I often mention alcohol proof. Alcohol proof is a measure of how much alcohol is contained in a beverage.

The term was originally used in the United Kingdom and was defined as 7/4 times the alcohol by volume (ABV).

The measurement of alcohol content and the statement of this content on the bottle labels of distilled beverages is regulated by law in the United States. The purpose of the regulation is to provide pertinent information to the consumer.
The European Union currently follows recommendations of the International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML). OIML’s International Recommendation provides standards for measuring alcohol strength by volume and by mass. A preference for one method over the other is not stated in the document, but if alcohol strength by volume is used, it must be expressed as a percentage (%) of total volume, and the water/alcohol mixture must have a temperature of 20°C (68°F) when measurement is done. The document does not address alcohol proof or the labeling of bottles.

Alcohol proof in the United States is defined as twice the percentage of alcohol by volume. Consequently, 100-proof whiskey contains 50% alcohol by volume. Recently the United States has begun to label bottles containing wine and spirits with the percentage of alcohol by volume, instead of proof.

Britain, which used to use the Sikes scale to display proof, now uses the European scale set down by the IOLM. This scale, for all intents and purposes the same as the Gay-Lussac scale previously used by much of mainland Europe, was adopted by all the countries in the European Community in 1980. Using the IOLM scale or the Gay-Lussac scale is essentially the same as measuring alcohol by volume except that the figures are expressed in degrees, not percentages.

Alcohol by volume may be the more accurate and modern method but I’m an old coot and proof is what I learned so I tend to use that as my touchstone so forgive me if I suddenly throw that term around.

It’s good to be forewarned about the differences you’ll encounter when purchasing alcohol so you’re not accidentally purchasing something either too weak or too strong for your needs.

Until next time, may all your drinks be tasty. Cheers.

Let’s talk for a bit about keeping your desired flavor where you want it
For those times that you want a dominant taste to rule the drink, you’ll find that 2 parts of the dominant ingredient modified with 1 part of its opposite brings balance to the flavor but allows the dominant to remain in the foreground.
For example: sweet to sour, sweet to bitter, bitter to salty, acidic to sweet, etc.
When I want pure balance, a 1 to 1 ratio is called for although there are some flavors that are so intense that you can balance their opposite with a much smaller amount.
For example a berry liqueur is very sweet but you can balance it with the sour flavor of tequila in small quantities. Equal parts of these two will often lower the sweeter flavor so much that you can no longer fully appreciate the flavor of the berries.
This is not to say you can only mix opposites. Similar flavors are balanced the same way. The ratio in this case is used to maintain flavor ascendancy, or intensity rather than basic taste. For example if you find yourself combining two sweet ingredients, you may want to combine a slightly less sweet ingredient to keep the sweetness from becoming cloying.
Neutral ingredients, which do not directly counteract your dominant one, can add volume and additional flavoring while leaving the dominant flavor intact. Neutral ingredients are great for lowering alcohol proof or just adding other touches of flavor to make the drink more interesting.
I consider a neutral ingredient to be anything that either imparts no additional flavor such as soda water or something that possesses its own flavor but does not radically change the existing flavors.
Almost anything that is not the exact same taste or opposite taste as your dominant ingredient could be used for this. Lightly flavored items like lemon-lime soda fall into this category. This liquid has a flavor but it is normally light enough to be hidden under the dominant ingredients.

So try experimenting. Take a flavor you like, start adding either its opposite or a complimentary flavor. Slowly add more of the second flavor and keep tasting. When does the dominant flavor cease to be dominant? At which point does it flip to the other flavor? The only way to learn these flavor transitions is to experiment. Keep mixing and changing portions until you instinctively know when things will flip.

BTW, don’t forget to cleanse the palate between sips otherwise you will still have the prior version dominating your taste buds. Take sips of water, swish it around until you no longer taste the prior mixture. Only THEN should you try the next variant.

