Collegiate Times

Whether you think you could do it better (or at least just as well) or you just hate parting with even more cash to tip the bartender for merely dispensing rum and coke into the same glass, there's obvious appeal to becoming your own bartender at home.

Staying in and tending bar at home means no need for a designated driver or the bus; no waiting on tip-toes for 10 minutes until you catch the bartender's attention; no "taste-and-see" to find out how strong your drinks are; and maybe best of all, more bang for your buck. It's very much like eating out at a restaurant versus making spaghetti for yourself at home -- it depends on what you're in the mood for, but at the end of the night, the check is cheaper when you buy it by the bottle instead of by the glass.

So no matter your motivation for bringing the bar to you, making drinks at home can be fun for a change and also something of an art. We all have friends who can mix our drinks just right as well as friends whose mixing skills don't exactly beg a repeat order. But no matter what you call it, a house party, having people over, or what my girl friends like to call "the dance party," I'm a fan of a night-in once in a while; so here are a few tips for becoming your new favorite bartender in the 'Burg.

TECHNIQUES:

Shaking -- Shaking simply involves mixing a drink with a shaker, and there's a few reasons using a shaker is better than merely using a spoon. First, you can shake a drink with ice, which allows you to serve it cold without putting ice in the glass -- no matter how well you mix a drink, watering it down with ice is likely to ruin the taste. Second, shaking a drink truly mixes it, so you don't have to worry about drinks layering on their own -- because if you wanted only rum or only juice, you can easily do that; but getting a gulp of one or the other in a mixed drink defeats the purpose.

Similarly, jostling a mixed drink in a shaker for 10 minutes isn't going to give you a better result than only about 10 shakes, which are really all you need. The only time your friend who loves to shake the shaker all night long will come in handy is when you have a drink with creamy liqueurs or mixers, as they'll probably taste better if they're mixed a little longer. Lastly, splurge $10 and get a relatively decent shaker if you don't already have one. Makeshift shakers (e.g. two glasses held together) don't usually work out as well as you think they will.

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