Guides
Think About Cocktails Like Food
Make your next sippable creation with these culinary-inspired tips!
Cocktails don’t have to be hard to make! We’re excited to share some tips and tricks to make your at-home drink-mixing even easier. Let’s look at the art of mixology in the same way that we prepare food: at the end of the day, the ultimate goal is to create something delicious. While the medium may appear to be different, the principles are much more similar than you may think!
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1. Flavour Ideas
Inspiration can come from everywhere, and your favourite dishes are no exception! Take a look at some of your go-to eats and consider the elements you can apply to a drink. We especially enjoy bringing desserts into cocktail form, which we often find end up being delicious crowd pleasers! Regardless of where you look, you’re bound to end up with a very unique creation. Check out some delectable examples below.
@jfdesfosses adapts the decadent combo of peaches and cream in his Ramos Gin Fizz twist!
Ingredients
- 2 oz Empress 1908 Indigo Gin
- ½ oz Peach liqueur
- ½ oz Vanilla syrup
- ½ oz Fresh Lime juice
- ½ oz Fresh Lemon juice
- 2 small dashes Orange Blossom Water
- ¾ oz Heavy Cream
- 1 Egg White
- 1 oz Sparkling Water, to top
Method
Place all the ingredients, except sparkling water, in a 500ml cream whipper. Add 2-3 small ice cubes. Close, charge with a N₂O cartridge and shake like you would a regular cocktail (20 seconds). Empty up in a chilled highball glass. Wait a couple of seconds for the foam to settle. Poke a hole in the foam and add 1 oz of sparkling water. Enjoy!
A sip from @cooking_with_wine‘s Blueberry Pie Gimlet is sure to satisfy your sweet tooth!
Ingredients
- 2 oz Empress 1908 Indigo Gin
- ¾ oz Fresh Lime juice
- 1 oz Blueberry Pie Syrup*
- Blueberries, for garnish
Method
Add all ingredients to a mixing glass with ice, stir and strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with fresh blueberries.
*For the syrup, add 1½ cups granulated sugar, 1 cup water, 2 cups blueberries, and 1 tsp vanilla extract to a pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes until the blueberries are completely broken down. Strain and allow to cool completely before using.
@mykalekitchen captures dessert in a glass with her Empress Banana Crème Brûlée!
Ingredients
- 1½ oz Empress 1908 Indigo Gin
- 3 oz Unsweetened Oat Milk
- ½ oz Banana Liqueur
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- ½ oz Orgeat
- Caramelized Banana, for garnish
Method
Combine all ingredients except the gin. Using a milk frother, froth the mixture for 20-30 seconds. Add ice to a cocktail glass and pour mixture over ice. Float Empress 1908 Indigo Gin on top. Garnish with a slice or large piece of caramelized banana & enjoy!
2. “To Taste”
Everyone says “season your food to taste” and the same premise very much applies to cocktails! Recipes are ultimately a starting point— one we highly encourage tweaking and testing to best fit your palate. Of course, we suggest trying recipes as written first to experience the creator’s intended profile, but at the end of the day, the guidelines are yours to play with!
The iconic Martini is a great example of this: you can ask five people for the recipe and you’ll get five different versions. Do you enjoy something drier like 5:1 of gin to vermouth, very wet at 50/50, or any other ratio? Bitters or no bitters? The possibilities are extensive, but it’s still a Martini. Here, one might say that vermouth should be added “to taste!”
Sip in elegance with a glass of the Dew Drop Martini!
Ingredients
- 2 oz Empress 1908 Cucumber Lemon Gin
- ½ oz Dry Vermouth
- Lemon Twist & Cucumber roll, for garnish
Method
Stir all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with expressed lemon twist and cucumber roll.
3. How Food Science Comes into Play
There are so many factors that culminate in the final taste of a cocktail! Of course, ingredient choice drives the main flavour profile, but certain details in the drink-making process also have a large role to play. Here are some points to particularly keep in mind:
Texture
Liquids aren’t just liquids! A big part of the tasting experience is the mouthfeel of what you’re sipping on: a French 75 and a gin sour share a lot of common ingredients, but they could not be more dissimilar to each other due to their textures. With this concept comes a bit of a challenge: ensuring that your choices of ingredients not only taste good, but also result in something that feels satisfying on the palate.
Sometimes you may hear about a drink tasting “thin” – it’s possible that it’s less about how the ingredients aren’t the best together, but more about the lack of texture to allow any of the flavours to shine. Try adding some effervescence with soda water or prosecco for a more interesting sensation! In another direction, incorporating an element for richness such as an egg white or a syrup with higher sugar content tends to create a more full-bodied cocktail where the flavours linger for a longer finish. It’s all about adding that extra layer of dimension!
Temperature
Here we have an inverse relationship: for the most part, heat accentuates flavours while coldness dulls them. There’s a clear difference in potency of flavour between raw and steamed vegetables for instance, right?
In the context of cocktails, it’s worth considering how temperature influences the perception of certain qualities such as the alcoholic bite. In many of the recipes you’ll find from us, you may notice an 1½-2 oz of gin in each serving. However, we tend to make our hot drinks with 1½ oz of gin at most per serving since the heat can make the spirit taste overwhelming (even if it’s being diluted with more liquid compared to many other cocktails!) On the flip side, we occasionally choose to increase the proportions of other components such as sweetness and acid in a frozen cocktail as they can be muted by the frosty temps. Keep this relationship in mind when measuring out your ingredients!
Take a look at the differences yourself between our favourite frozen cocktails and soothing warmers!
“Seasoning” Your Cocktails
In a way, the act of making cocktails is seasoning spirits! The various ingredients you add to a cocktail (such as syrups, juices, and bitters) elevate different nuances in the base spirit you’re mixing with. Just like in food, the right amount of sugar and salt lets flavours pop, acid brings life to the overall profile, and bitterness offsets intensity.
We hope this provided some “food for thought” as you go about making your own cocktail creations! As we mentioned in the beginning, mixology doesn’t have to be complicated. By having a similar mindset to making a balanced drink as you would for a dish, you’ll find that many of the skills and concepts are transferable! Whether you’re a seasoned home bartender or just starting out, implementing any of these tips is sure to improve your sips that much more.
For more cocktail inspiration, check out our Instagram, Cocktail Page, or Blog!
Sip responsibly!
