending big money on Khalua or Mr Black unless you’re using all good quality ingredients), some triple sec (again, not Cointreau), and some crème de fraise or crème de mur for your berry notes. Add a bit of juice from the 7-11 on the way home and you have the makings of a diverse range of clothes-removing concoctions.
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The Tools
Now. you can shake your ingredients in an old jam jar, but that’s not exactly classy. Shakers come in all shapes and sizes, and some are easier to use than others. A plastic shaker, although not always debonair, says “I don’t do this for just anyone” and also means you won’t have the two pieces expanding and jamming as you might with a stainless steel shaker. Shakers chill drinks and help with the dilution so be sure to use plenty of ice and have at least two martini glasses on hand. No matter what the cocktail is, you can get away with it by serving it in a martini glass. Note: Novelty promo coffee mugs are not as cute to them as they are to us.
Going Premium
If you’re really keen, learn a thing or two about premium spirits that you can pass on to your doting couch-perched diva. In summer, things like Tanqueray Ten, the hipster brother of Tanqueray gin, go awesomely with fresh pink grapefruit and soda (and look striking too). Premium rums like Ron Zacapa give you the chance to go in close for the sniff test, while you lament on the vanilla and caramel finish, while Stoli’s Elit vodka comes in a missile-like (and rather phallic) bottle that not only boasts a great story (they freeze it in barrels to draw out the impurities, just like the vodkas of old), but also helps set the mood for your own…shot in the dark.
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