Easy cocktails to make at home

Hi everybody,

Just looking for some input from the experts. What's the best way to make easy and fast cocktails at home for BBQ's and parties etc. Are there any ready made products out there to cut down the time? I found one company called Funkin cocktails (just google them) that sell mixers and you just add alcohol and a garnish but I haven't found any others that do this.

I'm intrigued to try them but I like the 'real' emphasis on making it myself if that makes sense. However at parties, people walking about, can lead to mess, or longer than normal to get a drink etc etc.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

Buy a few of those drink dispensers, typically used for iced tea. Figure out the recipe for, say, a gallon of a few different drinks you'd like to serve. Put a little sign, identifying the drink, and let people fill their glasses with ice and serve themselves. You might want to cut back on the liquor by about 20%, when proportioning a single drink up to a gallon.
It doesn't take much more time to mix up a pitcher, than a single drink.

Welcome to TC FreshDaz.

Not to bump my own thread :D but here's a list of some Simple Tiki Drinks with a limited number of easy to find ingredients.

Limbo Lizard thanks for that!

MadDogMike I'm all over your thread! :D

Hi again Mike,

I have decided that I am going to have a mix on the day. I've ordered this http://www.funkin.co.uk/cocktail-ingredients/funkin-rum-cocktail-kit and I'm also going to get ingredients to make them for the purist in me. I think it's better this way as no doubt my (and my guests) motor functions will decrease as my BBQ goes on. :D

What do you think?

Just reading that back I want to say there was no pun intended with "...mix on the day." haha!

The kit may work out well. Start out mixing drinks yourself with the ingredients then as you and your guests get more tipsy, switch to the mixes and no one will be any the wiser :lol:

I am definitely an amateur, but I read the posts of the expert mixologists and they say the key to great drinks is great ingredients - good rum and fresh squeezed juice whenever possible.

Check the ingredients on the mixers. This may just be the cocktail snob in me, but if the ingredient lists starts with "water, high-fructose corn syrup, artificial colorings and flavorings", which I think it might, you're better off with something else.

Check the thread about simple tiki drinks. Find a source for some good, fresh juices and some decent liquor and you'll be set.

I hate to say it, but whenever we have little drinking parties (usually consisting of my wife's girlfriends), no matter how many fresh-ingredient and/or complex cocktails I make, the guests always seem to like plain ole Cuervo gold with Cuervo margerita mix the most...

There are several drinks that "upsize" very well and are suited for those spigot-ed dispensers. I usually fill a couple of zipper-lock bags with water and freeze them, to keep the drinks cold without dilution. I also strongly suggest a "lever" citrus juicer, which will make short work of a bag of limes or lemons. I've done this every time we have a biggish party and it's always a hit.

That said, when it's a crowd, I don't quite pop for the gigabuck rum...but Bacardi 8 -- available at my local Costco for pennies! -- makes an admirable substitute.

Funkin makes some good ingredients, but I'd opt for making your own tankload of drinks, and not rely on a kit which, even if it had only natural ingredients, would likely have these ingredients in pasteurized form and that reallllllllllly flattens out the flavor profile.

Just one man's opinion.

When we have a small group of people, it's everything from scratch. But when we're having a party - like 15, 20 or more people, I'll often go with the mix or a very simple cocktail (three primary ingredients).

And often I get the biggest compliments for the simplist of drinks. Made a big batch of mai tais once with TV mix, fresh lime juice and Meyers's rum and everyone (and I mean everyone) said the mai tais were great.

Once I took a bottle of Langers pineapple coconut juice, emptied out a measured amount and replaced it with vodka for chi chis with bottled maraschino cherry garnishes. People sucked those down like there was no tomorrow.

Maybe the moral is, sometimes less effort equals more satisfied customers. Or, the more people, the simpler the drinks.

"I am Lono!" -- Hale Ka'a Tiki Lounge

[ Edited by: arriano 2011-04-29 09:37 ]

thanks for all the responses, especially since I'm a new member!

I've been reading up on a Zombie which has nothing to do with the party, just intrigued to make it and try it! Heard it's almost evil, but gooood... :o

This a decent recipe?

1.5 Dark Rum
0.5 White Rum
0.5 freshly squeezed Grapefruit Juice
1.5 freshly squeezed Orange Juice
0.75 freshly squeezed Lime Juice
0.25 Grenadine
2 dashes of Angostura Bitters
6 drops of Absinthe

[ Edited by: FreshDaz 2011-04-29 01:45 ]

On 2011-04-28 14:18, arriano wrote:
"...Maybe the moral is, sometimes less effort equals more satisfied customers."

As host, you can easily become overly pre-occupied, worrying how to efficiently produce a variety of particularly fine drinks, in quantity, at an affordable cost.
The guests, meanwhile, are also focused on the cost - namely, FREE BOOZE! Yippee!

Arriano is right. Keep it simple, and spare yourself a lot of underappreciated effort and expense. You quickly run into the law of diminishing returns, when you work to give a lively crowd the type of drinks better enjoyed, along with relaxed conversation, by just a few friends or guests. You wouldn't put out the bottles of single malt at a party - it would never be appreciated in proportion to its cost. The 'crowd' is distracted with manic talking and laughing, eating and music and "fun", and isn't going to notice and appreciate a complex, nuanced drink. It's a party! They're happy enough that there ARE drinks, and only hope that they don't run out.

The exception is if your guest list is mostly drawn from, for example, serious tiki aficionados or 'The Scotch Appreciation Society' - guests who are uncommonly attentive to the qualities and features of their beverage. In which case, the drinks will probably be the the main attraction, the 'centerpiece' of the party.

"The rum's the thing..."

[ Edited by: Limbo Lizard 2011-04-29 07:04 ]

This is probably a reply of the navel-gazingest sort, but here goes:

When we have a crowd of people, yes, I look for more budget-friendly liquors and yes, I look for drinks that have few(ish) ingredients and/or steps and yes, I make things that can be concocted by the gallon.

But I have to like the finished product. So I eschew mixes and the like.

Just one man's opinion.

Another option is to check out punch recipes. The nice thing about punch recipes is that they are already adjusted for large quantities and it's much easier to scale them up or down without losing the balance. You still want to remember to add weaker flavors before stronger flavors and taste along the way so things don't get too far out of balance.

I've tried pretty much every punch recipe in Jeff Berry's book and they are all great crowd pleasers. You might also want to check out Dave Wondrich's book "Punch" for some great punch ideas.

The "Sven Tiki" is easy and tasty. You could combine ingredients ahead of time to make many drinks fast.

Combine one ounce each orange juice, lime juice, unsweetened pineapple juice, and grenadine.

Combine two ounces dark Jamaican run and one ounce light Puerto Rican rum.

One ounce club soda.

Put all in your shaker with a few cubes, shake like hell, pour into glass filled with crushed ice.

Have fun!

Chris
WestADad