Message 17657 of 39188 in General Discussion

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> ...I use Finest Call. I tried to mix my own and it
> tasted like s#$t...
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All of the various commercial pre-mixes are "trying" to taste like a well 
balanced home-made mix, in the same way that "Instant Coffee" is trying to 
taste like fresh brewed. But I've definately had some (supposedly) fresh 
brewed coffee at some diners that tasted worse then I'd get from an instant :->

There of course is also the problem of people just getting used to a poorly 
made product, and obtaining a flavor memory that tells them this is the way it 
"should" taste. An Old Fashioned with a heavy dose of soda water tastes like 
crap (compared to the "real" thing), but some people (mistakenly) claim this 
is what it should taste like. There are countless other cocktails which are 
commonly made "wrong", but they've been made that way so long, folks don't 
realize how good it can taste when done properly... and frankly they probably 
wouldn't (immediately) accept it.

The key to a properly made sour mix is balance. If you do it right, with the 
right ratios, and with quality ingredients. You should achieve a balance 
between sweet and sour that is devine.

For your own experimentations, try the following:


Make up a batch of simple syrup. Either a 1to1 ratio, or a 2to1 ratio, 
whichever you prefer and normally use.

Now get fresh squeezed juice from two lemons. This should be about 4 ounces.

Taste the lemon juice straight (just a sip, we don't want to affect the 
overall volume "too" much), just to verify its quality, and cement in your 
mind what it tastes like.

Now add an ounce of Simple Syrup to the lemon juice, stir it up, and taste it 
again. Then add another ounce, and taste it again.

You've now added 2 ounces of simple syrup to about 4 ounces of lemon juice. It 
should still be too tart.

Now, in half ounce increments, continue to add simple syrup and tasting it. 
You might need to cleanse your palate a bit with some bread/water so you can 
get a clear flavor.

Notice at what point the mixture appears to obtain a "balance" between sweet 
and sour. It should be clean and crisp. With little or no "pucker" effect, but 
also not really what you would call "sweet". Then continue to add some more 
simple syrup and notice at what point it appears that the sweetness is 
standing out just a little too much.

You now know the zen of sour mix. Balance is achieved.

Frankly, I almost never make home-made sour mix. I instead simply use simple 
syrup and fresh juice on a per-drink basis. This is the way all of those 
drinks were originally intended to be made. The appearance of "sour mix" is 
just a bartenders shortcut. Yeah, it takes "a little" longer. And yes, it does 
present more opportunity to get the balance wrong, but it also allows more 
room to adjust on a per-drink basis. Plus I can choose to use just lime juice 
and syrup, just lemon juice and syrup, or mix the two.

-- 
-Robert Hess
 www.DrinkBoy.com
 www.MuseumOfTheAmericanCocktail.org