A Cocktail A Day: My Haul

Discalaimer: If you are under the legal drinking age scroll on past this is not for you because laws! If you're of legal drinking age remember to never drink on an empty stomach and always drink in moderation. Alcohol is not advised whilst pregnant or breastfeeding, no alcohol was consumed by this nursing mum during this project, and no babies or toddlers were sent down the slippery path to alcoholism. If you need further information or advice don't hesitate to check out https://www.drinkaware.co.uk

I don't get all that much spare time as a mum of a nursing infant and a boisterous toddler, so I have embarked on something that's quite close to my previously nicknamed 'Drunk Girl' roots, making a cocktail a day! Obviously as I'm still nursing it's a bad idea for me to pickle Bel's liver a cocktail at a time, (though I've seen research that indicates a single cocktail will have little effect on my breast milk, I feel this is a time for that 'better safe than sorry' adage) so I'm also trying to make a mocktail alternative each day. I've also been looking into molecular gastronomy, so I'm going to try and add a twist to some of the cocktails I make.

Before starting on my journey of mixology discovery I needed some tools, and some ingredients, I like having *things* but in reality, you don't need any of this for making cocktails at home, some jugs and spoons would probably do you fine.

Cocktail Tools

Shakers

So I had in the depths of my cupboard a standard home use three part shaker, But I remember it being leaky, I'm also fairly certain I acquired it from my parents alcohol cupboard, it should probably go back at some point... I decided to start my hunt for a shaker, which is when I stumbled upon creamsupplies.co.uk which turned out to be a real treasure trove! Liasing with my sister whso is a bartender settled me on a boston shaker which is a fairly standard shaker for bar use, and I grabbed a spare glass as apparently sometimes they break.

Spirit measures

Next I needed something to measure shots with. I've gone with a Traditional Style double ended jigger that measures 25ml and 50ml amounts, but unless I make my standard shot size 50ml it's going to be a serious pain for measuring halfs!

Strainers

The Boston shaker doesn't have an inbuilt strainer, so I've gone for a 2 ear Hawthorn strainer whick sits on the top of the shaker and a tea strainer for fine straining. I didn't get a Jouliep strainer as it didn't seem (to my untrained eye) that it did anything that the other two didn't between them.

Spoons

I got a fairly cheep cocktail spoon with a masher on the end for crushing sugar cubes. With it being a bit on the cheep side I'm not convinced of it's sugar crushing abilities, it seems a bit bendy, so I might buy a slightly higher quality on.

Muddlers

I actually did a bit of research into muddlers, there tend to be three types (though really only two) Wooden muddlers and plastic muddlers with either a plastic or metal handle. I went for the plastic one in the end for the simple reason that it will fare better in the dishwasher, and plastic doesn't pick up flavours like wood does.

Glasses

I looked into glasses, I had this image of a lovely selection of highball and martini and rocks glasses on my french dresser, but I only really managed to find these in bulk, and I don't really need 12 of each in my life, 4 is pretty much my limit unless I end up doing private barwork, and then I'd probably hire glasses. So for me glasses consist of two martini shaped wine glasses which I got for my 21st from my uncle and have somehow managed to survive 5 years in my clumsy hands, some Morrison's standard cheep wine glasses and Morrison's standard cheep tumblers.

Molecular Mixology Tools

Firstly I got 'The Curious Bartender' which has beginners instructions and recipes for cocktail making, plus is has information and recipes for Molecular Mixology. I also got a little kit from Cream Supplies which was a starter to spherification. At £2.39 it was a steal, so I got several to pass round.

Ingredients

Sodium Alginate (this is a vegetarian friendly alternative to gelatine and thickens the liquid you put it in so it can later set to make caviar / bubbles)

Sodium Lactate (this is for setting the caviar, you could use an oil such as rapeseed oil instead)

Soya Lecithin (this allows you to make loose foams)

Tools

Spoon with holes in (for collecting bubbles / caviar)

Droppers (such as a pipette or a sauce bottle with a narrow nozzle)

Cream Whipper & cartridges (this allows you to make thick, cream like foams)

Scales (for weighing things)

Last but not least I bought all the alcohol in existence and some mixers. Much to my sisters dismay after she'd spent days convincing me I should just buy the ingredients for 1 cocktail and then expand my supply 1 drink at a time. This is sensible advice and something you should totally do rather than buying all the alcohol and being subject to the judgy-pants delivery driver...

#Cocktails #Drink