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How To Make The Perfect Cocktail

When having guests over for a dinner party or celebration, it’s tempting to try to and impress them with your DIY bartending skills. Crafting the perfect cocktail isn’t always easy, so you can take some advice from the bartenders at Heritage Lounge Paramatta. We believe our premium cocktail bar ranks as one of the best Sydney nightlife venues, so you can trust what our expert crew has to say.

• Use fresh ingredients

Many of the best cocktails use lemons, limes, strawberries, oranges, or other fruits, either as a garnish or mixed into the beverage itself. If you are crafting a fruity cocktail, it’s essential that you use the freshest ingredients. This means only purchasing ingredients that are in season and squeezing your own juice.

• Steal some ideas from your local pub or Paramatta bar

If you’re struggling for ideas on what cocktails to serve, drop down to your local bar or function venue and suss out their menu. After you order your drink, be sure to stick around the bar area and see how the bartender makes it. Don’t blink – the best bartenders work fast!

• Take some time for the perfect garnish

A cocktail isn’t complete until it has been garnished appropriately. A simple slice of lime or a bunch of mint leaves can make all the difference and ensuring your cocktail is totally Instagrammable.

• Use glassware appropriate for your beverage

The type of glass you serve your cocktail in will have an impact on how the drink is consumed and enjoyed. There are plenty of different glasses you can serve your drink in, including martini glasses (for smooth cocktails), highball glasses (for bubbly and sparkling cocktails), shot glasses (for shots), rocks glasses (for spirits on the rocks), and margarita glasses (for icey, chunky and fruity concoctions).

• Never serve a warm cocktail (unless it’s a super quirky cocktail!)

We recommend placing all ingredients in the fridge at least a few hours prior to mixing the cocktail. You might also like to put the cocktail glass in the fridge so it has time to cool down prior to being used. There’s nothing worse than a lukewarm alcoholic beverage.

• Free pouring = bartender disaster

Free pouring might sound fun in theory, but realistically it might compromise the taste and quality of your cocktail. If you underpour or overpour, the drink could be far too strong or weak for you and your guests to enjoy. It can also make it hard to keep track of how many standard drinks you have consumed over the night. Measuring jiggers and cups can be purchased from most major department stores, and they are a super cheap way to make sure your cocktails taste great.

• Don’t shake if it’s best to stir

Shaking a cocktail is fun, but not always necessary. Save the shaking for citrus cocktails and stick to stirring for whisky and gin cocktails. Our Heritage Lounge Paramatta bar crew believe that a cocktail shaker should only be used when absolutely necessary, otherwise the ingredients may be compromised.