All too often I am served drinks by bartenders who have decided to ignore the basic principles of good drinks making. I am sure that in many cases it is not the fault of the bartender, more instead the fault of the bar due to a lack, or quality of training.

Knowing the recipe is obviously important for good drinks making, but that alone does not ensure quality drinks time after time. In fact learning the recipe is the least important and simplest part of making any drink.

Of course, knowing your recipes is essential for good commercial bartending, my point here however is not speed of service, but quality of drinks production. When you understand the fundamentals of good drinks making it should make no difference whether you know the drink off by heart or if you are reading it for the first time, you understand what makes a good drink.

So what exactly prompts this line of conversation? Well for the most part recently it has been the use, or should I say ‘misuse’ of sugar in cocktails. This, it would seem, is due to the fact that the bartender is simply following a recipe rather than understanding how or why the drink should work, and therefore the importance of each ingredient in that recipe and how it interacts with the other ingredients in the recipe. Therefore I cannot continue without mentioning the most important, fundamental theory in good drinks making - Balance. It is an incredibly simply concept, and yet it is one that seems to be missed in training so often if you take the final drink as the fruit of any training that was given.

For those who haven’t a clue what I am talking about I will give a brief explanation:
In most cocktails, classics especially, you can break the ingredients of that cocktail down into four basic elements, or ‘building blocks’. They are ‘strong’, ‘weak’, ‘tart’ and ‘sweet’. When a drink is in ‘Balance’ each of these elements will cancel its opposite out. ‘So you taste nothing?’ No, you taste everything. If the drink is out of balance, it means that one of the elements is overpowering the rest of the flavours in the drink, therefore all you taste is that one element, thus making the drink taste too tart, sweet, weak etc…

A very simple example of this is the Daiquiri. Fresh lime juice = tart, sugar syrup = sweet, rum = strong and the ice it is shaken with will give the small amount of water to make up the weak. This then brings me back to my gripe about the way sugar is used in cocktails. If the bartender had been taught this simple theory, when he or she made, for example, a caipirinha then they would ensure that all the sugar had dissolved into the drink because they would understand the massive importance of this simple ingredient, rather than letting it sit at the bottom of the drink. Making the first three quarters of the drink lip puckeringly sour whilst the bottom quarter of the drink is tooth rottingly sweet.

However I must steer away from blaming the bartender, for I am sure that the blame sits with the bar owner/manager, in the first case for making the recipe with large brown sugar cubes, which seem to be appearing in ever drink these days. And in the second case, for not ensuring that his or her staff have had sufficient training to be able to make good drinks. Unless crushed to a fine powder, which inevitably they are not, these sugar cubes break up and sit lurking at the bottom of your drink.

Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks, Springsteen’s Tunnel of Love, The Beatles’ Abbey Road are but a few examples (not to mention the works of Van Gogh or Michelangelo). So when Rachel Federman (lead singer of indie-pop band Dimestore Scenario) and boyfriend Jason split up on the 3rd of March (we aren’t told who dumped who) after a week of sitting around the house, she found inspiration in her first love (cocktails) and hit the New York bar scene to research her book.

101 Cocktails for every occasion; and it is a beautiful pocket guide to cocktails that not just girls, but guys would enjoy. The artwork for the book is great and delving deeper, you won’t be disappointed with the contents. The recipes are organized into 7 chapters:

New York city cocktails
Sex, girl drinks & rock ‘n’ roll
Wedding drinks
Summer vacation drinks
Party drinks
High spirits
Classic mixed drinks

Each section is started by a bit about Rachel and what was going on in her life and the band at that point in time. It all helps to make the chapter to chapter transition very pleasant and gives the book a flow, making it more than just a cocktail recipe book.

The recipes are presented with clear instructions on mixing and some have additional info as well:

“London Fog

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1 oz/3 mL white cream de menthe
1 oz/3 mL anisette
dash of angostura bitters
1 scoop of vanilla ice cream

blend until smooth and serve in a chilled cocktail glass”

Swifty's

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1007 Lexington Ave; Reasonably priced food and a good place to "people watch"

Bemelmans Bar

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Carlyle Hotel, 35 E 76th St; Dress smart for this elegant bar

Journeys

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160 Central Park St; English club house environment in NY

Sardi's

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234 W 44th St; Once an exclusive celebrity hang out and immortalised in song, Sardi's is well worth a visit

Whiskey Bar

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Paramount Hotel, 235 W 46th St; Fashionable bar in the theater district

Beekman Bar and Books

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889 First Ave; Live jazz, food, bar and books!

