Garnish: The Finishing Touch

The Right Garnish Added Properly Can Add A Lot To A Drink

A quality garnish can make a drink have that little extra flavor and also add an appealing look to the drinks that you make.  Knowing that, you also have to remember that some people don't want whatever garnish you may put into their drinks.  For this reason you should try to make it possible for them to remove it without having to sink their hand into their drink.

Sliced fruit such as ,lemon slices, lime slices, or pineapple chunks should normally be stuck to the edge of the glass.  If the glass is full of ice you can also place the fruit on top of the ice so that its easily removed.

Olives should always be fixed on a tooth pick or skewer of some variety.  Cherries should be added in the same way unless they have a long stem that you plan to leave attached.  In this case make sure that the stem protrudes from the drink so that the garnish can be easily removed if need be. 

Twists are probably the trickeist garnish to create and apply properly.  A lemon twist is much easier to make than a lime twist since the rind seperates cleaner.  Once you've seperated your rind make sure you twist it over the drink its going into.  A lot of bartenders either don't understand this or just don't care but the point of twisting the rind is that a small mist of oil will come out.  This adds the flavor to the drink to go along with the appealing look that a twist adds to a drink.

Whatever your drink and corresponding garnish may be remember its generally better to make it easy for the garnish to be removed if the customer so desires.  That allows for an attractive presentation without customers having to deal with something in their drink that they don't want.