Bartender Mixes 5 Levels of Whiskey Cocktails

Hi, I'm Tim Sweeney, head bartender here at Pebble Bar.

Today I'm gonna show you different levels

of whiskey cocktails starting from the easiest

to one of the hardest.

There's an infinite number of ways

that you can make a cocktail.

Sometimes it's just putting

a few ingredients together in a glass,

but as you add tools and techniques it becomes more complex.

So you're gonna be seeing that from level one

to level five as we go.

[cheerful music]

[bell dinging]

[bottles clacking]

So we're going Book of Genesis here.

Whiskey Highball is about as simple as it gets.

What it is is a whiskey plus mixer on ice.

So when it comes to pouring for this,

the tool that I am gonna use is a measuring tool,

your jiggers, 1/2 ounce, 3/4 of an ounce,

one ounce, two ounce.

If you're at home, you can find whatever you have

in your measuring drawer to use.

A shot glass is an ounce and a half.

First thing you need is gonna be ice.

Ice is crucial to pretty much any cocktail

you're gonna make.

About four to five cubes.

We're filling it up so it's a little under the brim there.

The more ice you put in, the slower it's gonna dilute.

So when it comes to making this cocktail,

my go-to would be the bourbon.

Bourbon I think has more universality.

It's a little bit sweeter.

Let's go with two ounces.

The idea of when you're pouring to the top

is to get a perfect meniscus,

that little bulb that goes right up over

so it's not spilling.

And then once it gets right over there,

that's the objective time to actually dump it out.

This is why I feel this cocktail is one

that most people can actually make better at home

than you're gonna find at most bars.

When you go to a bar

often you're gonna find club soda on the gun.

Now you're trusting them

to have the perfect carbonation on it.

I think your best is going with a bottle.

Well, I wouldn't say there's a rule about ratio

because you can make it as stiff or as light as you'd like.

I would say three-to-one would be kind of the rule of thumb.

Now I've already measured my whiskey,

so what I don't have to measure is my club soda.

Doesn't need to be mixed, doesn't need to be stirred.

It's gonna take care of that itself.

If you already got the ice in there,

the whiskey's gonna rise.

So traditionally if you say Whiskey Highball

you're referring to a whiskey and club soda

or sparkling water,

but you can replace that with ginger ale.

Very, very common drink.

What I like with mine is a lemon twist.

Now a twist gives it that little hint.

If you don't believe that this does much,

get yourself a glass of water, put a lemon twist in it,

you're gonna taste the difference.

But a plague upon your house if you put a lime on there.

Don't ever put a lime on a Whiskey Highball.

And there you have it, your quintessential Whiskey Highball.

[cheerful music] [bottles clacking]

All right, moving on to level two, the Paper Plane.

This is a level two cocktail cause we're gonna add shaking.

We're gonna add straining.

It's not the most difficult though

because we're using four ingredients that are equal parts.

A Paper Plane is a modern classic,

a really crushable summertime cocktail, very refreshing.

You might not even notice that it's whiskey

when you're tasting it.

This cocktail did not exist 20 years ago,

and now you can find it

pretty much at any bar worth its salt.

We need a shaker tin.

[cheerful music] [shaker tin clacking]

We're going to need a jigger.

Traditionally, I'm gonna start

by putting the ingredients in.

If I put the ice in, I don't want it to sit there and melt.

I'm gonna start with my small shaker tin

and I'm gonna do 3/4 of an ounce of my cheapest ingredient,

lemon juice.

If I make a mistake, if something happens,

if it gets knocked over, we have lost less money

and taken less of a loss

if it's only the cheapest ingredients in there.

Next I'm gonna move to the Aperol.

So Aperol is an aperitif.

It's known as an amaro.

We're gonna have some bitterness with the Aperol.

3/4 Amaro Nonino.

This is a bit lighter and fruitier.

And these are much lower ABV, that's alcohol by volume,

than your whiskey's gonna be.

Your whiskey is going to be considered

your base spirit in this one.

It's got the most dominance.

Next up, bourbon. Bam.

3/4, 3/4, 3/4, 3/4.

We have three ounces of booze sitting right here.

Now we're ready to add ice and start shaking.

Well, I was taught five to seven ice cubes

for a regular drink is the way to go.

Coop.

[cheerful music] [ice cubes clinking]

[shaker tin banging] Holy hell, let's do it.

So I bring it to an ear like you're throwing a football.

[ice cubes clinking] [cheerful music]

And it's quick, rabbit-like start-stop.

