1. Use a cocktail shaker: I had one sitting unused in the closet, a birthday present that came with four cocktail glasses. Instead of using it, I would pour two or three kinds of expensive booze on ice and wonder why the drink didn’t taste better than the sum of its parts. You never see a good bartender doing this. I don’t want to get into the merits of shaking with ice versus stirring: personally I like cocktails shaken because I like them a little frothy. You can stir if you want, especially if you don’t have a shaker yet. But the point is, mix the cocktail in one vessel, and serve it in another. Now I feel my previous efforts were like eating directly from the frying pan.

Ten Easy Tips to Make Delicious Cocktails (a slideshow)

I used to make lousy cocktails. Not anymore.

I didn’t go to a bartending class. Instead, I just paid attention to what good bartenders do, and took a few simple steps.

Now I’m going to share. This is not going to be a cocktail geek piece. These are things anyone can do, quickly, even tonight, to make your cocktails much better than they have been.

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