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From methods to mouthfeel, garnishes to flavors, bartending jargon can intimidate even experienced bar-goers. Roll up with your friends to a cocktail lounge and you may encounter a menu featuring clarified and infused cocktail drinks. Before you order, let us guide you through common terms in the hospitality world so you can confidently choose your drink.

Bartenders wield a variety of techniques to craft delicious beverages for you to enjoy. Clarifying cocktails removes impurities from the alcohol, while infusions introduce new flavors. Understanding the difference will help you make a more informed choice between a clarified jungle bird and a gimlet with basil-infused gin, eliminating the need to consult your friend in embarrassment.

When you see clarified cocktails on a menu, it signifies meticulously curated recipes. A clarified cocktail involves a meticulous process that removes particulates, resulting in a visually appealing, clean, and clear drink. Various methods are employed by bartenders to achieve this clarification, including centrifugation, freezing, and quick-gel techniques, as well as milk-washing, a technique dating back to the 1700s.

One of the most well known clarified cocktails is a milk punch. It involves combining brandy, a sweetener, juice, and whole milk to let the mixture curdle in the fridge. The clumpy liquid is strained, and the remaining concoction can be served. Clarifying a drink offers bartenders smoother liquids that can be combined with others for a more impressive finish. In addition to eliminating potentially cloudy or murky visual effects, clarification can also help slow oxidation, extending the overall shelf life without having to sacrifice quality or taste.

Infusing booze with ingredients may be an even older process, as people have added spices and nuts to alcohol since early civilization. This process allows bartenders to express their creativity as they craft original flavor combinations to be used in cocktails. Once ingredients are combined, the original spirit will take on some of the characteristics of whatever ingredients have been added.

Combining alcohol with herbs or roots and letting them mingle can result in a more flavorful outcome — and some pretty unique cocktail creations. While there are different ways to infuse alcohol with flavors from varied ingredients — maceration, sous vide, or nitrogen cavitation, for example — the finished result paves the way to an unexplored world of drink making. Once an alcohol has been infused, the flavored drink can lend unique dimensions to familiar cocktails. Infusing bourbon with dates can elevate an old fashioned, while Nutella-washed rum can help build a hot buttered rum that is difficult to set down. Have fun experimenting with infused concoctions you make at home, without needing to shell out cash at a local lounge.

Read the original article on Tasting Table.