The basic process for most cocktails is pretty much the same: combining booze with a few other ingredients, and chilling them down with ice. While all the other pages on Social Hour delve into the finer points of cocktail methodology. This page is just concerned with the big picture. Read more…

A quick look at some of the basic tenets to making great cocktails. If you follow these, you'll be well on your way. Read more…

The key to building a bar is to buy efficiently and affordably. This page outlines 10 bottles that are called for again and again in cocktails, which will give you a solid bar foundation, that you can then expand upon based on your tastes. Read more… ​

A guide to assembling a basic bar tool kit, including links to baseline and higher end options for each tool. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on bar tools to make good cocktails. Their purpose is to make the job of bartending easier, but not necessarily to make the drink better. That’s on you, the bartender. Read more…

Sometimes it's better to shake a cocktail, and other times it's better to stir. In fact, there’s a widely accepted rule outlining which to do when. This page get into the details of why this rule is true (for the most part) and how bartenders use it rule separate cocktails into two broad categories: "shaken cocktails" and "stirred cocktails”. Read more…

Ice is to cocktails what heat is to food. Its two primary contributions are chilling and dilution, which are what transforms a mixture of booze and other assorted items into a finished cocktail. This page covers how to reach ideal levels of chilling and dilution. Plus, the different types of ice used in cocktails and how to make them. Read more…