Mixing cocktails requires striking the delicate balance between sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and savory tastes and textures in your creations. This includes finding appropriate proportions for all ingredients – as well as understanding how they interact together – in order to produce delectable drinks with just the right blend of flavor and texture.

There are six core spirits (or hard liquors) used in cocktail making: brandy, gin, rum, tequila, whiskey and vodka. These beverages can be mixed with various ingredients to produce endless varieties of beverages; each spirit boasting their own individual character while all having similar distillation processes that help create better selection and usage in cocktails.

Step one in creating cocktails involves selectinging the ideal base spirit. These should pair well with other flavors in your drinks – for instance, pineapple pairs perfectly with rum as both come from tropical plants, while it pairs even better when used as part of Tiki drinks!

Select a balancing agent that enhances the flavor of your beverage, such as lemon juice to balance bitter spirits; simple syrup or molasses provide sweetening without masking its essence.

Final touches should include an ingredient that adds an appealing texture to your beverage, whether that is water in a highball, tonic water in a long drink or even just some ice for lowballs. Always test for balance prior to adding ingredients that could obscure or change its original flavors – testing is especially important with any add-ins such as garnish or ice.