Drinknation Forums

[SwizzleStick]

I have noticed (at least in my neck of the woods) that every bartender seems to think that, when in doubt, throw in a lime wedge.

BORING!

I am familiar with lime wedges and wheels, Lemon wedges and twists, cherries, salt, olives and celery. But what else do you garnish your concoctions with?

Ideas:
1. Colored cherries (I buy green and blue alot).
2. Colored salt for rimming.
3. Colored sugar for rimming.
4. Pop-rocks for rimming (very fun at the college or retro type party).
5. Clear syrup mixed with food coloring. Rim glass for cool halloween effects etc.
5. Bloody Mary - Pickled veggies like asparagus or carrots instead of boring celery. Or, I add a skewer of shrimp and veggies (sort of the drink that eats like a meal). Another great thing to do with Bloody Mary's when entertaining at home, is to use large glass beer glasses (goblet style). I take about 4-6 medium shrimp and freeze in small square tupperware containers. I then drop each frozen cube into the bottom of the Bloody Mary and create the drink. When your guests are finished drinking they will have a cool shrimp cocktail to enjoy!

[Monkey Justice]

Hey Swizzlestick - a hearty welcome to the forums!

It looks like from your posts that you're a professional - glad to hear your thoughts! I have to say, I am also a huge fan of making stuff interesting.

1 - huge fan of colored cherries!
2 - huge fan of colored salt! For anyone who's never seen it, you can buy it online here: http://www.spectrumgourmet.com/
3 - never seen colored sugar. Any ideas on how to make/where to buy?
4 - pop rocks? that is one hell of an idea! I can't wait to try it...
6 - that shrimp idea is cool. I personally like a pickled green bean in my bloody mary's...

Have you ever tried anything like LightCubes? (Check here) These are really neat but the problem is once the battery runs out you have to buy more. Another idea is that if you have black lights, you can really make some drinks interesting with colored liqueurs, because they start to glow... and of course the odd little plastic animal in your frozen drink makes for good conversation!

[SwizzleStick]

Thanks for the welcome MJ,

"Professional" -- Nah, but I play one on TV

As for buying the colored sugar - I buy it locally at the bar supply place. I'm sure though it is widely available online.

Another goody for rimming is to buy a package of "Dipping Stix" at the local 7-eleven and rim the glass with the fruity contents.

I've seen the light cubes, but have yet to buy any. I guess I should add them to my collection.

I do use frozen water shaped like a shot glass to serve shots in. I buy mine from a guy on Ebay. Here is a link to his store: http://www.stores.ebay.com/id=6658619&ssPageName=L2

They are pretty cool. Basically just a plastic mold shaped like a shot glass. Sometimes I make them that way (with water), or, I fill them with jello or fruit juice to form the shot glass and then pour alcohol into the shot. Mucho Fun!

I have also seen clubs use flashing drink bracelets. With red meaning available and looking, blue meaning taken and yellow meaning - ur, ummm, well... Gay.

[DMCOrlando]

What we used to do is to rim a glass in grenadine, green creme de menthe, blue curacao, orange curacao, or any of the puckers and then rim in the sugar. You can pick a liqueur that will complement the drink. The liqueur has a high sugar content already and with the alcohol evaporating the glass drys quickly. This can also add a good contrast to the drink. Picture a margarita in a blue rimmed glass. We did this alot with hot coffee drinks. We would rim a water goblet in the liqueur and sugar, then add the alcohol and finally the hot coffee topped with whipped cream.

[Monkey Justice]

Damn. That's cool...you wouldn't even need to use any of those weirdo colored salts for your margaritas. Just do it yourself!

[DMCOrlando]

True but when I drink a 'normal' margarita, I like the salt. The liqueur cuts the saltyness. A strawberry or watermellon rita could use the colored rim. Try it with a daiq or a colada, too.

[Bippo]

Hey guys, this is my first post on any bartending forum. I am from Asutralia and it seems to me that our idea of garnishng is quiet different to yours. Not to say ours is any better, just the trend happening here at the moment.
I like to use as many natural ingredients as possible. I agree the rimming with the coloured liqueur is a cool idea and i will use it.
Wont the pop rocks take away from the overall flavour your trying to achieve in your drink? I thought a garnish was supposed to help it, not overpower.
I like to place a few lime wedges into a large salt container to let the salt get the lime flavour. Rim that on a margarita for extra flavour.
Where is the cocktail drinking trends heading is our only guess!

[barbrat]

Hi, I've been bartending in NYC for a few years at various clubs and busy lounge/bars. I can appreciate a beautifully garnished cocktail...as long as I'm not the one making it. All those different rims and candy garnishes tend to get sticky, messy, and just plain annoying when you are trying to move fast. There is always a group of girls who think its okay to eat dinner from my garnish tray...tsk,tsk. I agree though that if you are going to go to a specialty martini bar and pay $15 for a drink that you should get a little TLC and a pixie stick rim. P.S. the pop rocks can be great if you only use what you need per cocktail, if you let them sit in whatever you rimmed your glass with on a plate, they just get soggy and mushy- no pop.