The cocktail's edge: The perfectly chilled drink

When a cocktail doesn't bite your throat, it's either too warm or too sweet - and more often than not, it's too warm. Although there are no secrets to making the perfectly chilled cocktail, there are a few tricks. Skimp on one and you'll sacrifice the chilled edge that cocktails rely on so heavily.

Many people claim that shaking a drink with ice is the best way to chill a cocktail without overdiluting it. Although it's true that shaking will make a cocktail colder faster, the physical means by which it works remains the same as for a stirred cocktail. In other words, you're still adding water to the drink. If you want a properly chilled cocktail - one that is as cold as possible - it will take the same amount of melted ice, regardless of whether you shake or stir it.

If you're wary of a bartender's ability to chill a drink such as a Sidecar, ask to have it shaken. You'll probably get it colder, but not stronger.

Whether you're shaking or stirring, a drink's ice should clink against the mixing container. If you're shaking a drink, your goal should be to chip the ice against the mixer. When stirring drinks, make certain that each ice cube makes at least one trip from the top to the bottom of the glass. Stir a drink until the glass becomes cold.

Ice, of course, is a key element in chilling a cocktail. Even after having purchased a new ice machine at the restaurant, store-bought ice was always a treat. Residential refrigerators and most commercial ice makers cannot get ice as cold as those large, white coolers proudly marked "ICE."

Although water freezes at 0° Celsius, the temperature of ice can be below that. If you start with colder ice, it will take less of it to chill a cocktail properly.

You'll know that the ice is too warm if it's coated with water. Ice like this is just at 0° Celsius and will dilute a cocktail too much. However, cracked or chipped ice (a mix of ice flecks and cubes) can wrestle any beverage down to the proper temperature.

Another trick for chilling drinks is to keep your liquor bottles in the fridge or freezer. Using liquor that is already at the temperature of ice obviously saves ice and cuts down the dilution of a drink. Note that this will increase the overall alcoholic content of what you put into your glass, which isn't necessarily a good thing.

I once visited a bar in Seattle where the bartenders made Martinis simply by pouring gin straight from a freezer into a cocktail glass dusted with vermouth. I must say it was a viscous treat, somewhat like aquavit, but it wasn't what I wanted. The recipe for a Martini relies on some water from the chilling process for dilution. For me, the drink isn't the same if the gin and vermouth do not come in contact with ice.

Alongside your spirits, a few delicately placed cocktail glasses will do wonders for the quality of your drink. An ice-cold cocktail, strained into a warm glass, quickly relinquishes its edge in the course of chilling the vessel.

Although glass is usually more elegant than stainless steel, metals conduct temperature better. This simply means that a metal container will chill a beverage faster than a glass container. I still suggest serving your cocktails in glass, but you should have both a metal and a glass mixer. If you're preparing clear cocktails, use a large glass pitcher. But if you're shaking citrus cocktails, always use a metal container.

Mixers are the last items to consider in the chilling process. If you're squeezing [443k .mov] the fruit by hand, don't refrigerate it: The coldness will actually diminish the quality of the juice. But in every other case, refrigerate all mixers. Soda water is especially notorious for melting down the peaks of ice in a Mojito. Remember, if any one element is warm, your cocktail will be ruined.