Fun At-Home Cocktail Ideas
We love a good cocktail bar like the rest of you, but when it comes to enjoying your favourite libation at home, there are plenty of ways to make it fun and interesting. When you’re looking for a new way to enjoy cocktails with a small group of social animals at home, try one of these ideas and let us know what you think!
Cocktail Mix-Off
Ever watched Top Chef? There’s a reason why the show’s so popular – it’s fun to watch the chefs scurrying for ingredients and trying to come up with recipes on-the-fly! Try your own version of a competition with a cocktail mix-off!
- Gather all the ingredients you can find.
- Establish competitors and judges (if you’re feeling extra ambitious, come up with different criteria for cocktail judging).
- Set a timer for 5 minutes aaaaaaand – GO!
Practicing social distancing? Try this over Skype or FaceTime and get creative!
Make it interesting – place friendly bets, come up with awards for the winners, or even createa theme for the cocktail competition to make it even trickier. We’d love to see how it all unfolds!
Free Home Delivery! Stock up your gin supply with at-home delivery in Calgary. Shop local craft spirits here.
Blind Taste Testing
Ever wondered if you’re a real spirits expert? Let’s see if you know your spirits even with your eyes closed. This game is super simple, but you can make it as interesting as you want! grab your friends and family and tell them that you’re hosting a blind taste test challenge.
Pick Your Products and Narrow Them Down
That variable may be price, varietal, type, or brand. Whatever you decide, try to limit the number of products to seven.
Prepare & Play!
Gather some supplies to make the blind taste test extra fun! Here’s a checklist:
- Disguise for the spirits
- Glasses for everyone – numbered so the host knows what each spirit is.
- A pen and paper for each taster.
- Water for mouth rinsing and hydrating.
- A pre-prepared paper or spreadsheet (if you’re really ambitious) for consolidating the results and declaring a “winner.”
- The spirits that you will be taste-testing
Want to throw off the taste test? Include two of the exact same product to test how the participants react.
Bonus points if there’s an award for the person who guesses the most right!
Make Your Own Infusions
Perhaps your bar supply is running a little low but you can still play around with different flavours without needing a wide variety of liqueurs! Cue GINfusions.
Infuse your gin or vodka with your favourite flavours, whether it fresh produce and herbs that are on their last legs, your favourite tea or some spices that you have in the pantry.
It’s super simple and you can adjust the recipe to your tastes and what you have on hand for the base spirit. For a full how-to on this, check out our recent blog post here!
Try That Super Creative Cocktail
We have all seen those crazy cool cocktails on Instagram but have never found the time to make them. Now’s the time!
Here are some great cocktail accounts to draw inspiration from:
- Monica Carbonell – Liq Culture
- Justine Celina
- Tanya Bates – Extra for Avocado
- Holly Hunka – Chandeliers and Champagne
- Brandy Farris – Cashmere and Camo
- The Gastronom
- The Cocktail Blog
- Difford’s Guide
We recommend using your friends and family as your guinea pigs!
If you spend your nights in doing one of these fun activities be sure to let us know what you think by sharing it on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with the hashtag #shareeauclaire!
