Mini cocktails – great for experimentation. Cocktails should always be fun. Sometimes offering your guests full-on cocktails may not be appropriate. They may not be ‘cocktail drinkers.’ Some or many may be drivers. You want to offer your guests the experience of cocktails but without them getting squiffy too quickly! The other thing about minis is that you can offer people a wide selection of flavour combinations. This is perfect if you’re in a situation where you want to encourage guests to try something new.
Also consider the practicalities of an event where your guests are standing or wandering around. It’s easy to spill your drink in a wide brimmed Martini glass. So much easier in the mini bottles featured in the picture here.
The picture here of the gleaming, sparkling little gems was taken at a cocktail tasting we were asked to run at a local independent wine merchant. Us Cocktail Shaker Boys served up a selection of 6 cocktails to choose from. We served roughly a 25ml serving – just enough to give a sample of the flavours – and colours of course – as this picture shows.
Then we put one of our candy-striped paper straws in the top and they’re good to go. They certainly went down well with the shoppers that Saturday morning. People loved the diddy bottles and straws, and they drew nearly as much comment as the cocktails themselves.
The 2 most popular for those mixologists among you were the French 75 – an old Prohibition era cocktail and the Lavender Martini – one of our own creations. So there you have it, 1920s going head to head with a post-2010 creation.
Be experimental with your cocktails
If you see yourself as an early adopter and have already moved on from Mojitos, Cosmos and Espresso Martinis, then a range of brand new, experimental cocktails could be just the thing for you and your guests. Like us, try a mix of old classics – which your guests will see as a safe choice. Mix in some of your own takes on classics. Twisted classics if you like. Then it’s great to test some of your own creations too.
My suggestion with new creations is always to road test them first. I create many new cocktails inspired by things I read, things I see and cocktails in try in bars. I will always try it first though. Sometimes it needs rebalancing. Sometimes they’re just not that good. That’s the fun of mixology. You have to formulate a few duds to get to the exceptional new creations. Have fun!