14 Common Mistakes That Are Ruining Your Whiskey Cocktails

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Given that whiskey is one of the most popular liquors in the world, it's little surprise that it's the base of an extraordinary number of cocktails. Whether you're going for a classic old fashioned (which is actually the official cocktail of a certain city), or mixing it up with something a bit more funky, you can rely on the smoky, honeyed flavors of whiskey to give your cocktail a bit of punch. That's if you make it properly, that is. Whiskey is one of those liquors that you really need to treat right if you're making a cocktail with it; if you don't, it can either dominate your drink entirely, or lose all of its punch and flair.

How do I know this? Well, because I've seen countless cocktails get ruined by mistakes. As a bartender and restaurant manager, I know what it looks like when a cocktail is made incorrectly, and what you need to do to get them right. The frustrating thing is that so many of these mistakes are super easy to rectify; all it takes is the right knowledge, a bit of technique, and a love of the liquor you're using. If you can get all that right, you're onto a winner.

The image of a bartender making a cocktail is pretty iconic: The cocktail shaker held high above their head, with the drink inside being mixed vigorously. When it comes to whiskey cocktails, though, that may not be how we're meant to make them. Shaking a cocktail aerates the liquid inside, and doing so with ice inside the container also dilutes it. Both of these things can be an issue for whiskey cocktails, which can benefit from less dilution to keep the punchiness of the liquor alive, and can also lose their mellowness when they're shaken too forcefully.

Instead, a lot of whiskey cocktails should be stirred rather than shaken. This is especially true of cocktails that rely on a smooth, but robust flavor profile, like old fashioneds. Others, like Manhattans and martinis, should also generally be stirred to keep them as undiluted as possible. Having said this, there are a few whiskey cocktails that are better off shaken. Whiskey sours, for instance, require shaking to aerate the egg white and get the right texture from the drink.

Ice is a big deal in whiskey cocktails, and not just because it keeps them chilled. When you're constructing a whiskey-based drink, your ice size can make or break it. Certain types of whiskey cocktails require big ice cubes, which serve to chill the drink gently while not diluting it too much. This keeps the flavors in the cocktail intense for longer. Others are way more successful when using smaller ice cubes or crushed ice, as their flavor profile relies on the whiskey being a little more diluted to slightly take the sting out of things.

Generally speaking, the way that you can tell whether a cocktail needs big or small ice cubes is what kind of glass it's served in. If your cocktail is meant to be served in a rocks glass, there's a good chance that it needs one or two large ice cubes to keep it cool, or even none at all. On the other hand, if your cocktail goes in a highball glass, it may well be that it's intended to be served with lots of smaller ice cubes.

A little syrup can go a long way in whiskey cocktails, but you need to be careful. Most whiskeys have flavor notes that lend themselves to sweetness, with vanilla, honey, caramel, and chocolate flavors all being awakened by simple syrup or sugar. However, if you go too far, you'll end up taking all of the intensity out of your liquor. Your cocktail will just taste of sugar, and you'll lose all of the smokiness and maturity that whiskey delivers. Oh, and it's a surefire way to make your post-cocktail headache that much worse.

As such, when you're making whiskey cocktails, it's important to go slowly and taste as you go. After shaking or stirring your cocktail, give it a small taste test. If you think it doesn't taste sweet enough, add a tiny bit more syrup. If, conversely, you feel like you've overdone it, you can always pour in a touch more whiskey and the other ingredients to bolster its other flavors. Don't spend too long deliberating, though: Every second you leave your whiskey cocktail sitting there with your ice is a second where it's diluting.

Making whiskey cocktails can be a lot of work. You can spend hours trawling around stores trying to find those niche liqueurs and mixers that some cocktails ask for, endlessly compare recipes, and obsess over measurements. Then, finally, you get your cocktail just right — hooray! — and then proceed to dump a load of ice in it, and leave it to sit on the side for five minutes before serving it to your friends.

This, folks, is a cardinal sin that a lot of people make. It's not just folks at home, either: I've seen plenty of colleagues add ice to a drink and then get started on making the rest of the items in the order. The problem is that if you add ice to your drink too early, everything dilutes way too much. Then, when you serve it to a customer (or serve it to yourself!) you end up with a cup of weak-tasting liquid.

Instead, you should always add the ice just before you're ready to drink your whiskey cocktail, giving it the briefest of moments for the drink to cool down before diving in. If you're making a stirred cocktail, you may want to pull the ice you used to stir it out, before replacing it with a fresh cube. If you're making a shaken cocktail, always use fresh ice after pouring it out into the glass.

