By 
Professional bartenders would have you believe that mixing cocktails is a highly skilled art and that mere mortals should never be behind a bar. Using the right techniques can be essential to creating great cocktails, but it certainly doesn’t require a lifetime of training or magical bartending powers. These top 10 cocktail mixing tips will ensure you get great results every time.
1) Use Small Cups
By the time you finish a drink in a tall glass, it will have warmed up, especially if the drink is served “up” (no ice) in a Martini glass. An ideal Martini glass should comfortably hold about 4 shots (which is about 4 fl oz or 120 ml).
2) Cool your glasses
Chill your glasses ahead of time in a cooler or simply fill with water and ice to chill while you make your cocktail in the mixing tin. A chilled glass will keep your finished cocktail as fresh as possible, ensuring it continues to taste fantastic from the first sip to the last.
3) Follow the recommended recipes
Always use a cocktail recipe from a recommended source. A quality cocktail book or cocktail website will provide you with good recipes to work with. For a beginner with a small or growing home bar, basic ingredient cocktails are a great place to start.
4) Use the best ingredients available
As with many things in life, what you get is very much dependent on what you put in. Always use the best ingredients you can get your hands on. That means: quality branded spirits, branded mixers, fresh fruit and freshly squeezed juices. Fresh fruit and fresh juice will make a world of difference in a mixed drink.
5) Measure ingredients carefully
Professional bartenders can freely pour their cocktail ingredients directly into the mixing tin. This approach is notoriously difficult to get right. It may not look as great, but measuring the ingredients will give you a much better result. Use a quality measuring jigger that allows you to accurately measure halves, quarters, and eighths.
6) Hold Bottles By The Neck When Pouring
When you pour your ingredients into the mixing can, hold the alcohol bottle by the neck. You’ll find that this gives you much more control of the bottle, making it easier to get the measurement right quickly.
7) Use Lots of Ice
Add plenty of fresh ice to the mixing can immediately before shaking. Putting the ice in first, before adding other ingredients, will only give the ice a chance to melt and dilute your cocktail.
8) Shake well
Shake until the can feels uncomfortably cool to the touch and condensation begins to form on it. As Harry Craddock said in the Savoy Cocktail Book: “Shake the shaker as hard as you can…you’re trying to wake her up, not send her to sleep!”
9) Taste before serving
Fresh fruits and juices can vary in sweetness, so you may need to fine tune your cocktail with additional citrus juice or sugar syrup to achieve the right balance. Always taste your finished cocktail to make sure it’s ready to serve. You can do this quickly and hygienically by using a straw to siphon off some of the drink. Dip the straw into the cocktail, place a finger over the dry end, bring the straw to your mouth, then drop a few drops of the cocktail to taste.
10) Decorate with subtlety
Use fresh fruit and simple cocktail sticks to garnish your cocktails. No garnish is much better than a forest of fruits, vegetables, and umbrellas on top of your drink! Keep it simple and the result will be impressive. Don’t forget that some garnishes also add flavor to a cocktail, whether it’s the slice of lime in a Gin Tonic or the zest of flamed lemon in a Cosmopolitan.