Salt Fat Acid Heat is a poplular book (and then a TV series) by the celebrated cook Samin Nosrat, which postulates that Salt, Fat, Acid and Heat are the basic elements of cooking.

Cocktail making is a form of cooking, and can use similar principles.

The article named What Is the Difference Between a Cocktail and a Mixed Drink? quotes: “A mixed drink has a minimum of two ingredients, but once you get to a third ingredient, it’s a cocktail,” says Keith Meicher, head bartender at Sepia in Chicago, who was behind the stick pouring vodka sodas (a mixed drink) and shaking gin with rhubarb and lime (a cocktail) when I asked him this question. “So all cocktails are mixed drinks,” Meicher says. “A mixed drink can also be a highball; I don’t consider a highball a cocktail.”

From the same article:

“Joe Stinchcomb, owner of Bar Muse in Oxford, Mississippi, doesn’t either. “A mixed drink is a ‘one and;’ Jack and Coke, vodka and tonic, gin and tonic,” he says. “A cocktail is something that takes time to make and create. You figured out that you want pineapple, mango, vodka, and lime, shook it, and poured it into the glass. To me, that’s a cocktail.”

However, the same article states that both of the above bartenders waffle when asked about Aperol Spritz, which is often quoted as the most popular cocktail in the world.

There is a different way of formulating this, instead of 2 or 3, lets start with 4, where sometimes 4 == 2. Let me explain.

Axiom

Great cocktails have a consistent formula:

Cocktail = Alcohol + Sweet + Sour (a.k.a. Acid) + Bubbles

Postulate 1

Cocktails which achieve the formula with the minimum nunber of ingredients are the best.

Mimosa, therefore, is axiomatically the best cocktail, with just two ingredients. It gets alcohol and bubbles from Champage (or other similar bubblies), and fresh squeezed orange juice provides sweet and sour. Perfection.

There are many cocktails with two ingredients, e.g. The 40 Absolute Best Cocktails That Feature Only 2 Ingredients. However, all of those, except Mimosa, do not satisfy the equation, and fail to achiveve greatness.

Screwdriver, made with freshly squeezed orange juice and vodka, comes close, but is a missing bubbles. Just add a dash of soda to elevate it to greateness.

Bellini, from Harry’s Bar in Venice, with fresh peach puree and Proseco, is quite similar to Mimosa. But Peach, at its best is not sour, and deviates from the formula by lacking sourness. Try a dash of bitters to get back in line.

Cocktails which deviate from this formula sometimes try to substitute. E.g. some use foam as a replacement.

That’s it. Rest are ornamentations discussed later.

What is desi

But those does not qualify as desi.

This blog specializes on cocktails which were developed (invented) in India, and has at least one quintesential Indian ingredient, gloassing over the origin disputes of those ingredients.