The Everyday Guide to Spirits and Cocktails: Tastes and Traditions
Wherever you experience them, spirits deliver an almost boundless variety of flavors, aromas, experiences and customs. Knowing the secrets of tequila, cognac, bourbon, cordials and more—their past, their productions, their variations, their uses—can give you and others unlimited rewards.
Join renowned expert Jennifer Simonetti-Bryan, a Certified Specialist of Spirits, in the six immersive lectures of The Everyday Guide to Spirits and Cocktails: Tastes and Traditions, as she demystifies the most famous spirits in the world and teaches you how to:
- Explore your own personal tastes,
- make classic cocktail classics like a master mixologist,t and
- use little-known expert tricks.
Every lecture of The Everyday Guide to Spirits and Cocktails is dedicated to a famous and well-known spirit, shot entirely on location at a nationally renowned venue.
- Whisky: Whisky at its heart is fermented beer aged in wood and the result of a complex method of malting, milling, and grain mashing. Although Ireland and Scotland became the first legal whiskey makers, it’s now being produced by the United States, Canada, and even Japan.
- Tequila: Tequila is made from the root of the agave plants and gets its name from the Mexican region where it originated. Tequila can only be labeled “tequila,” if it comes from the blue agave grown in the Jalisco region and neighboring states. Tequila is more fruity and delicate in highland regions, while tequila is more earthy and strong in lowland areas.
- Vodka: One of both the United States and other sections of the world’s most common drinks, vodka is a pure liquor that is highly “mixable” for a number of cocktails. This can be made from any agricultural fermentable product, including grain, potatoes, molasses, grapes and even onions.
Create Perfect Drinks—Just like a Mixologist
You’ll also learn how to blend these and other spirits into a variety of cocktails to suit every event from Ms. Simonetti-Bryan and award-winning bartenders. The cocktail recipes you can find in these lectures include those for the best:
- Martini, the real “king of cocktails” that can be made with either gin or vodka and is best garnished with lots of olives;
- Brandy Alexander, a rich brandy cocktail that enhances the warmth of this common spirit with its mixture of dark crème de cacao, heavy cream and nutmeg; and
- Mojito, a refreshing blend of white rum, mint, simple syrup, lime juice and soda water originally popularized by Cuban Farmers.
At the conclusion of this immersive course, you will have a detailed understanding of spirits that will certainly make the next experience with spirits—and all future ones—a richer, more satisfying one.