Oak Room

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Plaza Hotel, 768 5th Ave; Expensive, up market bar

174 Ludlow St.

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174 Ludlow St; In a street full of bars, we selected this because it doesn't have a name!

Tribe

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132 First Ave; Used to be the (in)famous St Marks Bar & Grill

Odeon

145 W Broadway; Good representation of the Tribeca scene

Bubble Lounge

228 W Broadway; Good selection of drinks and upmarket clientele

Bar d' O

29 Bedford St; Fashionable cocktail lounge with a mixed croud

BB's

Used to be a gas station, but is now one of the "in" joints

The Cigar Room

Grand Hyatt Hotel, E 42nd St; Large selection of cigars (no cuban though, this is the US!) and whisky

Chocolate Martini

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50ml Absolut Vodka

25ml white Creme de Cacao

Tiny dash of Creme de Menthe

Stir ingredients and strain into a frozen Martini glass

Garnish with some smarties

Chocolate Mint Martini

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50ml Absolut Vodka

25ml White Creme de Cacao

12,5ml White Creme de Menthe

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a chocolate rimmed Martini glass

Cowboy Martini

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50ml Gin

6 Fresh Mint Leaves

Dash of Lemon Juice

Dash of Sugar Syrup

In a Cocktail shaker crush the mint with the sugar syrup and lemon juice. Add the Gin and shake well with crushed ice

Strain into a chilled Martini glass

Garnish with a sprig of Mint

Dirty Martini

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62.5ml Gin

Dash of Dry Vermouth

Dash of Olive Brine (Water in Olive Jar)

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a Martini glass

Garnish with an Olive

Dry Martini

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50ml Gin

Dry Vermouth

1 Green Olive or lemon Zest

Pre-chill your glass, fill the mixing jug with ice, add the pre-chilled ingredients in the required ratios

Stir quickly and smoothly for approximately 10 seconds

Serve with an olive or a strip of lemon zest in a martini glass

French Martini

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50ml Absolut Vodka

25ml Fresh Pineapple Juice

12.5ml Chambord

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a frozen Martini glass

Kiwi Martini

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50ml Absolut Vodka

A dash of Sugar syrup

1 Fresh Kiwi fruit

Muddle a peeled kiwi fruit with the sugar syrup in the bottom of the shaker

Add Vodka and ice then shake and strain into a frozen Martini glass

Garnish with a slice of Kiwi

Lychee Martini

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50ml Gin

12.5ml Lychee liqueur

Shake ingredients and strain into a frozen Martini glass

Garnish with fresh lychee on a cocktail stick

Mocha Martini

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37.5ml Gin

25ml Mozart Black

12.5ml Gomme syrup

1 single expresso

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a frozen martini glass

Nutty Martini

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62.5ml Absolut Vodka

12.5ml Frangelico

Stir ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled Martini glass

Garnish with orange peel (optional)

Princeton Martini

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50ml Gin or Vodka

25ml Port

Dash of Orange bitters

Stir ingredients with ice and train into a frozen Martini glass

Garnish with an orange twist

Raspberry Martini

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50ml Absolut Vodka

12.5ml Raspberry Puree

A dash of Framboise

A dash of sugar syrup

Shake ingredients and strain into a frozen Martini glass

Garnish with a fresh raspberry

Sake Martini

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25ml Absolut Vodka

25ml Sake

A dash of Gin

Stir ingredients with ice in a mixing beaker and strain into a frozen Martini glass

Garnish with a slice of cucumbe

Strawberry Martini

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50ml Absolut Vodka

12.5ml Creme Fraise

A dash of Sugar Syrup

3 Fresh Strawberries

Muddle the strawberries with the sugar syrup in the bottom of a shaker

Add ice and the rest of the ingredients and shake vigorously

Strain into a frozen Martini glass. Garnish with a fresh strawberry

Vodkatini

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50ml Absolut Vodka

A dash of dry vermouth

Stir the vermouth with ice in a pre-chilled mixing glass

Pour away the excess water & Vermouth and add the vodka

Stir until chilled and strain into a frozen Martini glass

Garnish with a pitted Olive or a Lemon zest