Juice up your juices: How to Juice Fruits for Cocktails

WRITTEN BY SCOTT VAN DORT

When you’re making simple cocktails like the Screwdriver or Greyhound, you’ll want to use the best ingredients you can find. While this holds true for any cocktail, it’s essential for two-ingredient drinks where both components are in the spotlight and there’s no room to hide any imperfections. 

Taking the Screwdriver cocktail as an example, where it’s just Vodka and Orange Juice, make sure to choose a Vodka that’s smooth and has character, and to press fresh Orange Juice. In other words, this means skipping the store-bought bottle of OJ and juicing a few fresh oranges instead. Trust us, the taste of your cocktail will be infinitely better.

When it comes to juicing your fruits, there’s one additional step that will elevate your home bartending skills and allow you to create drinks you never thought possible. This step is what’s called aeration.

What is cocktail aeration?

In brief, aeration means giving your drink some air to breathe. When you shake or stir a cocktail, you’re not just mixing the ingredients; you’re also incorporating air bubbles. The process aeration will give your drinks a lighter texture that’s almost velvety and “fluffy”. 

When done right, “You’ll see there’s lots of bubbles, there’s lots of air – that means a lot of flavor is going to transfer,” says Ricardo ‘Rico’ Dynan, Bartender and Absolut Global Brand Ambassador.  

Aeration not only improves the texture of your drinks but also the taste.

How to aerate a cocktail

The best way to juice fruits is with a centrifugal juicer. “A what?” you ask.

A centrifugal juicer is a kitchen appliance designed to extract juice from fruits and vegetables quickly and efficiently. It works by using a high-speed spinning blade that grinds the produce into a pulp.

This pulp is then pushed against a fine mesh filter, where the centrifugal force separates the juice from the pulp. The juice flows out through a spout, while the pulp is collected in a separate container.

In the video on this page, Rico shows how to make a Greyhound cocktail using a centrifugal juicer. You’ll notice that when he places fresh Grapefruit into the Juicer, the juice that comes out from the spout takes on a frothy, almost milkshake-y texture.

This comes from the millions of tiny air bubbles that get whipped into the juice as the juicer runs. That’s the magic of a centrifugal juicer.

Use fresh pressed juice for your cocktails

When you first start making cocktails at home, we get it —you’ll be thrilled just to make a drink that’s decent. And so you should be! But soon enough, you’ll start wondering why your creations don’t quite match up to the ones you enjoy at the bar. It’s all about tips, tricks and techniques, which you can discover through our Learn resources to make cocktails like a pro.

As crazy as it sounds, using a centrifugal juicer makes juice smell and taste just like the real thing—because it is! It’s as fresh as you can get. For instance, orange juice will have that incredible aroma you get the moment you cut into a fresh orange. And the juice tastes exactly like the fresh fruit.

Bottled and stored fruit juices lose so much of their natural flavors, but with a centrifugal juicer, you capture all that fresh goodness.

Tip! As soon as you’ve juiced your fruits with a centrifugal juicer, mix your cocktail and serve it as quickly as possible to ensure maximum fluffiness in the final product.

Other ways to aerate juice for your drinks

As Rico explains, if you don’t have centrifugal juicer at home, you can use a normal hand blender (aka an immersion blender). “The result won’t be as good…but it’s a good alternative,” says Rico.

Place the fruit pieces into a tall, deep container to prevent splattering. Insert the immersion blender into the container and blend at high speed for about 5 minutes or until it takes on a milkshake-like consistency. Move the blender up and down to ensure all the fruit pieces are thoroughly blended.

While it won’t match the precision of a centrifugal juicer, it’s a handy trick that can significantly improve your homemade drinks.

OK, now that you know the importance of using fresh ingredients in your cocktails and how aeration can take your drinks to a whole new level, let’s get juicing!