Garnishes can feel unnecessary on a cocktail, especially when you're making them at home. Look, I get it: I've spent countless hours of my life garnishing cocktails to perfection in bars, and I know the feeling of just wanting to make your life easier. The thing is that while a lot of people think that garnishes are just for show, they really aren't. Garnishes add flavor and aroma to a drink, and they can also add a touch of texture as well. Skipping your garnish means that you miss an essential part of the experience; a garnish can be the difference between a great cocktail and a marvelous one.

When it comes to whiskey cocktails in particular, garnishes provide both an accentuation to the flavors in your drink and a contrast to the boozy notes. Take an old fashioned, for instance: The orange peel garnish freshens up the drink with a touch of citrus, but it also highlights the zestier notes that some whiskeys have in abundance. Without it, you basically have a cup of sweetened whiskey, which isn't exactly mind-blowing.

The thing about whiskey cocktails is that everyone thinks they know what they like. In my years as a bartender, I've lost count of the number of times people ask for old fashioned, mint juleps, and whiskey sours. Now, don't get me wrong: Those cocktails are classics for a reason. However, they're the tip of the iceberg when it comes to whiskey-based drinks. These cocktails stand out for their accessibility, but there are plenty of other options out there that are just a little less predictable.

Take the rusty nail, for example (which incidentally was Frank Sinatra's favorite cocktail). This combination of scotch and Drambuie has a similar vibe to an old fashioned, but has a more aromatic, fruity, and complex vibe. Similarly, a Sazerac is whiskey-forward but also exhibits a pleasing dryness, thanks to the addition of absinthe. If you prefer something sweet, a maple bourbon smash plays into the honey and vanilla notes in most whiskeys, and is a super drinkable (but often overlooked) cocktail. Don't be afraid to ask your bartender's recommendation, either: We're here to help, and we put these drinks together for a living. With a bit of a steer on your taste, we'll make you something that you like.

When you're making cocktails at home, it's super easy to go off-book. I understand the impulse behind this. If you're staring at a fully stocked bar cart, and you're trying to decide between three different ingredients that you know go with whiskey, it's tempting to dump them all in and make something that you think will be a taste explosion. The problem is that doing this can ruin the very essence of a whiskey cocktail itself, and leave you with a cup of liquid that kinda sucks.

The best whiskey cocktails place the liquor front and centre; it's not a liquor that tends to be paired with other ones easily, and instead stands out on its own. Most of the time, ingredients in whiskey cocktails exist to accentuate a certain flavor note in the liquor, creating more roundness in the overall drink. As such, adding way too many ingredients won't help, but will instead hinder your cocktail and muddy its flavor. Your additions will be competing against each other, and ultimately you'll dull the taste of your cocktail. Stick to just a few ingredients, and allow your whiskey to shine through.

Whiskey cocktails are largely defined by their glasses. The choice to use a rocks glass, a highball, or a copper mug is more than just an aesthetic one: It also defines the quantities you should use, and the overall effect of your drink. Cocktails served in rocks glasses, for instance, are typically more aromatic and intense, whereas those served in highball glasses are usually slightly more easygoing and crisp. They also tend to use ingredients that tie into the feel of certain seasons: Highballs are better suited for the summer, rocks glass cocktails for the winter.

While you can mix up your glassware, doing so will quickly throw your drink off balance and make the liquor over- or under-diluted. Additionally, opting for a glass that's too long or big for shorter cocktails can take away their intensity and the impact of their scent on your taste. Although it can feel a bit frivolous to buy loads of different-sized cocktail glasses, think of it as an investment in your booze-drinking future. You'll be thankful you brought those rocks glasses when winter rolls around and you want a cozy tipple by the fire.

Ordering a cocktail in a restaurant can be a mixed bag. On the positive side, cocktails can be a fun and exciting way to start the meal, and feel that much more special. On the negative side, though, you can end up with half of your drink left when your dish arrives, resulting in a serious flavor clash that can ruin your enjoyment of both aspects of your meal. As someone who's been not just a bartender, but a restaurant server and manager, I've lost count of the number of times that I've seen someone order a whiskey-based cocktail and a fish dish together, and then are surprised when they don't quite love the experience.

