I truly believe that free-form, original, non-traditional cocktails are the best way for a mixologist to express themselves.

Simone Francois-Whittier

I’m sitting at my desk when I should be in bed, thinking about the events of the past week. This week was brutal, physically, emotionally and psychologically, throw in some difficult conversations and you have the ingredients for a migraine. It’s too late for a cocktail lol at this point.

I spoke to a lot of different people this week with regard to the sale and marketing of our drinks, one thing was constant, many of them had no idea what a cocktail (Coqtail, in IndelimeTT speak) really is, not to mention their unfamiliarity with Liqueurs. I must say the mixologist in me was shocked and a little disappointed. I took their ignorance to mean that people like me haven’t been doing our best to educate the public and our customers about what they’ve been consuming. Needless to say many sales-related conversations turned into teachable moments.

I’ve been encouraged by a few people to do a blog post on what a Cocktail really is, at least to my knowledge. I’ve seen many definitions but the ones that I most agree with tend to distinguish between mixed drinks and cocktails.

A mixed drink is thought to be a drink with two ingredients eg. rum and coke. While a Cocktail has three or more ingredients, basically the liquor, the liqueur and a modifying agent (juice, soda etc).

I like to think of a cocktail as being a drink where the mixologist can truly demonstrate their self-expression, so just like a painter, the mixologist has a canvas, in our case, it’s our cocktail; in that cocktail we could use any ingredients, and combinations thereof, to create our own unique drinks with specific flavour notes just like a painter paints on a canvas with specific colours and media.

I always tell people mixing drinks is my creative outlet, my happy place. I truly believe that free-form, original, non-traditional cocktails are the best way for a mixologist to express themselves.

So when I make a cocktail I pour not only my knowledge, personal preferences and tastes into the drink but my enthusiasm, love, dedication to my craft and positive energy into it as well, just like when a painter is creating a masterpiece.

I like to think of us all as artists so I refer to myself as an artisan not just a mixologist and to make it a bit more fun I refer to our Cocktails as Coqtailz, I mean you only live once right lol.

So that’s all for now, enjoy your Easter and be safe!

Cheers!