Tepache is a lightly fermented drink traditionally associated with Mexico. Most modern versions are made by fermenting pineapple peels with sugar, water, and often cinnamon. The result is sweet, gently tangy, and usually lightly fizzy. For new bartenders and beginners, tepache is useful for two reasons. First, it is an approachable introduction to fermentation. Second, it works as a flavorful mixer that brings pineapple brightness plus a soft, “funky” edge to highballs, spri

Mango and ginger foam is a fast, high-impact topper for cocktails. It adds aroma, sweetness, gentle heat, and a creamy mouthfeel without changing the drink’s liquid volume too much. When it is done well, it dispenses smoothly from a siphon, sits as a neat cap, and stays stable long enough to serve and enjoy the drink.

Aperol Spritz is one of the most ordered aperitif drinks in modern bar service because it is fast, crowd-pleasing, and scalable. It is also one of the most commonly “almost right” drinks: too watery, flat, cloying, or harshly bitter. This guide provides a service-ready Aperol Spritz recipe with correct measurements in ml and oz, the technique that preserves fizz, and practical troubleshooting that helps beginners execute consistently.

The Espresso Martini is a modern classic built on a simple idea: vodka, coffee, sweetness, and a foam cap that makes the drink look as good as it tastes. In practice, it is a technical cocktail. Small changes in espresso freshness, ice quality, shake method, and sugar level can turn it from silky and balanced into bitter, watery, or flat.

The Margarita is more than a global staple. It is a practical masterclass in core mixology fundamentals: balancing a base spirit, citrus-driven acidity, and controlled sweetness. At its best, it delivers a crisp, structured profile that highlights the vegetal and mineral character of agave rather than covering it with aggressive sweetness or artificial sourness.

Most cocktail bars do not lose money in dramatic ways. They lose it in quiet, repeatable leaks: a few milliliters over-poured, a high-volume drink priced wrong, prep made “just in case” and thrown away, dead inventory sitting on a shelf for months.

If you work with fresh juices, purées, fruit cordials, or shrubs, you’re working with pectin—whether you intend to or not. Pectin is one of the main reasons juices stay cloudy, feel thick, clog filters, and separate quickly.

Before the Dry Martini became the icon of hotel bars and three-piece suits, there was the Martinez: richer, sweeter, and unapologetically aromatic. If the Martini is a razor blade, the Martinez is a fountain pen—slower, more ornate, but incredibly satisfying when you give it time.

Citrus is not “the sour part.” In a cocktail bar, it is a production input that affects balance, aroma, speed of service, waste, and menu consistency. Two identical specs can taste different simply because the fruit changed. This guide is a practical playbook for bar teams and menu developers. It covers citrus profiles, yield as an operational KPI, storage and freshness discipline, and why perceived acidity can disagree with what a spec seems to “promise.”

A Negroni is the definition of a spirit-forward classic: equal parts gin, Campari, and sweet Vermouth, served cold over ice with orange. It looks simple, but small choices (ice, vermouth freshness, stirring time, garnish quality) are the difference between “too bitter” and “perfectly balanced.”

The name is a playful nod to the drink’s carrot identity and its look: carrot sits at the core of the recipe, it’s served in a flute whose silhouette subtly echoes a carrot shape, and the orange liquid with a green foam cap mirrors a carrot with its leafy top. In other words, it draws guests into the “burrow” before the first sip, through colour, shape, and flavour.

A drinks program does not win because a drink tastes great once. It wins when your team can reproduce the same result fast, consistently, and profitably, every shift. Menu Design & Engineering is The Double Strainer’s online service for venues and brands that want more than “nice recipes”. This is a complete execution system: recipes, prep logic, shelf-life standards, QC checks, and (where included) costing and pricing structure, so the menu performs under real service press

In 2025, The Double Strainer reinforced a clear mission: publish service-ready cocktail knowledge and bar systems designed for real venue execution, and make them completely free for the global bar community.

Most bartenders today meet Kevin Kos on a screen before they ever meet him at a bar. You’re between shifts, scrolling, and a calm Slovenian voice starts explaining how to get more juice from one lemon, or how to batch an Old Fashioned so it pours perfectly every time.

Bell pepper juice is one of the cleanest ways to bring savory freshness into cocktails—without relying on tomato, brine, or heavy spice. Done well, it adds a modern culinary edge while staying approachable for guests.

If you want a December cocktail that feels instantly festive without being complicated, an Old Fashioned is the perfect canvas: strong, warming, and built for slow sipping. This version borrows its signature aroma from panettone—the classic Italian Christmas sweet bread, buttery and soft, usually dotted with candied citrus peel and dried fruit.

Costing a cocktail is not just an Excel exercise. It decides whether a best-selling Negroni pays the rent or slowly erodes the bar’s margin over a season. Two drinks can look identical on the menu but behave very differently in the P&L.Without precise costing, decisions about price, garnish or promotions are based mostly on instinct.With precise costing, they become controllable levers.

months later, the same guest knows half the team by name, brings friends, and texts ahead to check if there’s space. That transformation, from stranger to regular, is not magic. It is design. Guest loyalty does not come from vibes alone, or from one superstar bartender who is “good with people.” It comes from a pattern of small, repeatable behaviors that a well-run bar can train, track, and protect. Consistency matters because the guest experience is built through signals t

Recipes get the spotlight, but tools quietly decide whether a cocktail is average or memorable. Without the right equipment, even a perfect recipe struggles to survive a real service.

Most Gin & Tonics start from the same place: a dry gin, a standard tonic, a citrus wedge. The Dreamer keeps the classic structure, but changes where the flavour work is done.