Rather than have this happen to you, I would suggest thinking about which flavors would go with your whiskey cocktail. Whiskey-based drinks pair well with slightly punchier foods that have fuller flavors. Opt for options like cheese, charcuterie, grilled meats, and chocolate flavors with whiskey, as all of these can stand up to the power of bourbon, rye, and Scotch. By contrast, it's best to avoid lighter or sharper flavors. Your whiskey cocktail likely won't go too well with chicken, fruit, or anything in a bright and herbal tomato sauce.

Sorry to be the fun police, folks, but I'm gonna have to call time on free-pouring. It's easy to consider yourself a cocktail whiz once you've made a couple of them, and think that you've got a handle on how much whiskey to pour into your drink. While that might be the case if you're making cocktails for a living, this is also a surefire way to ruin your drink. Even the most experienced bartenders use jiggers, for the simple fact that cocktails require a specific and precise balance of ingredients. With whiskey cocktails, this is even more important: Whiskey is a liquor that has a lot of intensity and nuance, and too much of it in a drink will ruin any other taste present.

So, when you're making your cocktails, I'd always recommend measuring carefully. Grab yourself a Boston Shaker Cocktail Set that comes with a selection of jiggers, and use them religiously. Don't be tempted to top up your cocktail with a little extra whiskey if you want something stronger, either: Just make yourself another drink after you're done with the first.

If you think you'll get away with using a cut-price whiskey in your cocktail, think again. Cheap whiskey isn't one of those drinks that goes unnoticed. Unlike cheaper vodka or gin, which can blend in relatively well, cheap whiskey has an overly smokey taste and will stand out considerably in cocktails. No matter which mixers you add, the artificial flavors that pervade these liquors can dominate — and if you use cheaper ingredients elsewhere, the effect will be so much more noticeable.

Instead, it's best to just accept that you will have to spend money on your whiskey, even when you're using it in a cocktail. That doesn't mean that you have to use top-shelf stuff in your drinks, though. Opt for a mid-level liquor for whiskey cocktails which you wouldn't mind drinking on its own (it's kinda like the rule for only cooking with wine that you'd drink). Personally speaking, I would save your priciest whiskey for drinking neat or on the rocks, as you don't want to lose all of the nuance in these more expensive liquors.

Whiskey's one of those liquors that's pretty lacking in versatility when it comes to other alcoholic beverages. Although it goes with a fair few mixers, it's a little less suited to combining with other liquors. This is largely to do with its intensity and nuanced flavor: It doesn't have the cleanliness of something like vodka or white rum, and therefore doesn't neatly slot into other taste profiles as well. It particularly clashes with equally strong liquors like dark rum or gin, which can rub up against the oaky, smoky notes of stronger whiskeys.

Having said this, there are other liquors that whiskey can pair with beautifully (cognac, for example, goes very well with the drink). However, it's usually best to treat whiskey as the central component of a cocktail. Avoid clouding its flavor with other liquors, and allow it to be the center of your drink — and use other ingredients to complement its nuance instead of masking it.

Whiskey cocktails don't tend to have ingredients that need muddling, in the same way that you'd have to with rum or cachaca-based drinks. However, they're definitely out there. A whiskey smash, for instance, needs muddling to unlock the citrus flavors, while mint juleps require the mint to be muddled to give them that all-important zing.

It's wise not to skip this crucial part of the process, as muddling releases the aromatics and flavors of your ingredients way more effectively than just plopping them into your cocktail does. While you can definitely do the latter (and it tends to be less messy), you'll end up with a drink that's terribly flat and boring. Bear in mind, though, that if you're muddling your drinks, you'll want to strain them as well as possible. If you don't, you'll end up with loads of pieces of herbs and little flecks of fruit in your drink. Although leaving them in will allow them to infuse further, it'll also make your drinking experience a lot messier.

When we get into the kitchen to make cocktails, we all suddenly become pro bartenders. Look, I'm not shaming you here: Most people can whip up an amazing whiskey-based cocktail at home, and it's not too hard to get the basics right. However, what sometimes happens is that in pursuit of a unique drink, folks tend to go off-piste and start throwing in whatever ingredients they fancy. Although I get the temptation of doing so, it's best to stick to the script wherever possible.

The problem with going rogue with your cocktail is that you throw off the fairly delicate balance of ingredients from which drinks are constructed. There are a surprising number of additions out there that will clash with your whiskey instead of bolstering it. You need harmony amongst your ingredients so as to not create unpleasant dissonance with the smokier notes, and whiskey cocktail recipes tend to take these risks in mind. The same goes for taking out ingredients: Unless you have a strong aversion to something going into your drink, it's best to leave it in as it'll be working in tandem with some other element.