garnishes 101
The definition of garnish is an embellishment or ornament. If it hasn’t been said before, we’re going to say it here: we think that cocktail markers, straws and garnish picks are garnishes themselves. At parties we’ve planned, our plastic mermaid and monkey drink charms have turned grown men into school girls. Our point is: garnishes can be a much longer article if we want to go into everything from Bloody Mary Meat Straws to small gardens, like the photos below by Amy Traynor, aka The Moody Mixologist.
This is Garnishes 101, so we’ll cover the basics of a stocked bar.
Fruit wedges, wheels and twists are the finishing touch to cocktails that take an ordinary bar to a prepared party bar.
The boss of the garnish world is the lime wedge. Lime wedges are almost expected by guests for many cocktails. A Vodka Soda needs a lime. A Margarita, Mojito, Moscow Mule, and Gimlet cocktails all really do need a lime garnish too. So if you have a few minutes before the party starts, the one garnish we suggest taking the time to slice up is the lime. If you have even a few more minutes, you can get fancy and make them into lime wheels, which serves the same purpose as the lime wedge for a bar drink.
Olives are also a fruit (yep, a fruit, not a vegetable) garnish that should be part of the basics, but reserved for Bloody Marys and Vodka or Gin Martinis.
A citrus twist is more of a trick for a true or aspiring mixologist.
If you feel like giving it a go, we suggest getting one of these lemon/lime peelers. A lemon twist is a delicate garnish that simply adds the oil of the fruit to the cocktail. The classic Vodka Martini is turned up a notch when you ask for a twist of lemon with it. James Bond’s legendary Vesper Martin wouldn’t be the same without his lemon twist...and of course shaken, not stirred please. So if you feel like leveling up, add some lemon and orange twists to your next party bar. Friends will be impressed.
The leaf garnish is part of Garnishes 101 when you’re talking about, say mint leaves.
Mint is completely necessary for relatively simple cocktails such as the Classic Mojito or Mint Julep. Other herbal leaves have become a big part of cocktail recipes since the Craft Cocktail Revolution, but that’s part of Garnishes 102.
Pretty but easy…
Flowers, specialty fruits like pineapple and passionfruit, and drink charms are some of our favorite cocktail garnishes. One of the prettiest bar drink garnishes is one single rose petal, carefully placed to float on the surface of a cocktail served neat.