I try to keep my hands here,

or maybe possibly here if I'm doing it,

'cause I don't want my 98.6 degree hand

to affect the cocktail as I'm shaking it.

Citrus loves agitation.

So when I'm shaking pretty much a lemon or a lime cocktail,

the best way to do is to hear

those little bits of ice start splitting off.

Should be popping off in the opposite direction.

So when it comes to straining,

we're using a Hawthorne strainer,

this beautiful creature like this.

[cheerful music] [strainer clacking]

Pretty easy. You put it right on.

It's got that little gizmo to push forward

to make sure it's as tight as possible.

Not gonna get any of those ice chips as you pour it out.

So you should have that good froth on it.

So the one thing I'll say about this glass being up

is that nothing more is gonna happen to this cocktail

once you pour it, so the cocktail has to come out perfectly.

There you have it, the Paper Plane.

[cheerful music] [bottles clacking]

We're going to that level three cocktail, the Night Train.

This is a level three cocktail

because we're involving stirring.

So stirring might look easier than shaking.

Shaking looks sexier, let's be honest.

[sensual music]

But actually it's gonna involve more technique

than shaking ever does

because your dilution process has to be perfect.

So the first thing I'm gonna do

is I'm gonna get my mixing glass.

I love seeing my cocktail.

Some people say metal's better

because it actually makes it colder.

This is a personal preference.

So when you're stirring a cocktail

you're just trying to chill and dilute it.

When you shake a cocktail

you change the entire texture of it.

You're gonna add air when you shake.

You're gonna get a much more crystalline cocktail.

When you stir, you're gonna get a very cloudy cocktail

when you shake.

First thing I'm gonna do, add my dash of bitters.

So what we have here is Amargo Vallet bitters.

This has a real sharpness.

Bitters are the spice rack of the bar.

They're gonna add that little extra flavor

where it's needed.

Just one dash for this.

We're gonna do 1/2 ounce of Amaro CioCiaro.

Amaro CioCiaro is probably the sweetest

and darkest part of this composition.

Also gonna go to 1/2 ounce of Cynar.

Cynar is a very, very, very low AB amaro.

It's got that artichoke in it.

It definitely has that bitterness.

What you want for this is an overproof whiskey.

Bourbon works and rye works as long as it's overproof,

meaning it's over 50% alcohol content by volume.

So as our base spirit, much like a Manhattan,

we're going with two ounces of this.

[cap popping] [cheerful music]

Wanna get that perfect meniscus over it.

[whiskey splashing]

This isn't a Nick and Nora.

I don't wanna really dilute this too much.

I want it chilled more than diluted.

We know there's three ounces of booze in here.

We know that this is a five ounce glass.

Ideally I should do it

so about four and a half ounces are filled in this glass.

You never want the glass completely filled.

Somebody told me once a full glass is sloppy, not generous.

Once I add this ice,

I'm gonna start stirring pretty much immediately

because time is of the essence once I do this.

Let's put about that much in it

and we're gonna start starting.

So when you use a spoon,

the most important thing is to make sure

your spoon is going on the outer rim of it.

You never want it to cut across.

Your goal is also to make it so it's all in the wrist.

If your elbow's moving, you're gonna be doing it wrong.

Hopefully I haven't overdone it.

What I like to do is put ice in the top

because it's the last blast of chill

that this drink's gonna get.

It's the Hawthorne strainer, as we described earlier.

Lovely getting that little bit of orange with this cocktail.

Stemmed glassware so that you're not going to make it warm.

I gave you the Night Train.

So this cocktail's pretty much completely naked.

Once it comes out, there's no ice in it.

It's not gonna change form.

Whatever you've put in that glass

is the cocktail someone's getting,

so it has to be absolutely perfect.

[cheerful music] [bottles clacking]

Level four, the Vieux Carre.

We're calling it a level four cocktail here

because we're doing six ingredients.

We're stirring it.

We're gonna put it on a large ice block

that's stamped as well.

So we're implementing a new tool to the repertoire,

the stamp.

Starting with the mixing glass as before.

Now, like we said, the spice rack of the bar.

What is the granddaddy of all spices? The Angostura.

It is the most popular one that you're going to find.

Peychaud's bitters got a little bit more sweetness

than the Angostura.

Next I'm adding Benedictine, a French herbal liqueur.

It's got 27 different herbs, spices, flowers, et cetera.

We only know 21 of them, but god, they're good.

So 1/4, will not fill to the top here.

It'll go to that first line.

Moving on, we're gonna do sweet vermouth.

Sweet vermouth is a fortified red wine.

Must be refrigerated once opened.

