Food

Whether you're hosting a holiday celebration, a special birthday, or enjoying happy hour, it helps to know how to mix great drinks. Homemade cocktails make a celebration extra special!

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Chill it Out

The first thing to remember is to get things icy cold. Chill your liquor before your guests arrive and pop your glasses in the freezer to chill them too. If the freezer's full, you can fill the glass with cold water and a few ice cubes right before serving. It will only take a couple minutes until they're nice and chilled.

Easy Pouring

To pour liquor easily, consider buying a liquor pourer. This is a spouted cap that inserts into liquor bottles and gives you much more control when you pour. They're inexpensive and you can pick one up at a well-stocked kitchen or dollar store.

Tip: simply count to three as you pour and you'll have the perfect ounce — no need for a measuring cup!

Mixing Martinis

When mixing martinis, only shake for a few seconds and once shaken, pour and serve straight away. This is to avoid your ice melting and diluting the flavour of your cocktail.

Freeze Your Fruit

For fruity drinks like our Strawberry Melon Sangria, freeze pieces of fruit cut into bite-sized chunks and use them as ice cubes in your drinks. Not only do they make colourful ice cubes, but when they melt they lend their fruity flavour without diluting the drink and become an edible treat at the end of a drink.

Salted Rim

To line the rim of a glass with salt like we do in this Classic Margarita, pour a thin layer of salt onto a saucer slightly wider than the rim of your glass. Take a wedge of lemon or lime and run it along the edge of your glass to wet it. Then flip your glass upside down and rotate the rim in the salt. The salt sticks to the juice on the rim for perfect results.

Use these tips and shake up any of these celebration-worthy drinks. Cheers!

Originally published on Best Recipes Ever