Until next time, may all your drinks be tasty. Cheers

The heart of creating wonderful tasting concoctions is learning what things taste like. To do this you must learn HOW to taste.
OK at this point you’re probably saying, “Ed I know how to taste, I’ve been eating my entire life”.

It’s not as simple as just popping something into your mouth and saying you like or hate it.
Tasting is hard, really. We put stuff in our mouths all day every day, and, hopefully we enjoy most of it. How much do you actually think about what you taste?
Tasting is an art. Schools exist which are dedicated to learning to taste for the alcohol and food industries. Some people who are world class in their tasting skills and knowledge garner high incomes from giving expert opinion and guidance.
The best method to gain skill in anything is practice. Tasting, especially for something with as many varied ingredient options as flavorful drinks, requires a wide ranging practice. Remember how I mentioned about my youthful experiments with everything that was liquid or near liquid? That’s where we’re headed.
First let’s discuss how to approach the art of tasting.
Tasting should be performed as an activity unto itself, almost as a ritual, holding your full attention. When learning flavors you should focus on one item at a time to truly appreciate the essence of the ingredient and learn its true, unadulterated flavor.
Tasting is very subjective. Differences in your physiology and even social environment will change how you perceive flavors and react to them.
What makes a wonderful combination for me may potentially be foul to you. Of course if it were completely random from person to person, this site would be pointless.

Humans are evolved along lines that cause certain flavors be perceived as pleasant regardless of our upbringing. The tastes of the food that helped our ancestors thrive will resonate with us today. Most people will tend to like similar things within reasonable parameters. Odds are if you find some flavors that combine well, you’ll encounter many people who will feel exactly the same.
Taste should also be a little bit science. By this I mean you need to develop ways to describe your sensations and categorize them for later comparison. The best way to do this is to keep a notebook. Develop some consistent language to describe your sensations. If you decide that tartness is best described on a 1 to 10 scale, don’t suddenly change it to gradations of mild to potent the next time you taste it.

With this in mind, how do we start tasting?
Before diving directly into alcohols and mixers, I would like to suggest that you take a couple weeks to first become mindful of everything you taste.
Try to slow down as you go about eating and drinking in your daily life. Hold things on your tongue a bit longer than you normally would—whole foods especially. Try to think of what other tastes they resemble or how you would categorize the taste to explain it to someone if it doesn’t taste like something else. Keep in mind that the act of savoring each bite for the sake of storing flavor memory doesn’t instantly transform you into a super taster, but it will start you on the path to the training for making drinks.
Too many people move through their lives on autopilot. It is easy to just place the items that fuel our bodies into our mouth and swallow. You may taste it but the fullness of the flavor and the experience may be missed. I recommend for a few weeks that you stop before you commence eating or drinking anything and focus your attention.
Examine what you are about to consume. Note how it looks. Determine what about it visually makes it desirable to consume. Smell your food deeply. What memories or feelings do the scents evoke?
When you finally place the item in your mouth, allow it to sit on your tongue for a moment. Chew well if needed and release the flavors. Think about how the item feels in your mouth; concentrate on the texture and temperature. Can you detect if there are other flavors underneath the main taste?
When you spend a few weeks approaching your eating and drinking experience in this manner you will find that your appreciation of the items you consume will increase. This is your warm up for taste training; take your time and soon you will find yourself automatically examining everything.

Until next time, may all your drinks be tasty. Cheers

When blending flavors there are many variables to consider: sweetness, acidity, saltiness, spiciness, mouth feel and more.
Some people love cloyingly sweet drinks, some love tart drinks, others like really strong drinks. Unless you know the person very well it’s all pure luck for you to guess what will make them happy.
How the heck do you decide what to mix for someone else? Whenever I have a new person ask for a drink who does not have a specific request or a favorite flavor, I simply bounce some questions off them:
• Do you prefer sweet or sour?
• Do you like bitter flavors?
• Do you prefer a light or rich texture?
• Would you prefer a strong alcohol flavor or to not notice it?
• Finally: Is there anything you are allergic to or utterly loathe that I should know about?
The last thing you want to do is have your new drinking companion spit out the drink or worse, keel over from it. Your goal as a mixologist is to bring enjoyment to drinkers, not hurt them.

