Stir your creativity with top party tips from BOMBAY SAPPHIRE’S gin expert Sam Carter
Whether you are a seasoned dinner party host or a first-timer hoping to impress your guests, hosting at home is a skill that can always be refined. Fear not, gin expert and BOMBAY SAPPHIRE Senior Brand Ambassador Sam Carter is here to help with his top tips for hosting the ultimate night in.
Sam’s ‘dos and don’ts’ will save you time and effort whilst offering your family and friends an experience they will never forget. Create something unusual, memorable and extraordinary – but most of all, have fun!
Plan your cocktail menu
Choosing the right cocktails for the occasion is essential. You wouldn’t want to be drinking a summery mimosa at a Christmas dinner party! A well-balanced cocktail menu is key.
Create a menu of long and short drinks; strong and weak; bright and clear; deep and fruity; anything to create a bit of variety. Look at different methods of making cocktails, such as shaking (Aviation) , stirring (Bombay Sapphire Dry Martini) , building (Bombay Sapphire and Tonic), “thrown” (Bombay Mary) and blended.
A great rule of thumb is to stick to only one spirit per cocktail. There’s a classic bartenders’ rhyme to remember a well-balanced cocktail – 1 part sweet, 2 parts sour, 3 parts alcohol and 4 parts weak. A great example of this is the classic Tom Collins. Cocktails are about care, craft, attention to detail, accuracy and balance.
For ginspiration, you can check out other delicious Bombay Sapphire cocktail recipes, including The Laverstoke, here.
Be creative with your equipment
You don’t have to be a professional bartender to make a great cocktail. Grab a large chopping board, serrated knife, egg cup to measure liquid ingredients in parts, a chopstick to stir, a juicer, a Kilner jar to shake, and you’ve got a workable set of cocktail-making equipment without even realising it! These are great little tricks to be the ultimate at-home bartender and show off to your friends and family.
Try to incorporate a range of different glassware… highballs, tumblers, champagne flutes, small and large stemmed wine glasses, balloons, martinis, coupettes… whatever you can get your hands on, after all variety is the spice of life!
Top tip: you always need more ice than you think. Buy twice as much as you think you need for well-made drinks.
Get your guests mixing
Stick your recipes to the wall above your chosen bar area or write them up on a chalk board so that your guests can get involved and have a go themselves.
Consider batched cocktails for ease
Batched cocktails are a super-efficient way of making consistent cocktails for any entertaining occasion. They can be made by multiplying the individual servings of the liquid ingredients by the number of people at your party and combining them in a large container so that you’ve made enough for everyone, simply divide into individual glasses. They save you time in the kitchen while leaving you to do the more important stuff – entertaining your guests. A great cocktail to batch is the BOMBAY Mary.
If these tips have inspired you to get creative, tag your concoctions on social media with @bombaysapphireuk and #StirCreativity.
To read the full version of Sam’s top tips, visit https://distillery.bombaysapphire.com/press-centre