What makes a great cocktail? That’s easy: striking a balance of flavors — sweet, salty, bitter, sour. There are salty drinks, such as the Paloma, and there are very bitter drinks such as the fabled Negroni. But let’s focus on the two most popular flavors: sweet and sour. The sour element in most drinks comes from fruit; lemon and lime for the most part. To make truly flavorful drinks, it’s a must to have fresh fruit juice available. At Capitol Bar, we squeeze lots of limes, l

Farewell summer! As always, this gin and tonic season was a memorable one. However, as the air grows cooler, cocktail ingredients begin to heat up, but don’t break out the Bailey’s just yet. Let’s ease into it a bit. I see more people during summer sipping out of copper or tin cups, rather than collins glasses. What most of them are slugging down is a concoction of vodka, lime juice and ginger beer, otherwise known as the Moscow Mule. But lately, I’ve noticed the vodka being

A woman walked into the bar recently and said she had heard we make great martinis. I said we did. She then asked which flavors we had. Silence. I told her we really only have martini flavored martinis. She settled on a cosmopolitan. Yes, there are many ways to flavor the basic cocktail known as a martini and serve it in a cocktail glass, which most people know as a martini glass. But I like to stick to the basics. The martini, which was originally called the Martinez and had