What's Your Cocktail Personality

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08 November, 2014

The wine drinker is sophisticated, mature and loves the finer things in life (snob!); the whiskey drinker is strong, powerful and manly (intense); the vodka drinker is feminine, outgoing, undecided (good mixer); the tequila drinker is party guy (work some, party hardest). In the world of bartenders, every drink order is an insight into your soul. But these were straight-up libations. What if we mix things up?

Cocktails — think Tom Cruise — are equally illuminating about your personality — what you are, and what you want to be. If a vodka martini (shaken not stirred) is for the slick, women-magnet Bond, the uber suave Cary Grant even made the Pink Lady seem sexy in Topper. The Big Lebowski is unimaginable without his White Russian.

But, now, we’re halfway into 2014, the barometer is up, and the mixologists have come up with an entire new menu of personalities to choose from (and taste, of course!). Here are 10 that will, as they say, be mirrors to your soul.

The Fou-fou Elitist
Hemingway
You wear nothing less than a Gucci or Armani (or almost believable knock-offs), and so you must be seen elegantly sipping a Hemingway. The star anise-flavoured champagne is just the glass to go well with your Jimmy Choo stilettos, as you calmly look at others with bored disdain alternated with mild amusement. You give the impression of a classy fashionista whom others would love to follow.

Ingredients: French Anise-flavoured liqueur (30ml), Champagne (150ml)

Method: Pour the liqueur in a champagne flute glass and top up with champagne. Drop in a star anise as a garnish.

The Ultimate Corporate
Mr Suave
You’re confident, outgoing, well-groomed and can talk to anyone with ease. You’re the one everyone loves to be around at an office ‘do’ that needs you to let your hair down (that’s the tequila part), while not raising some uncomfortable eyebrows (the balancing vodka?). Your order is a Mr Suave — a great drink with vodka, tequila and everyone loves orange juice!

Ingredients: Tequila (40ml), Orange Vodka (20ml), Orange Juice (30ml), Simple Sugar Syrup (1 barspoon), Crushed ice

Method: Pour all the ingredients into a cocktail shaker and add crushed ice. Leave for 5 seconds and shake well. Fine strain into a rock glass. Garnish with a pineapple slice and mint.

The Turbo-charged
Chak de Phatte
You’re the go-to person, whether it’s your seniors, contemporaries or juniors. You’re teeming with energy, always ready to work hard, and party harder. The Chak de Phatte — with gin, white rum, vodka, tequila, Cointreau, dark rum, and what not — is the secret to your energy and the psychedelic colours representative of your style. You take initiative in the boardroom and the dance floor.

Ingredients: Gin (10ml), White Rum (10ml), Vodka (10ml), Tequila (10ml), Cointreau (10ml), Blue Curacao (5ml), Dark Rum (10ml), Whiskey (10ml), Sprite (1 can), Lemon Chunks (8 nos), Lemon Juice (10ml), Sugar Syrup (10ml), Ice Cubes

Method: Take the lemon chunks in a shaker and muddle them. Pour all the white spirits in a brandy embassy glass along with sugar syrup and lemon juice. Fill the glass with ice cubes and top it up with sprite and pour blue Curacao. Float dark spirits on top of it for a layering. Garnish with a lemon slice.

The Grounded Desi
Lazeez Masala Chai
You’re your own person, and you love it. You jazz up your deep-rooted principles and a traditional outlook with a progressive mind. So, your drink is the Lazeez Masala Chai — laced with white rum, lemon juice and a dash of chaat masala. You’re Mr/Miss Creative with executable ideas. Wear your kurtas or sneakers to work, and you’re one of the few who get away with it too!

Ingredients: White Rum (60ml), Chaat Masala (a dash), Lemon Juice (a dash), Sugar Syrup (a dash), Green Apple Syrup (15 ml), Ice Cubes

Method: Pour all the ingredients in a shaker with ice cubes. Shake well and pour into a frosted martini glass. Garnish with an apple slice.

The Party Professional
Shiraz Sangria
Your life is a party, but then, that’s not a bad thing. You just take on your work with such flair that it looks easy-peasy. Your order of the Shiraz Sangria, a fun drink with red wine and a host of fruits, just exudes youth, vibrancy and a fun-loving spirit. You’re a trend-setter and the life of the office (and party). A true-blue team player.

Ingredients: Red Wine (1 bottle, preferably a young, light body Shiraz wine), Lemon (1, cut into wedges 1x6), Orange (1 cut into wedges 1x6), Sugar (2 tbsp), Brandy (1 shot), Ginger Ale or Club Soda (2 cups)

Method: Pour wine in the pitcher and squeeze the juice from the lemon and orange wedges into the wine (squeeze 2 lemon and 2 orange wedges each). Toss in the rest of the fruit wedges, leaving out the seeds if possible and add sugar and brandy. Chill overnight, so that the wine absorbs the flavours of the fruits. Add ginger ale or club soda just before serving in a large wine glass. Jazz it up with an orange slice garnish.

