The Art of the Cocktail

Healthy lifestyle doesn’t exclude drinking alcohol, and delicious cocktails and mixed drinks, prepared on its basis. The main question here is the sense of harmony.

People used to invent new recipes for several hundreds years, but only recently making cocktails became an art. Drinks like cocktails first appeared sometime during the 16th century, but cocktails, as we know and use the term, was first introduced by American bartenders in the 1920ies. The modern trend in this art is the usage of different fruits and vegetables just like in cookery. That is why some cocktails have seasonal nature. Sometimes cocktails are created for special events and are supposed to suit the appropriate menu.

Cocktails usually consist of three different 'types' of ingredients. The first is most often some sort of spirit, like vodka, whiskey, or tequila and is the base. The second is added to bring out the aroma of the base and to modify its taste, and is the main flavoring. It is often such as Vermouth, various fruit juices, wine, or even eggs or cream. The third is added to enhance the taste of the base, and often also adds the color to the cocktail and is the special flavoring. They usually include Grenadine, Blue Curacao, and others.

The modern cafes and bars usually have a special offer for those visitors, who for different reasons excluded alcohol from their diet. And, finally, there are children, the youngest, but yet possessing equal rights, guests. And all of them want to be like adults and to stir slowly the cocktails, prepared specially for them by the bartender, and decorated in some way, usually with fruit slices, orange peel, cocktail sticks, mint twigs, etc.

More and more, bartenders at the best lounges and bars are offering in their cocktail-lists the non-alcoholic drinks that sparkle with sophistication and creativity.

Non-alcoholic refreshers include mixers, sodas, factory and fresh juices made from both traditional and exotic fruits, blender drinks, herbal teas and tisanes.

Blender Drinks are very nourishing in themselves. They usually contain milk, ice-cream, and also such ingredients as coconut paste with fresh fruit purée, fruit juices, etc. These drinks may to some extent replace the heavy food, and they often play the role of the healthy appetizers for children.

Fresh eggs also may be included as the component of many recipes, making drinks of this category thicker and healthier.

The art of making such drinks consists in ability to add to the components combination something special, and this gives full scope to imagination.

If the chopped ice is present in the cocktail, the components should not be shacked for a long time, otherwise the drink will be too liquid.

Fresh fruits are widely used – either traditional or exotic ones. Fruits like  papaya, mango, guava, kiwi and others easily turn into puree when blended. Even the usual bananas and strawberries are easily turned into an excellent puree-like mass, presenting the ideal base for making a milkshake, which is much more nourishing than the powdered shake mixes. If you need a more creamy mixture, you may add some ice-cream or chopped ice.

Following are the most traditional blender drinks for your attention.

'Mango Skeyris’

- 1 underripe mango

- 3 apricots

- 150 ml / 5 ounce of mango nectar.

- 90 ml / 3 ounce of apricot juice

- 60 ml / 2 ounce of natural yoghurt

- ice 

Vessel for serving: highball or Collins glass.

Garnish: mango wedge.

Method: peel the mango and apricots, chop and put them into the blender, add all other components and make the homogeneous mass.

Pour into the glassware with ice and decorate with garnish. Serve it with the cocktail straw.

‘Long Cool Raita'

- 60 g of cucumber

- 90 ml / 3 ounce of natural yoghurt

- 90 ml / 3 ounce of milk

- 8-12 pepper-mint leaves

- freshly squeezed lime juice (or lemon juice)

- salt (optionally)

- ice

Vessel for serving: highball or Collins glass.

Garnish: pepper-mint leaves and cucumber slices.

Method: peel the cucumber, chop and put it into the blender, add all other components and make the homogeneous mass. Pour into the glassware half-full with ice and decorate with garnish. Serve it with the cocktail straw.

‘Strawberries a la Creme’

(yield: 2 serves)

- 8 strawberries

- 30 ml / 1 ounce of strawberry syrup

- 30 ml / 1 ounce of thick cream

- 1 ball (or 1 heaped tablespoonful) of vanilla ice-cream

- 1 ball of the strawberry sorbet

- chopped ice

Vessel for serving: 2 tumblers

Garnish: fresh strawberries and a ball of strawberry sorbet.

Method: Put the strawberries into the blender and make the puree-like mass. Add all other ingredients and mix them fast. Pour into the glasses (tumblers) and decorate with garnish. Serve with a thick cocktail straw.

These are only few tips just to give you a twist. Make your own cocktail, you're so talented!