• 1/2 oz. of liquor is equal to 1 count, assuming you are using a pourer on your bottles. To measure 1 1/2 oz. of liquor, count "1001...1002...1003" as you are pouring. After a while, you should be able to do it by eye.
• To make highballs, fill glass two-thirds full of ice before adding liquor. Always pour liquor in before the mixer. Do not stir drinks containing carbonated mixers.
• To make cocktails, lowballs, and other shaken or stirred drinks, fill shaker half-full of ice. For lowballs, fill the glass about half-full of ice before pouring drink.
• Most shaken drinks which contain light cream can also be made as blended drinks, substituting vanilla ice cream for the light cream.
• To make blended drinks, first fill blender half-full of ice. If necessary, add more ice as you are blending.
• Always keep fruit juices and other mixers refrigerated.
• In fruit drinks, e.g. strawberry margaritas, always use fresh fruit, not frozen.

Stirring

Cocktails which contain only liquor require stirring with ice in a mixing glass with a bar spoon for proper mixing. It is necessary to stir enough to ensure that the drink is well mixed and chilled, but not enough to dilute the drink.

Procedure:
Fill the mixing glass aproximately 3/4 full with ice and then add the required amount of liquor. Stir slowly in a clockwise motion for about 3-4 stirs or circles around the glass. After this is done, strain the drink into the serving glass and garnish it accordingly.

Shake/Blend

This method is common with drinks containing fruit juices, cream or eggs. In today's time, a blender is most often used to blend drinks, but the old fashioned shake method is outlined below.

Procedure:
Fill the shaker to 2/3 with ice and add the ingredients. After adding the ingredients cover the shaker and procede to shake. This is usually done by shaking over your shoulder. Remove the cover and strain into the proper glass, allowing the drink to form a foamy head. Finish by garnishing and adding a straw.

Flaming

Decided to play with fire eh? Well here are a few tips on flaming your liqueurs. Most liqueurs with a high alcohol content are really easy to flame.

Simply warm your liqueur up in a sauce pan and have a pre-warmed cocktail glass ready. After heating the glass, pour the rest or other alcohols into the glass to warm. The glass can be heated over an element or a flame, but use caution to avoid contact with the glass and element or flame as the glass will break or char easy. When the alcohol has been heated, ignite it and add it to the alcohol in the glass. If done properly, the alcohol in the glass will be warm enough to flame also.

Caution:
When flaming liqueurs be sure to keep any objects away from the glass. Flames can often shoot high up and ignite things in their way. Like your hair! So if doing this, please use caution and enjoy the fireworks.

Glass Preparation

Chilled glasses are the best way to serve your cocktails. Glasses can be put in the refigerator before serving, or another common way is to fill the glass with ice before preparing the drink, swishing the ice around then emptying the ice before pouring. Either way will work and will chill your glass.

Often a recipe calls for a glass that is frosted to enhance the drink. There are a couple of different ways to frost a glass depending on the recipe. These are very easy to do and just take a little time before the drink is to be made.

The most common frosted glass is simply put in the freezer or buried in ice cubes long enough to create a white frosted look on the glass.

For drinks that call for a sugar frosting, take the frosted glass and wipe the rim with a slice of lemon or lime. After this, dip in powdered sugar to complete the effect. Margaritas are prepared the same, but the rim is coated with lime and dipped in coarse salt.