Level Up Your Cocktail Game with 5 Pro Garnishes

What's up my friends, welcome back to the channel. Today, I'm showing you how to make garnishes that will make your cocktails look like they came straight from one of the world's best bars. So, if you guys are ready, let's dive right into it. Number one, the dusted glass. This can be made with fruits, citrus peels or even spices. Today, I'm using freeze-dried strawberries. You can absolutely use dehydrated fruits, but whenever possible, I prefer freeze-dried because they keep that bright fresh aroma, while the hydrated fruits tend to have a more cooked smell. So first, simply add your strawberries into a spice grinder and blend until you get a nice and fine powder. Add the powder to a dusting device and set aside. Next, we need to make a light syrup. So, just mix equal parts of water and simple syrup to dilute it and pour it into a spray bottle. Now, spray some of your light syrup on the outside of a cool glass and I like to do half of the surface so I can choose which side to sip from. Then, sprinkle some of the strawberry powder until you have a nice even coat and if you want a great cocktail idea to use this with, I recommend my riff on the Naked and Famous. One part mezcal, one part yellow chartreuse, one part lime and one part of my homemade strawberry amaro. The link for that recipe will be in the description. And you simply shake with ice, pour it into your dusted coupe and enjoy. Coating only half of the coupe creates a beautiful contrast of color and lets you choose whether or not to sip on the strawberry. The aroma is intense and it pairs beautifully with the cocktail. You can also use a powder to dust the surface of a clear ice cube, which brings me to a bonus point today. Clear ice isn't strictly a garnish but it definitely makes your cocktail look better and elevate their quality. Today's video is sponsored by Clarisse, which I talked about several times before. Simply put, it's the best in the game, period. Clarisse is the only professional countertop appliance that make clear ice using the reverse directional freezing method. The result is perfect crystal clear ice without the hassle of the cooler technique. It saves tons of freezer space and it couldn't be easier. Fill up the tray, place it in, press start and wait. Depending on your machine, the mini or the classic, you can make two to four cubes at a time and run two to three cycles a day, which is more than enough for most people. I am personally a cocktail content creator and make drinks every day and I've relied on my Clarisse machine for ice for two years and never ran out, even for stirring and shaking my cocktails. So if you want one for Christmas, there's still time and if you use my promo code TOTR10, you're gonna get 10% off site-wise. I'm gonna put all the links in the description and pinned comment below. Next up, let's elevate our zest game with this beautiful cut and I guarantee it looks harder than it is. First, take your orange and make a long zest. To get a bit extra length, cut it at a slight diagonal angle. Then make a parallelogram and trim both tips from left to right with a slight downward angle. Next, starting from the right side at about five millimeters from the top, cut all the way down. Then on the left side, cut partially down without going all the way. Take the zest, flip the left side 360 degrees and insert the right point into the opening. Take your time to place it and you should get something like this. A classy garnish like that deserves a classy drink, so I'm going to show you how to make one of the best riff on the Boulevardier. Start with one ounce and a half of Reposado tequila, three quarters of an ounce of Campari, three quarters of an ounce of Cardamaro and finish with three dashes of Angostura cacao bitters. Stir over rice for 20 to 30 seconds, pour into a Nicanora, express the zest over the top for the oils, make it pretty and garnish your drink with the zest. The Cardamaro is a hybrid between Maru and vermouth and it pairs beautifully with tequila. It's as elegant as it's delicious. For garnish number three now, we'll make an air garnish. For this, you'll need a soy lecithin powder and an aquarium pop with an air stone. Today, I'm going to show you how to make a melon air. So start by juicing some cotton lube and if you don't have a juicer, just blend the flesh and strain it through a cheesecloth without adding any pressure. Add the juice to a blender along with 1.5% by weight of lecithin powder and blend for 30 seconds. Place your air stone at the bottom of a container and place it in a way to make sure it's going to stay at the bottom when you're going to add the liquid. Add the juice and simply start the pump to create the foam. For about 350 mils of juice like this, you can make enough air to top roughly 100 cocktails. I choose melon today because I just made a cucumber melon and caper milk punch and it pairs perfectly with it. So once ready, simply collect some air with a spoon, gently tap your cocktail and voila. Next, the mint oil. I've done this before but I still get a lot of requests so here it is. Today, as I said, we're going to make mint oil but this method also works with dill, coriander, basil or parsley. So first, blanch your herbs in boiling water for 20 seconds then plunge it into an ice bath. This preserves color and flavor. Once cold, dry the mint thoroughly using a clean kitchen towel then trim to keep only the leaves because the stems will turn the oil brown. Then weigh your herbs and for 85 grams of fresh blanched herbs, add 125 grams of neutral oil such as MCT coconut oil or sunflower oil. Blend until smooth and strain through a nut meal bag. To extract as much oil as possible without getting your hands all greasy, use a potato ricer or a lemon press. Bottle in a clean pipette bottle and store in a fridge for up to three weeks. I personally love this on a clear cocktail like this clarified Mai Tai. The contrast is beautiful and it adds wonderful aroma and flavor. Last garnish, let's make the coral towel. You can use this recipe as a base and experiment with flavors. Today, I'm making pandan which is stunning with tropical drinks. So in a blender, you're gonna add 15 grams of flour, 5 grams of sugar, 65 grams of water, 60 grams of vegetable oil, 2 grams of vanilla extract, 1 pinch of salt and 1 ml of pandan paste. Blend until smooth and pour into a squeeze bottle. This batch right here will make 12 to 15 towels depending on the size. Next, gonna place about 15 mils of batter in the middle of a pan over medium high heat. Once the edges turn golden, remove from heat and cool for two minutes. Lift with a spatula, place on a parchment paper and once fully set, remove the excess oil using a paper towel. I paired this today with a holiday cocktail instead of a tropical one. Coconut and cacao washed rum with green chartreuse and heavy cream. It was the perfect garnish for it. So there you have it my friends. Those were 5 next level cocktail garnishes. I hope you liked them. Subscribe if you did and I'll see you next time. Bye!