Vodka

Vodka is an European clear distilled alcoholic drink that has been one of the most popular drinks across the world .

You'll find it to be the most popular spirit in drink making because of it's neutral taste and absence of flavour and colour.

Vodka often replaces Gin in many traditional cocktails

Vodka is known to be good for the heart, and if consumed in moderation, can prove to be good for cardiovascular health

Note that these days there are flavoured Vodka available in the market too, and some cocktails do make use of them.

Sweet Vermouth

Vermouth the French for German Wermut, Wormwood in English, is an aromatic fortified Wine, flavoured with various botanicals like roots, barks, flowers, herbs, seeds and spices.

Although traditionally Vermouth was used for medicinal purposes, it has been also served as an apéritif in its modern avatar. The modern Vermouth first appeared in and around the 18th Century in Turin. By the late 19th Century it became very popular with bartenders as a key ingredient in cocktail mixology.

Martini, Manhattan, Rob Roy and Negroni were a few cocktails that Vermouth grew in popularity with. But later during the 20th Century, Vermouth slowly lost its glory and Dry Martinis and extra Dry Martinis with little or no Vermouth gained over the original Martini. Modern Martinis usually have a splash of Vermouth to add that herbacious texture to it.

Historically, there have been two Vermouth types, Dry and Sweet, but with demand variations have come up now. that include extra-dry white, sweet white, red, amber and rose.

Vermouth is produced by adding proprietory mixture of aromatic botanicals to a base wine or a base wine plus spirit or spirit only, which is usually redistilled before adding it to a base of neutral grape wine or unfermented wine must ( freshly pressed grapes and the juice ). After the wine is aromatised and fortified. it is sweetened and the end product is a Vermouth.

Dry Vermouth is what makes the character of the original Martini, and a Dry Vermouth has less sugar and is more herbacious but less spicier than Sweet Vermouth.

Hungarian Pear Juice

Ice is so obvious in most drinks, be it a straight drink or a mixed drink, that we often forget it's importance or even reason behind using a crystal clear good quality ice in a glass of whisky, or crushed ice in a tall glass to enjoy a cocktail.

Ice tempers a hard liquor, and as is in the case of whisky for example, if you prefer the flavours of whisky reach your nose without the hard note of spirit lingering around, or want to avoid the mild sting of a neat whisky, a cube of ice mellows the strength down a little and as it melts slowly, the aroma and flavour is released from the whisky slowly and makes whisky progressively weak, lingering and palatable.

Ice in Vodka helps release the little flavour a Vodka has, slowly, instead of letting the Vodka hit your nose all at once,

In mixed drinks, ice plays an important role in creating the perfect temperature a certain drink requires and bartenders use ice in several different ways, crushed ice for long drinks that will allow the cocktail to slowly water down like a Mint Julep, Moscow Mule, Rum Swizzle, Sherry Cobbler and other Tiki drinks, a large block or cubes of ice for drinks that are spirit heavy, such as the Old Fashioned, Negroni, and Manhattan

Lemon

Lemon Juice being rich in Vitamin C is an excellent remedy for sore throat and aids in digestion and controls blood sugar, and also promoted weight loss. It is used for various culinary and non-culinary purposes all over the world. Lemon juice is known to reduce or even reverse the effects of excessive alcohol consumption and intoxication.
In drink mixing, fresh lemon juice brings a tangy zing to so many classic drinks and in fact, it's the most used ingredient in drink mixing other than the liquors of course.

This sweetened lemon flavoured beverage is an eternal popular throughout the world and there are varieties of homemade lemonades found everywhere. In North Africa and South Asia, cloudy lemonade dominates, be sure if your cocktail requires a clear lemonade or a cloudy one, which is indication of fruit pulp presence in the mix.

Pink Lemonade is a traditional Lemonade with food colouring added to it, the Pink Lemonade tastes exactly like a Lemonade, that is sweet Lime and Lemony, and the colour is a mere addition, no other fruit is added to it.

Lemon Liqueure is obviously made from Lemons, and sugar, it is a light to bright lemon yellow liqueur with an intense lemon flavour, and it can be clear, cloudy or opaque. With a sweet to sweet and sour taste. Lemon zest is added for the intensity without the bitterness of the pith, and when milk or cream is added, it is a lemon cream liqueur. Limoncello is an Italian Lemon Liqueur produced in Southern Italy and there are many other brands of lemon liqueur are produced in Italy, in several styles.Lemon Liqueur in Italy is consumed as a chaser ( ammazzacaffe ) to coffee.

A Squash is concentrated fruit syrup often with real pulp, typically made from fruit juice, water and sugar, and is used to create glassful juice by adding water to it.