One thing to keep in mind: unless you know that you have a very adventurous drinker, the flavors need to stay within the drinker’s comfort zone. People don’t generally embrace strangeness. Experimentation outside what a person is accustomed to will often result in failure. That being said, a well crafted drink can convert a timid drinker into an excited explorer on the seas of taste rather quickly.
Take for example, polarizing flavors like grapefruit or gin, people love them or hate them.

Mix exotic and strong flavors with mild ones whenever possible. Great drinks create some punch with a strong flavor, but are enhanced by traces of milder flavors.
Really quality drinks tend to have a few simple flavor themes combined

Let’s talk about some ground rules for mixing flavors.
Sweet satiates the appetite. You feel more satisfied after having sweets because the brain registers it as having actually had something of high caloric value. Sweetness brings out the flavors of other ingredients.
Bitterness suppresses sweetness. Bitterness is a cleansing taste that makes you want to continue tasting.
Salty flavors are probably the most important in balancing and extracting flavor from savory ingredients.
Adding salt to a cocktail actually increases its sweetness. It seems counterintuitive but taste a Margarita both with and without salt. It is a totally different experience.
Acidity on the other hand increases saltiness and bitterness while reducing sweetness.
Sour flavors brighten a drink and are important for balance. A hint of sour can help separate out a bunch of sweet flavors and allow you to appreciate each separately.
Since everything can be categorized as one of the five flavors, assign one of those five labels to everything you encounter for mixing and use the following rules to determine how you mix.
• Bitter balances Salty
• Sour balances Sweet
• Salty combines with Sour
• Sour combines with Bitter
• Bitter combines with Sweet
• Sweet combines with Salty
• Umami combines with EVERYTHING
This can be best described visually by the flavor cross.

Now, outside the flavor cross are a couple flavor categories that should also be considered Piquancy and Astringency.
• Piquancy is balanced by Creaminess or Sweet.
• Astringency is balanced by either Sweet or Juicy ingredients.
• Astringency combines with Bitter or Salty
• Piquancy combines with Sour, Bitter and Salty.
• Umami combines well with BOTH.

That’s flavors in a nutshell. I spend a bit more time on this in the book
So go to your bar or your kitchen. Try combining a few flavors and see how it works.

Until next time, may all your drinks be tasty. Cheers.

The first step in learning to taste consists of understanding exactly what taste is.
Taste is what allows us to know if things work together and how they’ll appeal to the drinker. Taste also warns of really bad things that can either harm the drinker or just spoil an otherwise pleasant evening.
Allow me to take a moment to get a little scientific so we can understand exactly how taste works.
Taste, or gustation, is one of the five senses possessed by humans. It refers to the ability to detect the flavor of substances such as food and drink, certain minerals, and poisons, etc.
Humans receive tastes through sensory organs called taste buds, or gustatory calyculi, concentrated on the upper surface of the tongue.
Depending on your age group, you may have been shown a map of where tastes are detected on the tongue. An article published by a team of biologist from the University of California has debunked this old concept of the tongue taste map. The cells and protein that enables us to taste flavor are found all over the tongue.
The sensation of taste is traditionally broken into four base qualities: sweetness (e.g. sugar), bitterness (e.g. quinine), sourness (e.g. vinegar), and saltiness (e.g. brine).
The Japanese researcher, Kikunae Ikeda, discovered a fifth basic taste called umami. Umami is a taste characteristic of high-protein foods. Most westerners refer to this taste as savory.
Currently, evidence is growing that a sixth taste may exist. Humans can also taste the presence of fat.
Piquance or piquancy, often referred to as hotness, spiciness, or the condition of something being spicy hot, is also considered a basic taste by some.
Dryness is more of a sensation than a taste but it contributes to how something tastes.

