Buying Your First Cocktail: What to Look for

So, you’ve just reached the legal age to consume alcohol, and you’re ready to see what all the fuss is about. You want to get out to the bar, slam your fist down, and order your first drink like a grown adult. Except, you get up to the bar, you read the board, and nothing on it makes any sense. What is a Jager Bomb? What is in a Bloody Mary? Is a Pink Squirrel even a drink?

We don’t blame you for not understanding it. The world of alcohol is pretty whimsical and vast, and unless you’ve been ordering drinks for a while, you can’t be expected to know what any of that is.

Well, we’re going to give you a bit of guidance during this exciting part of your life. We can’t cover every drink in the world, and we won’t try to. However, we can give you a general rundown of taste preferences, the latest research, and the best ready-to-drink cocktails out there, and how to figure out the type of drink you want. After attaining this knowledge, you can run to your local bartender to see what they suggest as well.

Let’s get started.

1: Taste Preferences

First and foremost, you need to understand what type of drink, in general, you prefer. Are you a bold type of individual who enjoys the bite of Dr. Pepper? Maybe a vodka cranberry is a good choice for you? Do you like to end your evenings with a tall milkshake? Perhaps you want to translate that into an alcoholic cream-based drink, or something on the sweeter and thicker side such as a daiquiri? Finally, maybe you really like the bitterness of dry ginger ale? A solid IPA beer or just a good-old Jack and Coke might do the trick. Looking for something with a bit more spice to it? Try an El Matador made with belgian beer for the perfect blend of sweet, savoury, and heat.

If you can get an understanding of the general tastes you enjoy without alcohol, picking your first cocktail is going to be easy. Also, if you don’t know which cocktails correlate to your tastes, just tell the bartender what you’re looking for, and tell them it’s your first drink. They might even go a bit heavy on the pour to make your first drink special.

2: Research Results

If you really want to take a more streamlined approach, just look up the top ten cocktails, read through the list entries, and pick something that SOUNDS good. Now, since you have no idea what some of the ingredients taste like, and alcoholic drinks rarely taste exactly like whatever fruit or flavor profile they’re trying to emulate, you might still hate the drink; at least you won’t be blindly chucking darts at the board and hoping something hits the bullseye.

3: Try Ready-Made Cocktails

Finally, and this is honestly the easiest way to do it, buy a variety pack of ready-to-drink cocktails. These cocktails are typically mirrored after the same things you get in the bar, they taste extremely similar, and in a variety pack, you can try several. However, you get to do so in the comfort of your own home. There’s no embarrassing conversation with a bartender, if you don’t like it, you can pitch it and try another, and it’s overall much easier.

We highly recommend this route, and while your first drink won’t technically be hand-made, you’ll be better equipped when it’s time to order your first hand-made drink. Just remember to drink responsibly.

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Kelly Tate

Kelly is a full-time supermum, caring for two kids and a hardworking husband. A cook, a cleaner, a carer and all round hard worker, striving for the perfect family life (with a few bumps along the way!) Eternally honest and sometimes brutally forward, no topics are off limits with Kelly.