Following on from your cocktail ask, what advice do you have for someone going to a cocktail bar who's looking at the menu but doesn't know where to start? Are there particular drinks that are always good in your opinion? Have you read any books about cocktails that you'd recommend?
I have not read any books! but I would definitely be open to recs, so if anyone’s got ‘em, reply to this post.
if the cocktail bar is worth its salt then the ~mixologists should be very helpful in this regard. if you have a basic idea of whether you prefer fruity, sweet, tart, strong, not-too-strong, and if there are any base spirits you particularly like or dislike...just plug in your stats, as it were, and ask them for a recommendation! I’ve had some great cocktail experiences when I ask the people behind the bar about their own particular favourites, especially when I stumble across someone who is a closet gin geek like myself.
sometimes it’s just a matter of going through the menu and spying a flavour combination that sounds delicious and unusual, or something that you are never going to make yourself; one of my favourite cocktails ever was a warm combination of whisky, pear juice, and cinnamon, drunk on a chilly afternoon at the open-air bar at the sydney opera house.
if all else fails and they ask you for your order and you panic, get them to make you a charlie chaplin. they are delicious.
