15 Cocktail Tips & Tricks – How to Make a Great Cocktail at Home

Have you ever made a cocktail recipe that didn’t turn out quite right? Try using the 15 cocktail tips and tricks below to set yourself up for success.

Making a great cocktail doesn’t have to be hard when you follow these guidelines! Your cocktails will taste just like the ones you get from your favorite bar or restaurant.

Keep reading for 15 cocktail tips to level up your bartending abilities! Plus download a free cocktail making tips printable at the bottom of the post.

15 cocktail tips

You’ll be a more confident bartender in no time with these cocktail tricks.

Some of the links below are affiliate links. I earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you if you purchase through an affiliate link.

Know when to shake or stir a cocktail

As a general rule, you should shake your cocktail if it has fresh juice, citrus, simple syrup, egg whites, or dairy and to stir if has all liquor. Make sure you never to shake a cocktail with a carbonated ingredient (like soda water).

Shaking cocktails with juice, dairy, simple syrup and egg whites emulsifies those ingredients. This ensures that your cocktail won’t separate.

Stirring spirit forward cocktails ensures they won’t be diluted. Shaking a cocktail incorporates more water into the drink.

Measure your ingredients

It’s important to measure your ingredients and the follow the cocktail recipe you’re using. The recipes have been tested and balanced for the optimal flavor.

It looks cool to do a free pour, but learning how to accurately free pour takes a lot of time and practice! You might think you can “eyeball” an ounce, but if you’re not accurate it will change the taste of the cocktail.

Invest in an jigger so that you won’t be tempted to skip this step.

Don’t measure over your cocktail shaker

Make sure not to measure your ingredients directly over your cocktail shaker. If you do, and spill some, then you’ll spill them right into the shaker and it will change the balance of the drink.

If you measure beside your cocktail shaker and spill some, then your drink will still be balanced!

Use the right bar tools

While not absolutely necessary, a collection of high quality bar tools will help you make a great cocktail. Over time your can build your perfect bar setup so it includes the following bar tools:

• Cocktail jigger
• Weighted/unweighted cocktail shaker
• 2 in 1 citrus juicer
• Hawthorne strainer
• Fine mesh strainer
• Cocktail mixing glass
• Cocktail spoon
• Cocktail muddler
• Double hinged corkscrew
• Silicone ice cube trays (large rocks cubes, circular cubes)
• Cocktail glasses (martini, rocks, highball, coupes, flutes)

Choose a good quality liquor

If you try to make a martini from a $5 bottle of gin, it’s not going to taste like one made from a $30 bottle of gin.

This does not mean that you have to spend an arm and a leg on alcohol, but you should experiment on the mid range priced bottles to find ones that you really like.

There’s also times where you can get away with using a lower quality liquor, like if there are other strong flavors in the drink.

For example, it’s a good idea to use a better quality liquor in an old fashioned (where you can taste alcohol more), but it’s not as important in a pina colada, where the taste of alcohol is masked by sweeter ingredients.

Chill (or preheat) your cocktail glasses

Make sure your hot drinks are served hot, and your cold drinks are served cold. No one wants to drink a warm martini or a tepid Irish coffee.

For cold drinks like cosmopolitans, chill your cocktail glass first by placing it in the freezer or by filling it with ice and water while you’re making your cocktail.

For warm drinks like hot buttered rum, preheat the mugs with boiling water before adding the cocktail so that they keep the drink warm longer.

Use freshly squeezed juice

Skip the store bought juice and switch to freshly squeezed juice instead. Some store bought juices contain extra ingredients, and none of them taste as nice as freshly squeezed juice.

You can also make your own sweet and sour mix that will taste better than any store bought version.

Make your own simple syrup

Use homemade simple syrup in your cocktails instead of store bought simple syrup. It’s super easy to make: combine equal parts of sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves.

Make sure to store your homemade simple syrup in the fridge to prevent spoilage. If you store it in an airtight container it will last for about a month.

Refrigerate your vermouth

You might be tempted to keep all your liquors in your bar area, but it’s important to refrigerate vermouth after opening it. Vermouth is a fortified wine, and if it’s left at room temperature it will oxidize and go bad.

It’s a good idea to buy a small bottle of vermouth if you don’t plan to use a lot of it when you open it, to prevent wasting it.

Strain your cocktails

Depending on what type of cocktail you’re making you might need to strain (or even double strain) your cocktail to ensure a smooth drinking experience.

For example, if you muddle raspberries or blackberries in a cocktail, and don’t double strain it with a Hawthorne strainer and a fine mesh strainer, the drink could end up with lots of seeds in it.

Use fresh ice

When you’re filling up your ice cube trays, don’t use tap water. Refill them with filtered water instead. As your ice melts, that water will become incorporated into the drink, and you want to make sure that water has the freshest flavor.

You can also make ice cubes that enhance the flavor (and presentation) of your drink. Try making fruit ice cubes for tropical drinks or coffee ice cubes for white Russians.

Don’t add ice to your cocktail until last

Wait until your cocktail is finished to add the ice. The longer the ice sits in your cocktail glass, the more it will melt.

This melting will dilute your cocktail, and adding your ice last to help prevent diluting your drink.

Garnish your cocktails

We eat with our eyes first, and seeing a cocktail with an enticing cocktail garnish will elevate the drink. Your garnish could be as simple as a wheel of lime and a sprig of mint, or as elaborate as a layered bloody Mary garnish. 

If your drink has a theme, make sure the garnish matches. For example, if you’re making a Halloween cocktail, be sure to garnish it with an appropriate Halloween cocktail garnish.

Let your garnish reflect the drink!

Learn how to drizzle glasses

Nothing makes a cocktail look more trendy than a fancy cocktail glass, perfectly drizzled with chocolate. It is so easy to do, too.

Learn how to drizzle a martini glass here.

Don’t skip the mocktails

Even though mocktails don’t contain any alcohol, they’re a great option to make if you’re working on improving your bartending skills.

Many mocktail recipes are as expertly crafted as cocktail recipes and taste just as great! If you’re looking to try a new mocktail, check out this tropical mocktail recipe or this blueberry mint lemonade.

Get a free cocktail tricks printable

Want to remember these cocktails tips the next time you’re making a drink? You can print the cocktail making tips as a high-resolution JPG or PDF by using the links below.

• Get the high-resolution cocktail tips printable (JPG)↗
• Get the free printable list of cocktail tips (PDF)↗

Printing instructions:

• Choose portrait orientation and “fit to page” on your printer settings for a full page printout.
• You can also print the cocktails tips printable in a slightly smaller size from the project card at the bottom of this page. Just scroll down and press “print”.

Share these cocktail making tips on X

Have you enjoyed learning these cocktail tricks? Let your friends and family know about them by sharing this post:

Get a list of 15 cocktail tips on Recipes Just 4U! They will help you learn how to make a great cocktail, like the pros! 🍹🍸🥃 #CocktailTips #CocktailTricks Share on X

Pin this post on how to make great cocktails (tips and tricks) on Pinterest

Would you like a reminder of this post with cocktails tips? Just pin the image below to one of your cocktail boards on Pinterest so you can easily find it later.

Admin note: This cocktails tips post first appeared on the blog in July of 2013. I have updated the post to add all new photos, and a free printable for you to enjoy.

Share on Social Media