Cocktail kits and glasses
THE KIT
If you’re serious about making cocktails at home, you’re going to need some apparatus.
1. Muddler: Used to muddle juice out of a lemon or lime— especially in case of Mojitos. Besides the word itself— “muddler”—you’ve got to have one.
2. The Ice Bucket & Tongs: No cocktail goes without ice, cubed or crushed, shaken or stirred. Ice is the party. So get yourself a quality bucket, and a pair of tongs or two.
3. Lime Squeezer/ Blender: Fresh fruit juice can be squeezed immediately if you have a squeezer (as in pic). When it comes to other fruits and vegetables, a regular blender (try opting for a noise-free one) is extremely convenient, too.
4. Measuring Glass/ Double-headed Jigger: The single most important instrument in your arsenal—the double-headed jigger. Its smaller side takes in the 30 ml measurement whereas the larger side is the one you’ll mostly use for cocktails.
5. Bar Blade: Doubling up as a bottle opener is a bar blade, a multi-purpose bar tool. Its vinyl handle gives one easy grip to cut off foil and even shred some sugarcane.
6. Shaker: The best shaker on the market is the Boston shaker. It comes in two parts—a stainless steel glass and a ‘thick’ glass (it won’t break on dropping). Without having to open the shaker and see the results, you can check to be sure of the consistency of the drink while shaking it.
7. Strainer: Most shakers come with a lid and strainer. The Hawthorn Strainer has a spring coil and fits inside the glass, thus ensuring no spillage. Works nicely with the Boston Shaker.
8. Wine (Cork) Opener: There are several types of wine openers. This one comes with two different edges for opening beer bottle caps as well as a retractable cork screw.
9. Bar Spoon: Ice to be pulled out of a glass, adding salt, pepper, Tabasco, sauces, correcting a garnish—it can all be done using a bar spoon.
Where to get it: For a complete toolkit, head to Hypercity, next to Inorbit Mall, Malad Link Road, Malad (West), Mumbai; Tel: 022-40078400; Hyderabad: Inorbit Mall, Lower Ground Floor, Opp. I-Labs, Hi-tech City, Madhapur, Hyderabad; Tel: 040-65260929; The lifestyle store, Good Earth has bar tool kits at three stores in Mumbai and New Delhi, one in Bangalore and Chennai. Mumbai: Raghuvanshi Mansions, Raghuvanshi Mills, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai; Tel: 022-24951954 / 3840; Delhi: 9 ABC, Khan Market, New Delhi; Tel: 011-24647175; Bangalore: UB City Mall, #24, Vittal Mallya Road, Bangalore; Tel: 080-41738870/ 71; To locate a store convenient to you, visit http://www.goodearthindia.com/visitourstore.htm; (Good Earth doesn't have everything, but still, its tool kit isn’t half smart).
GLASSES
Before throwing a party, ensure that you have stocked up at least a kit of seven glasses of a single kind. For any special cocktail evening, ensure you have the following list of glasses ready to use.
1. Margarita Glasses: The margarita cocktail glasses are specialty glasses, and are exclusively used only for margaritas. They have a thick, wide rim to hold onto the salt and the garnish.
2. Wine Glasses: Use two kinds of wine glasses. A large bowl wine glass with a short stem kept exclusively for red wine or Sangria. For white, use a long stemmed glass with a smaller bowl.
3. Tumblers/ Old-fashioned Glasses: These are short glasses that are used traditionally to serve brandy, cognac and whiskey—on the rocks, with soda, cola, or tonic water. Cocktails such as Whiskey Sour, Caipiroska and Mojito, too, sit best in these glasses.
4. Shot Glass: Even if you’re never in the mood for a quick shot of vodka or rum, keep shot glasses handy. If the measuring glass goes missing, a shot glass can cover.
5. Champagne Flutes: Champagne or sparkling wine should be poured into tapered flutes or white wine glasses and not a wide bowl, so that the bubbles don’t dissipate too fast.
6. Highball/ Collins Glasses: These are tall glasses and can hold all sorts of mixed drinks and those with ice. The Long Island Ice Teas and Screwdriver (vodka and orange juice) are two such drinks to be served in these glasses.
7. Martini Glasses: These are the classic glasses. After you’ve stirred or shaken your cocktails in ice, strain them into these glasses. The martini glass is a wide-bowled glass with a long enough stem to ensure your drink stays cool for longer.
Where to get it: Stylish bar glasses from Steuben Glass are available at The Right Address, D-2 Soami Nagar (South), New Delhi; Tel: 011-42593939. David Redman Barware Collection are available at the two boutiques of House of Raro at 211 Cariappa Marg, Sainik Farms, New Delhi; and at First Floor, Pheroze Building, 4 Stevens Street, Mumbai; Tel: 022-22049001/02.
