Cocktails are about having a sense of flavour, colour and style.  It combines the science of mixology with the art of presentation and the skill of performance.  The important thing is to have a passion for it.

Mix in your mind.  Taste each flavour you have chosen for your drink side by side to check if they’re compatible.  Do they complement each other?  Does one enhance the other?  Or do they drown themselves in the mix.  Every ingredient that you use must retain its identity in spite of the marriage or at least contribute to making an impression, however subtly.

Don’t splash in vast quantities of alcohol in mindlessly.  A good formula to follow is not to allow the total amount of alcohol per drink to far exceed the 75 ml limit don’t use more than one style of spirit in a drink – it really doesn’t make sense and contributes alcohol rather than flavour.

Balance can be filled by a soft drink or juice.  How much would depend on the size of the glass and the amount of ice in it.  It is usually to ‘top’.

Whether to shake, stir, blend or build up, a drink will be dictated by the ingredients and by the end result you desire.  Be generous with the ice.  A combination of spirits and liqueurs on their own are often stirred over lots of ice and then strained cold into a pre-chilled Martini glass.  They are as often poured ‘on the rocks’ too.

Drinks that use juices combined with cream or ice cream are shaken or blended in a mixer to get a smooth, even texture.  Sours which combine spirits with lime juice, sugar and the optional egg white must be well shaken or blended.  Tall refreshing drinks with juices or aerated water are simply built into the glass over ice directly.  Frozen, fresh fruit and ice cream drinks are blended with crushed ice to get a fine slushed or creamy effect.

Hand blenders are very useful for blended and frozen drinks.  Experiment with summer fruit as they come along.  Aam panna with gin or vodka, frozen watermelon juice with white rum, frozen litchis with coconut water and rum, the lit is endless.