Food, Home & Lifestyle
Solo Starters: Mojito and Whiskey Smash
Lesson time 17:17 min
Ryan and Lynnette demonstrate some cocktails to relax with on your own after a long day.
Students give MasterClass an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars
Topics include: Mojito · Whiskey Smash
Teach Mixology
World-class bartenders Lynnette and Ryan (aka Mr Lyan) teach you how to make perfect cocktails at home for any mood or occasion.
Sign UpPreview
[00:00:00.00] [MUSIC PLAYING] [00:00:21.76] - I'm gonna delve into kind of more intimate style drinks, drinks that are really good for when you've just knocked off work. Or you've had one of those days where you really want a cocktail to round things out. And one of my favorite drinks to explore in that is a highball drink. [00:00:34.59] So named after the glass, it's a drink that really is designed to unfold. You know, it's something that changes a lot from the start to the finish. Think of things like a gin and tonic or a whiskey soda. These are things that fall into this family. [00:00:47.92] But this is a drink that I want to kind of play to that really helps when you just need to be somewhere where you're not, you know? Particularly in Britain, you've got a miserable day out. You want something that transports you to a tropical island, you know? Something that feels fresh, that feels uplifting, and it's got this real cleanness to it. [00:01:04.20] And this is within the family of highballs, and I think it's a drink that I think is often made really badly, and that's the mojito. So it's a bit of an island favorite. And it's something that really plays up to this image of kind of like white sandy beaches and something that feels fresh and uplifting. [00:01:19.08] And often times, you'll see somebody kind of grinding away at your mojito and smashing the hell out of some of the mints. And that, to me, is a bit of a red flag for a couple of reasons. So first, you do want some of that zestiness. You want that brightness coming from the skins of the lime, but you don't want to tear the hell out of the mint. [00:01:35.99] So mint's a kind of fascinating herb. You know, it's got all these little capsules of flavor locked into these leaves. And you don't need to tear it to be able to release those flavors. [00:01:46.22] Actually, you can get a lot of it by just brushing against it. You pick it up on your fingers. It gives this amazing, cooling aroma. But when you start to tear it down, you actually release some of the bitterness, the chlorophyll, all of the kind of slightly more kind of green notes that you don't actually want in your drink. And you certainly don't want the little bits of mint stuck in your teeth afterwards. [00:02:05.13] So one of the techniques I really like to do is explore, how can we get all of the flavors out of the mint and make this a really fresh and bright drink without having any of those trip ups? How do you keep it tasting really clean and bright? So we're gonna make a mojito. [00:02:19.39] [MUSIC PLAYING] [00:02:33.98] It's a drink where you don't need to add a lot of complications into it. It's something that's really simple to put together. It shouldn't take you the 15 minutes you sometimes see waiting in a bar while they're grinding things out. [00:02:44.25] A little bit of mise en place, getting things ahead of time, makes life really easy. And you want to make sure that this drink gives you that time. You...
About the Instructor
James Beard honoree Lynnette Marrero has been at the forefront of the NYC craft cocktail movement. Ryan Chetiyawardana (aka Mr Lyan) is the founder of Dandelyan, named the world’s best bar. They will teach you the essentials of cocktail making, from developing your palate to building your home bar. Learn how to mix a perfectly balanced drink for every occasion and mood—and become your friends’ new favorite bartender.
Featured MasterClass Instructor
Lynnette Marrero & Ryan Chetiyawardana
World-class bartenders Lynnette and Ryan (aka Mr Lyan) teach you how to make perfect cocktails at home for any mood or occasion.
Explore the Class