What’s hot in Coolers

Shatbhi Basu stirs up some exotic drinks to beat the heat this summer

The wise words of Thomas Love Peacock should do the trick - ‘There are two reasons for drinking: one is, when you are thirsty, to cure it; the other, when you are not thirsty, to prevent it!’

Throwing a cocktail party is probably the coolest thing to do this summer. Not your junta scene where drinking whisky and soda or a genteel glass of horrendous bootleg wine is considered cocktails. We’re talking about the real thing. True thirst quenchers, great big bowls of punch. Not that syrupy, juicy mush they call punch, but some wonderfully flavoured stuff! You don’t have to be a pro to get it right - just follow a few basic pointers and you’re all set.

The How To & How Not To About Mixing
Passion is the punch - cocktails are all about having a sense of flavour, colour and style. It combines the science of mixology with the art of presentation and the skill of performance. Don’t splash in vast quantities of alcohol in mindlessly. Strong equal to good is a myth. A good formula to follow is not to allow the total amount of alcohol per drink to far exceed the 75ml limit. Don’t use more than one style of spirit in a drink - it really doesn’t make sense and contributes alcohol rather than flavour
75ml = 45ml base spirit + 15-20ml flavoured spirit/liqueur + 10-15ml enhancer (coloured liqueur/additional flavour/bitters)

Be generous with the ice. A combination of spirits and liqueurs on their own are often stirred over lots of ice and then strained cold into a pre-chilled Martini glass. They are as often poured ‘on the rocks’ too. Drinks that use juices combined with cream or ice cream are shaken or blended in a mixer to get a smooth, even texture. Sours which combine spirits with lime juice, sugar and the optional egg white must be well-shaken or blended. Tall refreshing drinks with juices or aerated water are simply built into the glass over ice directly - often creating layers of colour. Frozen, fresh fruit and ice cream drinks are blended with crushed ice to get a fine slushed or creamy effect.

The key is to stock up loads of ice. Now that you’ve got the ice, it’s time to fill up the glasses. That’s the first lesson in mixing a drink. Ice in first, followed by spirit and then everything else. The other integral elements are the bits and pieces that go in to elevate the most ordinary cocktail to great heights; like lemons, oranges, mint leaves, pomelo (papanus), kiwi fruit and strawberries. Once you’ve got that right, let’s mix some real snazzy drinks.

Spiked and iced milkshakes are awesome too, with generous dollops of ice cream. Coffee ‘n’ rum, mango ‘n’ Malibu, chocolate ‘n’ Bailey’s, butterscotch ‘n’ Archer’s peach.

There’s nothing more cool, more English, than a Gin and tonic on a summer afternoon. It’s quite simple really. Fill the glass with ice, pour a generous measure of the gin, squeeze in a couple of wedges of lime and drop the peels in and top with cold tonic.

Add a splash of Campari and you’ve got a ‘Blushing Briton’; a whisper of mint liqueur and it’s a ‘Green Orchid’. If you belong to the anti-gin brigade - this works quite comfortably with vodka/tequila too. Archer’s Peach Schnapps and tonic is super, definitely with fresh lime to liven it up. A wee drop of Campari perks it up even more. Experiment with summer fruit as they come along. Aam Panna with gin or vodka, frozen watermelon juice with white rum, frozen ‘tadgolas’ with Malibu, frozen lichees with coconut water and Southern Comfort (amber), the list is endless.

What’s Hot
So what is it that the world is drinking? Gosh, what can I say! Martinis have made a serious comeback. In its original and strange new avatars. There are bars devoted exclusively to the Martini. Curious and luscious flavoured ones. If you are a truly serious cocktail buff, you’ve got to learn about and drink martinis. So maybe I’m a bit of a maniac about them. Trust me, once bitten by the bug, you’re a goner for life.

Margharitas haven’t gone away. They’ve just gotten more flavoured, frozen and slushed. That can’t be bad. Except that I hope they don’t disappear coz supplies of tequila are clearly drying up. Long Island Iced Tea is being drunk in copious quantities. If you get really good ‘Sex on the Beach’ you are one lucky person. Most are undrinkable fakes. The true original is vodka and peach schnapps on ice with orange juice and a generous splash of cranberry juice. The Cosmopolitan is still popular. This cranberry juice drink is an absolute winner and still not freely available thanks to a dearth of cranberry juice.

Shooters of all kinds are happening. More than tequila shots, B52 and Kamikaze. The old favourites - Bloody Mary, Screwdriver, Pina Colada, Planter’s Punch, Whisky Sour, etc. are surviving the onslaught of the cheeky newcomers. Then there’s a whole new generation brought about by yours truly and her bunch of ‘STIR’ bartenders.

(The writer is a renowned bar consultant and director of the Stir Academy of Bartending at The Revival restaurant in Mumbai. She is also the author of ‘The Can’t Go Wrong Book Of Cocktails’)