A bartender shares substitutions for cocktail ingredients and tools you might not have at home
Rachel Askinasi
- Liquid sugar, sparkling wine, and vermouth are hardly pantry staples for amateur mixologists, but they are common ingredients in so many favorite cocktails.
- Aleksey Reznikov, head bartender at Manhattan's the Garret West (West Village) and a partner at the Garret Coctelería (Nolita), offered up swaps for some of those popular components.
- He recommends using anything from honey to maple syrup in place of sugar and swapping beer for sparkling wine.
- The expert even has a hack for those of us without a cocktail shaker handy: An ice cream carton.
- You can also pick up pre-batched, specialty cocktails from the Garret to support its staff — bottles are available for pickup at its East Village location and for delivery on Seamless.
Just because you don't have all the ingredients your cocktail recipe calls for, doesn't mean you can't partake in happy hour.
"This is where it gets fun," head bartender and partner at the Garret bars in Manhattan Aleksey Reznikov told Insider. "If you don't have some of the ingredients, don't worry."
For cocktails that call for prosecco, like an Aperol spritz, the expert says you can use beer instead. "No sugar? No problem," he said. You can use any pantry staple like honey, maple syrup, or jam.
He said there are just a few basic things to remember when it comes to crafting a cocktail: citrus usually needs a sweet component to it, and sugar by itself needs some bitters.
So go ahead and get creative!
Read the original article on InsiderIf you're missing lemons, you can use limes or even grapefruit instead.
Don't worry too much about having the right citrus. Aleksey Reznikov, head bartender at the Garrett West, says limes are an easy swap for lemons in most cases, and he also named grapefruit as a possible stand-in.
Any of those citrus fruits will add the acidity that the recipe needs when it calls for lemon.
"No sugar? No problem," Reznikov says. You probably have something in your kitchen you can use instead, like maple syrup.
The bartender and Garret East partner says pantry staples like honey, agave, pancake syrup, or even jam can be used in place of sugar.
Just be sure to think about the other flavors in your drink and the purpose you want your sugar component to serve. You can then adjust your flavors accordingly.
If you're missing sparkling wine, add seltzer to the white wine you may have on hand.
There are a number of cocktails that call for sparkling wine. If you don't have a bottle of bubbly handy, Reznikov says you can just add seltzer (or sparkling or soda water) to regular white wine.
The carbonated water will add bubbles to the flat, white wine, and it will give your cocktail that same sparkling wine kick.
An Aperol spritz calls for prosecco, but you can use beer instead.
An Aperol spritz is made with equal parts Aperol and prosecco. Reznikov suggested beer as a replacement for the sparkling wine in this recipe since it's low in alcohol content and has a slight fizz to it.
"A little industry trick for you: Pilsner or a light lager is a good substitute [for prosecco]. You can use beers such as Stella [Artois], Peroni, or Pilsner Urquell along with many others. If you want a more of a summery feel use wheat beer such as Hoegaarden, or Allagash White."
If you'd rather stick to something in the wine family, Reznikov says it's OK to use rosé or white wine. "Even though there is no fizz to them, they are the closest to sparkling wine," he said. "Feel free to add a bit more seltzer to make up for the lack of bubbles."
If you're out of dry vermouth and want a martini, you can use olive juice for a different flavor.
While olive juice isn't a direct replacement for vermouth, Reznikov says it will still make a great martini.
"You can always just skip [the vermouth] and make a dirty martini with just olive juice and gin or vodka — shaken or stirred," he told Insider.
You can also make substitutions for tools, like a cocktail shaker. Reznikov says a hard ice cream container works just as well.
If you don't have a cocktail shaker the pro says you can use a sturdy vessel like a mason jar or a hard ice cream tub instead.
"Grab a Talenti container and you got yourself a shaker," he said. "Maybe use some of that leftover ice cream in your drink."
Reznikov says that, unfortunately, things like bitters, vermouth, and Aperol are hard to replace. But, you can always try to get creative.
"Part of the fun [of cocktail making] is trying out different things," the expert said. He suggests messing around with a recipe as an outline and replacing an ingredient or two.
"You can always take a liqueur you have and Google what goes well with it so you have a little cheat sheet," he continued. "Just don't over-complicate it. Most of the time the simplest things are the best."
- Read more:
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- 4 royal baker-approved swaps, like mayonnaise and milk mixed with lemon juice, that you can make in your recipes if you're missing key ingredients
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