One full ounce.

[cheerful music] [vermouth splashing]

[cork popping]

Next, [sniffs] we have lovely cognac,

which is a French brandy used from distilling wine.

And then comes the spice.

Rye is the best choice for a Vieux Carre.

As a matter of fact bourbon I'm gonna say as a no-go.

I want that rye spice.

One ounce.

Then one of the most beautiful things you can have

to make your drinks gorgeous is the heavy, wide ice.

So ice is vital to this system and finding the right ice.

This, the slow dilution is so good for this cocktail

because I want the full flavor of these spirits.

And then we have the stamp.

Copper is a conductor.

So what we have here is our Pebble Bar logo.

You sit it on there.

You can either press down make it quick,

or you can let it sit there for about 20 seconds.

I see bartenders all the time who stamp it

and then their drink goes immediately into it.

All that water that's come from the stamp

is sitting at the bottom of your glass right now.

Please, pour out that extra water.

It makes a difference in your drink.

We're gonna add our ice now

and start stirring on this Vieux Carre.

I don't want to dilute it any more than it has to be

because I want this to be a strong cocktail.

I like to

[ice cracking]

top it off so it's cold as possible.

Hawthorne strainer coming to save the day again.

And here if you can look

we have the PB stamp perfectly on top of it.

God bless New Orleans. The Vieux Carre.

[glass thudding]

[cheerful music] [bottles clacking]

We're doing level five, one of my personal creations,

the Crimson and Clover.

So this is a level five cocktail

because we're gonna be emulsifying egg white.

We're going to be double shaking it.

We're gonna be using two kinds of strainer on this.

And at the end, if I've done my job,

the cocktail must look gorgeous.

It's tart and fruity.

It has a little bit of sweetness,

but what the egg's gonna do is gonna dry it

out and kind of draw back that sweetness.

The egg's also gonna add that froth to the cocktail

that we really want on top.

So we're going back to shaking on this.

First thing is the egg.

Now we're just gonna use the whites of this egg.

Many different techniques for getting the egg white out.

I'm gonna do the back, back, forth and fourth,

and that'll be, if you had to measure it,

about an ounce of egg white in there.

Next I'm gonna dash my Ango.

1/4 ounce of

♪ Raspberry puree ♪

Next we're gonna go with a half ounce of simple syrup.

What I like to do is kind of leave that puree in there.

It's gonna stick, so the simple syrup will kind of help

drain that excess out.

3/4 lemon juice.

So what we have here is a bit of a whiskey sour concoction

with the simple and the lemon.

Next we're using port.

Now port is adding brandy or other spirits

to a fortified wine to give it kind of this sweet

and fruity texture.

3/4 of an ounce of that.

So love that Teeling is kind of the perfect,

perfect whiskey for this.

This is Irish whiskey.

So what I'm gonna start is with a dry shake.

That means it's a shake without ice.

I wanna get all those ingredients good and mixed.

[shaker tin banging]

[cheerful music] [liquid sloshing]

It looks like a beautiful strawberry milkshake

already all mixed up.

Now we're gonna do the wet shake.

I like filling my ice

in the opposite side of where the liquid is.

That way if you get distracted, if something goes wrong,

it's not sitting there just diluting.

[ice clinking]

Now this is one of those cocktails when I pour it out,

you wait 20 seconds.

It's gonna look better in 20 or 25 seconds

than it looks right now

'cause it's gonna separate as it goes.

Second strainer here is a fine strainer.

Some people use this religiously for a lot of cocktails.

I don't. I think it brings cocktails back to temperature.

There's two instances where I use it.

I use it if I'm muddling something

such as mint or jalapeno in here,

or I use it for an egg white

'cause I find it gives me that great separation

at the end of the cocktail.

And then we're gonna garnish

using this dried raspberry powder.

It's gonna give it kind of a watercolor effect.

So I'm putting this on one side

as a choose your own adventure.

So the presentation adds to this drink

and makes it a level five cocktail.

This is one of those cocktails

that when it comes out in the bar people turn and go,

Ooh, what's that?

Proud of that one.

So this gives you a good spectrum

from level one to level five.

Anybody can make a cocktail,

and as you start introducing new techniques

and new instruments to what you're doing,

you can start advancing up the ranks

and eventually you might be making gorgeous cocktails.

And that's why I do what I do.

Do I think a level one cocktail

can taste as good as a level five?

Absolutely. I don't think it's necessarily about taste.

No, wait.

It is about taste. It is about taste.

Well, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

You're right. It's 100% about taste. [chuckles]