What made you see the light? a bad batch of bloody mary mix? lol

I’ve sworn off all mixes. If I don’t may it myself, I don’t serve it.

Might give that a try myself…I love the texture egg whites give to a drink like a Pisco Sour or a Ramos Gin Fizz…

Also fresh eggs whites are pretty safe from salmanela, the egg yolk is where the bugs hang out, if the whites are separated correctly, you should be fine. I use the pasteurized egg whites just to be safe, also egg white powder can be use as well. Just rehydrate the egg white powder with water or you can add the powder directly into the cocktail shaker with the liquor/juice. Just give it a few more shakes, you don’t want any lumps in your drinks!

Enjoy!

Use pasteurized eggs whites…

Tommy, do not use simple syrup for a “Caipirinha”! A big no-no, use fresh Tahitian limes and super fine sugar…

1.75 oz Cachaca (I use Fazenda Mae De Ouro!! Great Cachaca!!)
Juice of 1/2 Tahiti lime
1-2 tsp superfine sugar

Muddle 1/2 a lime with sugar in a 9oz rocks glass.
Fill the glass with cracked ice.
Pour the cachaca into glass then pour entire contents into a shaker and shake for 20-30 seconds…(I prefer shaken over stirred…and unstrained)
Pour contents back into rocks glass and serve…

http://www.caipirinha.us/

Why don’t you just take A CUP OF SUGAR AND MIX IT WITH A CUP OF BOILING WATER?

It’s going to be much cheaper than bottled simple syrup, and probably taste a lot better.

Jeff

Yup, the sugar/juice ratio is left much to taste, but the fact remains that bar made sour mix or lemon-lime soda is NO substitute.

I always used Rose’s Lime Juice in a Kamikaze when I worked in clubs (oh yes, I’ve worked at plenty of bars that used sour mix), and I don’t think it tasted that bad. After all, it’s just a vodka gimlet with triple sec, right?

Then again, if you make a Kamikaze with fresh juice you’re essentially making a vodka Margarita, am I right?

You sound like you’re just getting started in the business, so my advice is to keep your mouth shut for a little while and learn how they want you to do things at the bar you’re working in. As you become a more experienced bartender you’ll find yourself in a position to make changes and recommendations - and be taken seriously for them.

As a bar manager, I cringe at the thought of someone telling me how to run my bar based on something they read in a couple of blogs. So put your head down and get to work, Jack!

Of course, convincing the ol’ employers to do things Jack’s way would be ideal, but cocktail knowledge nonwithstanding, I doubt my own ability to waltz onto a job with no prior professional experience and start changing how things get done. And from one perspective, that’s totally righteous. I mean, so I can make a bitchin’ Mai Tai off the top of my head. Doesn’t mean I know anything about the restaurant business, other than what those Jeffrey Morgenthaler and Jamie Boudreau blokes tell me via the interwebs.

I could do it. But it’d take awhile, and in the meantime… I don’t even comprehend how you could bartend with mix! Kamikaze. Easy, common drink at high-volume establishments (or so I hear). Something like 3:2:1 vodka, triple sec, lime juice. Sub sour mix and you’ve got to either eliminate the triple sec (becomes a crummy Lemon/Lime Drop) or serve the Kamikaze way too sweet. Have you ever worked at a bar with sour mix? Do you have any idea what such places do in similar situations? My curiosity is piqued. I’ve never ordered a sour anywhere that uses mix, and I’ve not the desire (nor the cash) to go out and experiment. What the hell are people actually consuming when they order a Kamikaze at a lousy bar?

Yes, you will either have to reformulate all of your recipes, or just not make those drinks altogether. There’s just no substitute for fresh ingredients. You can’t make a Sidecar with sour mix.

However, what about slowly convincing your employers to incorporate fresh-juice cocktails into their business?

Jeffrey, I’ve always made my own cocktails with fresh juices and simple syrup so that I can adjust the ratio of sweet to sour. But now I’m contemplating actually trying my hand behind the stick in a professional environment; should I ever find myself having to use sour mix, will I need to reformulate every drink in my repertoire?

And what about drinks that call for triple sec or maraschino to counterbalance a sour ingredient? How can bars that rely on sour mix make margaritas, sidecars, aviations, and so forth?

But the sour mix is sort of a beer margarita, a trend that’s becoming more popular here. I’ve even had people asking me for them at work, as they’re a much lighter version of a hard-alcohol margarita.

As far as a lime sour mix is concerned, just try reversing the proportions of lemon and lime in my recipe and let me know how it goes!

BUT - my question is - what exactly is the proportion to make it LIME sour, instead of just SOUR? It did look slightly green, so it just has to be in the proportion, right?

Thanks for your thoughts.

I’d been agonizing for months over how to keep my simple syrup (and, btw, I use 2 parts sugar to 1 part water, just personal preference), and with no “container store” near me and “kitchen stores” wanting crazy amounts of money for squeeze bottles, I was using small tupperware containers. These got very messy after two or three uses, and it looked like I had some kind of kinky syrup fight in the kitchen whenever I used it.

I found what I wanted at a dollar store, of all places. Cheap, overseas-manufactured ketchup and mustard squirters. 2 to the package for $1, they even have a little cap for the nozzle. Perfect for syrup, lemon juice, lime juice, whatever, even a peanut butter sauce I made for brownies.

Even I don’t use self made simple syrup, as I use (bought) gomme syrup - this is simple syrup with added gum arabica (the mouth feel is great and the heads of the drinks are more steady)!

For my sours, fizzes and collinses I even use less syrup, (ratio 4-2-1) which I think is better working for me!

But… Margaritas I only drink with just Tequila (personally I prefer a 100% agave tequila), fresh lime juice and Cointreau. No prepared sweet and sour mix and no cheap triple sec curaçao…

CP