Cocktail Families- Highball
There is a question I have been asked more times than I can count when it comes to remembering a monthly bar menu or a new cocktail program, I always get asked 'How do you remember all these different cocktails?' My response is that all these cocktails really aren't that different from the others.
Every cocktail is basically just another cocktail, with a few tweaks. The world of cocktails and mixology starts making so much more sense when you start thinking of cocktails as being in 'families' rather than just 'so many different individual cocktails.'
My philosophy has been influenced by a number of different people, bars and bar programs, and with this philosophy I view all cocktails being able to fit within the 6 cocktail families; Old Fashioned, Martini, Daiquiri/Sour, Sidecar, Highball and Flip.
It would take way too long to breakdown all 6 of these in one go, so let's dive into the details of one at a time, starting with Highballs. Light, refreshing, bubbly and always enjoyable!
A basic Highball starts as your Whisky Highball, or what most people would know as 'Scotch & Soda'. A Whisky Highball is your choice of whisky, (I usually prefer something on the fruity/floral side) in a glass filled with ice and topped up with soda. A simple template, a blank canvas to paint an infinite number of variations, including a Gin & Tonic, Limoncello Spritz, Bloody Mary/Red Snapper, Cuba Libre, Paloma and many more well known classics.
To classify as part of the Highball family, a drink will be composed of a core spirit that also provides seasoning, and is balanced by a non-alcoholic mixer. A Highball's core can be split between any number of spirits, liqueurs, wines or fortified wines. A Highball can be served effervescent or still.
The great thing about Highball style cocktails is the versatility and ability to really tailor the drink to your preferences. You can do this by controlling a few variables:
The core spirit- Play around with different spirit options, you've had a Bloody Mary with vodka before, but how about with the Banks & Solander Fig Gin. If you love your Palomas, swap your Tequila for Solander Rum Company's White. Limoncello Spritzes are obviously amazing, but have you tried a Limecello Spritz?
The soda/mixer- Sometimes a simple tweak of what you're putting with your core makes all the difference. That Limecello Spritz you've made, try it again but instead of using a sparkling wine to top it up with, use Fever-Tree's Lime & Yuzu Soda. If you are looking to compliment a specific flavour in your spirit, try and match it with a flavour in the soda. Solander Rum Company's White has an amazing tropical fruit flavour profile, find/create a pineapple soda, passionfruit soda or guava soda to go with it.
Add (a touch of) syrup- While a traditional Whisky Highball is supposed to be dry, highlighting the magnificent and simplicity of whisky and soda, you can really change up your drink by introducing a flavoured syrup. If your core is a spirit (and not a liqueur) you sometimes might want to balance this with a touch of a syrup. If you enjoy the Banks & Solander Signature Gin with soda, add a touch of lemon oleo saccharum (lemon syrup) to your drink. Not too much though, increasing the viscosity of your drink has a negative impact on the carbonation quality.
Introduce liqueurs, citrus or other accent flavours-
Looking at the Limecello and Fever-Tree Lime & Yuzu Soda from earlier, with a few more adjustments we can really make the magic happen. While keeping the Lime & Yuzu Soda as part of the drink, if we introduce some coconut rum, aloe vera juice and a touch of fresh lime, we now have the always delicious Oasis Highball! See how we've gone from a Limoncello Spritz, all the way to the eventual Oasis Highball. Both coming from the Highball family, they're really not too dissimilar from each other.
The nerdy stuff.
If you really want to get technical and serve the perfect highball, there are a few things to keep in mind.
Temperature is everything. When talking about bubbles, cold is key with your highball. This helps to preserve the quality of your carbonation and effervescence, and most importantly, enhancing your drinking experience. The CO2 that carbonates your drink remains dissolved in solution better at colder temperatures, meaning all that bubbly goodness stays in your drink for longer, being able to better deliver that tingle on the tongue as you sip. Ideally, ensure all your ingredients that you are using in your highball are already cold and more importantly, ensure the glass you are serving it in is chilled. So remember, the drink will hold its bubbles for longer when it is cold, slowing it down from going flat and giving you a below average drink.
Minimise surface area. Outside of temperature, surface area is probably the next big factor that can ruin the quality of carbonated drinks. So firstly, on top of making sure your glass is cold, make sure its also clean and dry. A smooth, non-greasy surface on the interior of your glass plays a huge role in keeping the drink well carbonated. Any little particles of dust or fabric from a tea towel, any left over water, any greasy lining, or any chips and markings on the inside of your glass increase surface area. This is bad news because all this increased surface area basically provides outlets for the CO2 to bubble away and escape from the liquid. The other surface area factor to control is in the ice you use. If you are using ice in your drink, you ideally want to have a singular, large piece of ice (think the skinny, tall ice columns) that has a nice smooth surface. This is always a better option than multiple smaller ice cubes, as multiple smaller ice cubes increase the surface area and increase the number of CO2 escape routes.
Carbonate everything yourself. If you want the ultimate control over your Highball, carbonate everything yourself, and carbonate everything specifically for what you're trying to achieve. When carbonating alcoholic drinks, you actually want to have a greater mass of CO2 dissolved into the drink compared to what you would have with plain soda water. CO2 is more soluble in alcohol than in water, so less CO2 escapes a boozy drink and delivers that tingle on your tongue. To put it into context, your standard soda water usually sits around 5g of CO2 per litre of water, and your mixers that are usually produced to mix with alcohol sit closer to 8g/L. Looking at an alcoholic drink that is already carbonated as a whole, something like a champagne (12.5% ABV) can have as much as 12g/L of CO2 dissolved into it. So a rule of thumb is, the more alcohol a drink contains, the more CO2 you will need to add when carbonating.
To control carbonation yourself, you can build your own carbonation rig with a few easily accessible parts: a CO2 gas bottle, gas line, a regulator, ball lock connecter, carbonator cap and standard plastic soda bottles. With this rig you can actually carbonate a whole drink in one go, you can control the amount of CO2 that is added to the drink and you can easily re-carbonate anything, meaning that nothing goes flat. So for a classic Whisky Highball, rather than adding soda to your whisky, add CO2 to your whisky and water mixture.
But just remember, CO2 actually promotes faster absorption of alcohol into your bloodstream, essentially meaning that carbonated drinks will hit you faster. Which is a dangerous combo with the fact that carbonated drinks always seem to go down way faster and easier. So keep an eye on the ABV of your carbonated drinks and how many of them you're having.