Cocktails That Only Bartenders Will Ask You To Make

Being a bartender should not be too difficult. Once you know your way around the bar and your speed rail and you have practiced under the pressure of having endless orders thrown at you, you should feel pretty confident with most challenges that come your way. But then the worst happens…

You notice a friend of yours come through the door. He’s an experienced bartender like yourself. He has a mischievous grin on his face as he approaches the bar. You know that this isn’t going to be fun. He’s with some friends and is put forward to order the first round for everyone. The list is as follows: Sazerac, Martinez, Hemingway Daiquiri and Aviation.

You can’t quite remember the last time you made these drinks. You must rattle your brain around to remember exactly what you do with these drinks. You look at your friend as he walks away with a smug pride on his face. It’s time to give these drinks away.

For those who are brave enough to attempt these drinks at home, here are the ingredients as follows:

Sazerac:

Absinthe (rinse glass)

Peychaud’s bitters (3 dashes)

Cognac or Rye (60ml)

Sugar syrup (10ml)

(Rinse, then stir and julep strain into a rocks glass with no ice and then garnish with a lemon zest)

Martinez:

Orange bitters (2 dashes)

Maraschino (1 barspoon)

Sweet vermouth (20ml)

Gin (60ml)

(Stir and julep strain this into a chilled martini glass and garnish with a lemon zest)

Hemingway Daiquiri:

Light rum (50ml)

Maraschino (10ml)

Lime juice (20ml)

Grapefruit juice (20ml)

(Shake and fine strain this into a chilled martini glass and garnish with one cherry

Aviation:

Gin (50ml)

Maraschino (10ml)

Lemon juice (30ml)

Sugar syrup (10ml)

(For the original recipe, use 1-2 barspoons of Crème de Violette. Shake and fine strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with a cherry)

Now, these drinks may sound complicated and rather abstract, but in reality, they are just as simple as every other cocktail. The reason they are what another bartender would order, is that it is more of a challenge to get something slightly off the rails than your normal order. So, apart from the Crème de Violette which isn’t used in many other cocktails it is quite hard to come by, they are relatively simple.

However, with the new company Spin and Shake (a mobile bartender hire company), you can specifically organise in advance what kind of cocktails you would like to have at your event so there will be no surprises for the bartenders of Spin and Shake. But I’m sure that the classic cocktails we all know and love will be good enough to get you through a fun evening without having to try something as abstract as a Sazerac! For more information and blogs related to bartending click here.

Author: Alessandro Pizzari - flair bartender