Sophisticated Romantic
Cabernet Cobbler
You like your Shakespeare and the finer things. You mind your manners, are conservative, and even though you’re quite the cut-throat in the boardroom, you’re caring and nurturing. Much like the red wine that forms the base of your Cabernet Cobbler. But then, there’s an unexpected lemon tinge to this drink that reflects your hidden adventurous facet.

Ingredients: Red Wine (90ml), Lemon Juice (10ml), Sugar Syrup (10ml), Soda Water (40ml), Crushed Ice

Method: Mix the lemon juice and sugar syrup with red wine, pour over ice in a wine glass, and top up with soda water. Garnish with a lemon slice.

The Classic
Dead Revival
You are fine with mixing classic elements and theories in your approach, even if it means revisiting old-school practices. Your order is for the Dead Revival, with cognac and apple brandy. Old soul, you think? May be, but a deep red drink in a martini glass, your classic three-piece suit with a red tie and pocket square set — you’re the one people look up to and come to for advice.

Ingredients: Cognac (30ml), Apple Brandy (20ml), Sweet Red Vermouth (10ml), Ice Cubes

Method: Pour all the ingredients into a cocktail shaker, fill it with ice cubes. Stir well. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a Maraschino cherry.

The Spark
Teekha Peru
You like to give the impression that you’re a force to be reckoned with and live life dangerously. Why else would you order the Teekha Peru, a vodka and lemon concoction with Tabasco! But served in a shapely Hurricane glass, rimmed with red chilli powder, the drink says you’re actually very approachable once people get to know you, provided they’re interesting.

Ingredients: Smirnoff Red (60ml), Lemon Juice (10ml), Tabasco Sauce (3 drops), Guava Juice (120ml), Salt (a pinch), Red Chilli Powder (to rim the glass), Green Chilli (1), Ice Cubes

Method: Rim the glass with salt and red chilli powder. Add ice, pour in lemon juice, Tabasco sauce, Guava juice, and a pinch of salt. Float vodka on top. Serve in a hurricane glass, and garnish with a chilli.

The Innocent
Virgin Devil
You don’t need an alcoholic boost to pep you up. No, sir! Your energy’s right up there, and a Virgin Devil, with grenadine syrup, lemon juice and ginger ale over lots of crushed ice, is just the drink to take the edge off at the end of the day, and don your party hat. At a late business do, this would ensure you have a level head, and a glass to toast!

Ingredients: Grenadine Syrup (10ml), Sugar Syrup (10ml), Lemon Juice (10ml), Ginger Ale (to top up), Crushed Ice

Method: Add all the ingredients into a highball glass over lots of ice. Garnish with a dry red chilli and serve.

The Straight-shooter
Mint Julep
While you're brilliant at work, you also like to keep it fresh. Which is why you’ll sip the classy Mint Julep — muddled mint with whiskey in an old-fashioned glass — sitting in a leather chair, your mind racing. You keep things simple, are quick to take decisions and, though you’re quite adept at being hands-on, you’re much happier ordering others around.

Ingredients: Bourbon Whiskey (60ml), Mint (5-6 sprigs), Simple Syrup (15ml), Crushed Ice

Method: Muddle mint with simple syrup. Add crushed ice and bourbon whiskey. Stir and serve in an old-fashioned glass. Garnish with mint sprigs.

So, which of these are you? And, if you’d like to experiment with another personality type, just head on over to www.businessworld.in for the recipes of these new-age cocktails. We promise not to let out your secret!

Revisiting The Classics

There are some combinations or pure souls that will never go out of fashion. So, even if you spice up your evening with these new concoctions, here's what the classics and the puritans say about you

Rum drinkers are cheap and creative
Don't get us wrong, cheap stands for the fact that you would rather spend your money pursuing creative and experiential things, than money. Artists and musicians (and students) are the usual rum drinkers.

Beer drinkers are chilled out
They are outgoing and comfortable in their skin (read jeans and T-shirt!). They make friends easily — so feel free to open a conversation with beer talk, and you're set.

Wine drinkers are the mature lot
Cautious, dependable, mature and sophisticated is what they are, and, maybe, a bit of a show-off. They're a fount of information, and usually prone to sweep people off their feet. Talk philosophy with them, and you'll get a lecture on the true meaning of life.

Tequila drinkers are edgy and wild
You're an extrovert and the life of a party. There's not predicting what you'll do next — in the boardroom or otherwise.

Gin drinkers are stable and loyal
People look at you and know they can just trust you. You're the stable one in the bunch, the mother/father figure. But then again, there's no crossing you. Once your anger's been ignited, you tend to hold on to it for life.

Whiskey drinkers are serious and macho
Picture Hemingway drinking a whiskey neat before going off to fight a bull or hunt big game in Africa — whiskey drinkers exude masculinity and authority. You know what you want and how to make it happen, and overtly complicating things is not your style. Women drinking whiskey usually tend to turn heads, appreciatively, and they enjoy that power.

Vodka drinkers are friends with everyone
You're a great mixer and get along with everybody. You like the 'hit', but not the taste. So you'll just blend!

(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 05-05-2014)