Slavish followers of recipes make the mistake of putting more faith in someone else’s instructions than they do in themselves.
Having a wide experience in different flavors with a clear memory of how they taste and both the understanding and experience of how those different flavors mix will allow you to combine almost anything to make a unique drink.

Let me tell you a story of my youth.
When I was a young teen, I was obsessed with learning how everything tasted. I believe this is a side effect of my sensitivity to tastes. I’m what they call a ‘super taster’ I have a higher than average concentration of taste buds which makes me very sensitive to flavors. It limits my enjoyment of hot foods because just a touch of piquance will set me running to a fire hose. When my lovely wife makes chili, she has to severely limit the amount of seasoning in my batch because what she can barely taste hits me like a four alarm fire.
Anyway, I would go through my house taking tastes of anything I could find. I mostly was focused on liquid and semi-liquid items. I would roll the item in question around my tongue and pay attention to the sensations it provided.
Eventually I started combining items to see if one would complement the other or not. You don’t even want to think about some of the mixtures I made. One memorable (mainly for how bizarre it was rather than its quality) mixture contained soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, mayonnaise, and some cherry juice. I know, it sounds disgusting and didn’t have much visual appeal but I learned how savory, salty, fatty and sweet could all combine and balance each other.
I don’t recommend you make that mixture unless you really want an upset stomach but then again, experiments like that taught me more about flavors than any book out there.
Go to your cabinets and liquor shelves, try a taste of everything you think might be interesting or even something that you never considered as a potential for drinking. Just make sure you’re not tasting anything harmful, please.
Take notes.
How did it feel on your tongue? Did the flavor linger? Did the flavor grow as you rolled it around your mouth?
Ever wondered what pickle juice would taste like with a dash of hot sauce? Well, try it.

There are no mistakes in the experimentation stage. Every flavor you categorize inside your mind is another taste memory you can draw upon in the future.

Until next time, may all your drinks be tasty. Cheers.

The classic cocktail uses a “2-1-1” ratio: two parts alcohol, one part sour and one part other flavorants.

But Ed, you ask, that’s all very nice but I want to make a gallon of punch so how do I know how much of each liquid to meet those ratios?

Well, it is based on how much you want to make. You can make a drink as small as a shot glass or as big as a a bathtub using the nomenclature I provide.

A ‘part’ is not referring to a specific amount such as an ounce or centiliter etc. 

It refers to the volume of the liquid in reference to all the other ingredients. Utilizing this method you can mix anything from a shooter to a bathtub punch with ease and the proportions will remain consistent. 

So for example, if you are using a pint glass—which in your system of measurement might be 16 ounces or 473 mL— simply determine the total ‘parts’ that comprise your drink and decide what each part represents volume-wise to allow it all to fit in the glass. Using our example, if the recipe calls for four ingredients of one part each, each part would be 4 ounces or approximately 118 mL to fill the glass.

For solid measures, I default to the American terms of teaspoon (tsp) and tablespoon (tbsp). For those using metric measurements, a teaspoon is approx. 4.7 gm and is one-third of a tablespoon at 14.3 gm.

So, to reiterate, a ‘part’ is any measure of the ingredient. It can be 1 ounce, 1 centiliter, 1 quart, 1 liter, 1 gallon, or 1 eyedropper.

For example lets consider how to make a screwdriver which consists of 1 part vodka and 3 parts orange juice.

For a single drink I might pour 1 ounce of vodka to which I add 3 ounces of orange juice.

Making a punch bowl? 1 gallon of vodka to 3 gallons of orange juice.

Get the picture?

That should give you enough data to begin reading the rest of the site and know what I’m talking about. Again, if you want more in-depth details on the science of tasting, buy my book.