The Cocktail Party

History, Tips, and Recipes for Your Next Gathering

The prospect of a cocktail seems synonymous with an invitation to a good time. A cocktail feels like a party. Whether it’s the 1920s prohibition speakeasies, the projected coolness of the Mad Men era, or the birth of craft cocktail culture in the nineties and early aughts, a camera lens zooming out from a held martini instinctively pans across a room of smiles, laughter, and fingers tapping to music. The cocktail’s purpose is disputed. Some posit the need to lessen the aggression of poor quality spirits and others suggest cocktails lured patrons to the bar with more palatable or increasingly strange concoctions.

In their current form, cocktails arrived in the American zeitgeist in the late 1700s when Americans were drinking twice as much liquor as today. Formal collections of cocktail recipes weren’t circulated until the mid-late 1800s and not in significant numbers until the early 20th century. The traditional three ingredient cocktail includes a spirit, a bitter element, and sweet element such as juice or syrup.

The oldest cited reference to the cocktail party is from the April 17, 1917 edition of Washington’s local Tacoma Times newspaper. According to legend, St. Louis, Missouri socialite Clara Bell Walsh threw her first cocktail party at high noon, inviting both the church going crowd and those who instead opted for a late morning trip to the motor promenade for Sazeracs, Martinis, and Manhattans, “filling a long felt Sunday want in society circles.”

After mid-century wars, American soldiers returned from the Pacific bringing a taste for sweeter spirits and drinks. As people moved from the cities to the suburbs soon after, a portion of entertainment moved from the corner bar or stuffy drawing rooms to modest, modern living rooms. In the late 1990s, experimentation and obsession for something new and meaningful led to the craft cocktail revolution. Combined with a push towards more intimate gatherings in a post-vaccine 2021, the at-home cocktail party is a perfect opportunity to more safely see old friends, demonstrate those shaker skills you honed during pandemic, and bring some fun to the fall. To that end, EdibleOKC invited Ryan Black, who teaches cocktail classes and bartends at private events under the moniker Housepitality Events, to give us pointers and recipes for our next in-home shindig.

RYAN’S TIPS, TRICKS, AND COMMON MISTAKES

A host of obvious and not so obvious details can make a difference between a good and great cocktail. Below are a few that can be particularly helpful at your cocktail party.

Fresh Squeezed Juice: some bottled juices are from concentrate or contain added sugar. Fresh juices add depth to your citrus forward cocktails.

Garnishes: it’s said that you eat with your eyes and a cocktail is no exception. When you garnish a drink, consider using an element from the cocktail. If your cocktail has a rosemary simple syrup and lemon juice, try garnishing it with a lemon peel pierced with a rosemary sprig. Herbs and edible flowers (see page ___ for in season options) can make great garnishes. Be a little wild and make it memorable if you have an idea that could pair well with the drink. I once made tiny PB&J sandwiches for garnishes!

Ice: the term “cold ice” sounds redundant, but the temperature of your ice and therefore its melting speed can make or break a drink.

Glass choice: it’s up to you to choose what you put your drink in, but con sider the volume of the glass. You don’t want your six ounce drink served neat into a twelve ounce glass!

Shaken or stirred: shake a cocktail that includes non-spirit ingredients. Shaking cocktails forcefully mixes oxygen, or aerates, the ingredients. It lends body to your cocktail and ensures all of your ingredients are cold and well-mixed. Shaking has no real rules - just shake! Stirring is generally reserved for cocktails made only of spirits. The goal is to slowly dilute the spirit mixture with ice in order to get the drink to the temperature we want. To properly stir, fill the glass two-thirds full of ice and stir until the ice has dissolved halfway. Instead of whisking with the stir, you’ll want to spin the spoon in your hand. The fluid motion allows for easy mixing of the ice and spirit. Your barspoon may have grooves that will help guide your fingers while you stir. It takes a bit of practice, so give it a couple tries the day before your cocktail party.

COMMON MISTAKES

Filling your shaker tin too high: if too full, you run the risk of throwing your cocktail all over your guests when it comes time to shake.

Eyeballing ingredient amounts: it may seem tempting, but a cocktail is a careful balance of flavors. Use your jiggers and follow the recipe!

Not shaking enough: we want our cocktails to be cold and well mixed. Make sure a small layer of frost has formed on your shaker after shaking. That’s when you know you’re done.

Worrying about others’ opinions: drink and make what you like, even if it comes in that crazy glass with an umbrella!

KEY TOOLS

Muddler

Produced from wood, bamboo, metal, and plastic, a muddler is used to mash your ingredients which releases the flavor of the fruits or herbs. A wooden one is preferred for a better hand feel and its inability to rust.

Shaker Tin

They come in three distinct styles (Boston, Parisian or French, and Cobbler). For general bartending purposes, I am partial to the Boston shaker as they tend to get colder faster, mix well, and are great for mixing several drinks quickly. You will need to practice removing the lid - hit the wider side of the tin on the upper third with your palm until you hear a pop.

Strainer

When you’re using a Boston shaker, you’ll need a good strainer. There are three styles of strainer and I recommend having each at your disposal.

• Hawthorne strainer: perfect for shaken cocktails as it fits right onto your shaker tin allowing you to pour the cocktail straight into the glass. This strainer is equipped with coils which will keep unwanted leftovers from shaking out of your drink.

• Julep strainer: essentially a large spoon with holes, this will fit onto and in your mixing glass.

• Fine strainer: You can use this in conjunction with the Hawthorne and Julep strainer to utilize the “double straining” technique which some cocktails require.