Wednesday, August 25, 2010

The Most Practical Way to Create a Drink Menu

You can create a drink menu by classifying similar types into the following groups: martinis, classic cocktails, tropical drink menu, frozen drinks, hot drinks, single spirit menu, and special concoctions.


The cocktail party is a well-known social gathering. Your drinks are the essential part of your party. You have a choice of preparing a full bar or a drink menu. When you go for a full bar, your guests have the option of choosing their preferred drink. This is recommended when you have a wide selection of spirits available for mixing up to come up with various drinks. A drink menu, on the contrary, can help you save your money because you it does not require a completely stocked bar. You can simply put together a list of drinks together with the ingredients. Make sure to have several printed lists of your drink menu and place them in menu covers to ensure that they will not get wet during the party.


Martinis


You can use the same spirits and mixers belonging in the same category so you can have the following:


* Dry Manhattan – composed of Dry Vermouth, Bitters, Cherry, Whiskey

* Classic Martini – consists of Dry Vermouth, Bitters, Gin, Olive

* Tequini – is Dry Vermouth, Bitters, Lemon Twist, Tequila


Classic cocktails


Restoring the classic cocktails will surely ignite your guests’ interests in the bartending style of the golden age. Most of these drinks need more preparation time, so practicing beforehand will be of great help in order for you to be fully equipped with mixing skills once your guests arrived. You might want to try the following:


* Martinez – is made up of Gin, Triple Sec, Orange Bitters, Gin

* New Orleans Fizz – Lime juice, lemon juice, cream, Gin, Orange Flower Water, egg

* Dubonnet Cocktail – Dubonnet Rouge, Gin

* Ward Eight – Grenadine, Sour mix, Bourbon


Tropical drink menu


Tropical drinks are ideal for a cocktail party during the summer. Make sure to prepare fresh juice and have a variety of fruit garnishes. Your options would be:


* Envy – prepare Tequila, Blue Curacao, pineapple juice

* Hurricane – have light and dark rums, passion fruit, orange juice, lime juice, simple syrup, and grenadine

* Mai Tai – Orange Curacao, lime juice, gold and dark rums

* Blue Hawaiian Рrum, Blue Curacao, cr̬me de coconut, pineapple juice


Frozen drinks


When using Margaritas, you can try mixing not so common flavors in order to have some variations. You can use the following:


* Hypnotiq Margarita – comprised of Tequila, Hypnotiq, Blue Curacao, Sour mix, pineapple juice

* Tamarind Margarita – consists of Tequila, Triple Sec, lime juice, peaches

* Tamarind Margarita – using Tequila, Tamarind Concentrate, Simple Syrup


Hot drinks


Hot drinks are great for the holidays. These are some of the variations:


* Hot Toddy – whiskey, hot tea, lemon, honey

* Tom & Jerry – Brandy, Dark Rum, egg, water, sugar

* Black Stripe – Dark Rum, molasses, hot water


The common garnishes to use are lemon, nutmeg, orange, cinnamon stick and clove.


Single spirit menu


This drink menu is ideal for a selective spirit that you wish to include. Scotch, cachaca, and pisco are excellent options that permit guests to try unfamiliar mixtures. A Scotch drink menu can have several varieties.


* Aggravation – Scotch, cream, coffee liquer

* Rusty Nail – Scotch, Drambuie


Special concoctions


You can experiment by being creative in working on a special concoction to match a theme. If you are having a rock theme cocktail party, you can have a huge array of gemstone colored drinks.