The Easiest Formula To Make A GREAT Cocktail (Using What’s In Your Fridge)

I am the type of person that really needs activities/new challenges to stay in a good mental space. So that’s what I have been doing…hard. Any of you in a similar boat? I have attempted the following: Playing the recorder, painting “masterpieces”, and trying to master the art of mixology (let’s just say the recorder is NOT going well). So let’s focus on mixology since it’s the most fun for a clear reason (read: alcohol). Now while I am grateful for my quarantine set up (with my boyfriend’s family) we really miss those delicious cocktails we used to consume. So we asked ourselves, “how can we make ourselves good cocktails while we’re stationed at home?” It’s a highly intimidating and confusing science, therefore, we did a large amount of cocktail research (in the name of the blog, of course) and here’s what we found works for us. It’s so simple, I promise.

Before I begin, I would like to say a quick disclaimer that cocktails to-go are a thing right now and you should support your favorite local restaurant if you’re able…some great So-Cal cocktails to-go are from Playa Mesa (Orange County), Little Doms (Los Feliz), HomeState (Hollywood)…name your favorite restaurants with to-go cocktails in the comments section below in your area!

I’d also like to note that I am not in any way a certified bartender, but rather just a mere 22-year-old girl that misses going to rooftop bars with frilly drinks (proof above). My boyfriend, Chase and I figured out this formula that changed our cocktail making lives (well Chase figured most of it out but I wrote the blog post about it…so I think that means I get credit too). It has lead us to making better, more interesting at-home cocktails AND has given us way less stress making them. So I thought I’d share what we’ve been doing. So consider this “a basic beginner’s guide to making drinks that seem fancy but are actually easy to make and taste great written by a beginner.” Woof. That’s a long title –– sorry. Let’s start with our go-to formula for most every cocktail:

OUR FOOL-PROOF COCKTAIL FORMULA

FEAST YER EYES. I’m going to break this bad boy down, but the first thing you need to know is that you can swap out anything in each category (I’ll show you examples below). The second is that you need to follow the golden bartender’s ratio: 2-1-1. That’s 2 ounces of liquor, 1 ounce of sweet, and 1 ounce of sour. If you do those things, you can get however fancy you want. Now let me walk you through step-by-step how to use this formula:

STEP ONE: Grab your cocktail shaker and muddle any fruit you want at the bottom. This can be blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, kiwi, mango, blackberries, cucumber…THE LIST GOES ON FOREVER.

Hot Tip

If you're using cucumber: I highly recommend using pure cucumber juice instead of muddling it. After much trial and error we realized there's not much flavor if you just muddle it, so if you have your own juicer, go to town. If you don't have a juicer (like me), go to a grocery store or smoothie bar that can juice straight cucumber juice for you and the flavor will be MUCH better.

STEP TWO: Add Ice. And LOTS of it. If you think you added enough, add more. This makes your drink cold, refreshing, and balanced. It will taste 400% more delicious if you fill your shaker (and your glasses) to the tippy top with ice.

STEP THREE: It’s time for your 2-1-1. This is where the golden rule comes into play: 2 ounces of liquor, 1 ounce of sweet (agave, honey, etc), and 1 ounce of sour (lemon juice, lime juice, etc).

HOT TIP: We get tired of squeezing limes and lemons, so we buy pure lemon and lime juice (we usually get this brand) and it tastes the same as if we had spent hours squeezing each lemon into the jigger. It’s crucial to get pure lemon or lime juice (check the ingredients to make sure there’s no added sugar or it will mess with your ratios).

STEP FOUR: Add an herb, spice OR BOTH. For herbs, we usually use cilantro, thyme, or basil, and for spice, we usually use jalapeño or serrano peppers. It really just comes down to whatever we have in our fridge that day. Also, if you’ve been wanting to grow your own herbs and want to support a wildlife non-profit simultaneously, you can sign up to get The National Garden Life Federation’s guide to growing your own cocktail herb garden.

STEP FIVE: SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE for between 15-30 seconds (it will feel like forever). Shake hard with a firm grip so you don’t lose all your precious ingredients.

Hot Tip

If you are wanting to veer from the formula and add some carbonation (aka bubbles like soda water) DO NOT add it into your shaker. You will have an explosive science project on your hands. Instead, add your bubbles as a topper once your mixture is safely in your cocktail glass. No need to have an unnecessary emergency room visit:)

STEP SIX: Time to serve. Again, the #1 most helpful thing we’ve learned is that you should PACK your glasses with ice. We found that our drinks stay colder and our cocktails go much farther so we can serve more people in one batch.

Here are two VASTLY different drinks that both work incredibly well using our made-up formula:

The first one is a Blueberry Thyme Rye Lemonade and the second is a Spicy Kiwi Cilantro Margarita. As you can see here…EVERYTHING IS SUBSTITUTABLE. Use whatever is in your fridge, just be sure to stick with the formula. Here’s what our finished products looked like for each drink:

Blueberry Thyme Rye Lemonade | Spicy Kiwi Cilantro Margarita

Not too shabby for two 20-somethings that didn’t go to bartending school or bartend at a real bar (but Chase does read the Death and Co’s book OFTEN, so he does know more than your average cocktail-joe). If you want some more ideas of what we’ve tried and tested and therefore know will work, here’s a list of 10 drink ideas that we’ve made (not all of these were made in the last 2 months, don’t worry):

Rye, blueberry, honey, lemon, thyme (pictured above)Tequila, kiwi, agave, lime, cilantro, jalapeño (pictured above)Bourbon, cherry, honey, lemonGin, blackberry, honey, lemonVodka, cucumber, honey, lemon, lavenderTequila, strawberry, agave, lime, basilTequila, cucumber, agave, lime, serrano pepper, cilantroTequila, watermelon, agave, lime, chili pepper, cilantroTequila, pineapple, agave, lime, serranoTequila, grapefruit, agave, lime, sage

Wow that’s a lot of tequila…as you can see, we’re big margarita people above all else, but the formula works for vodka, gin, whiskey, YOU NAME IT, we’ve tried it and were very happy with the results. ALSO, please note, this formula is just the basics – let’s call it “a jumping off point” eh? – if you want to get really fancy by adding triple sec AND agave, or you want to add some special bitter, egg whites, or liqueur in your bar cabinet, by all means GO FOR IT. Then let us know how it is in the comments