Tips on the method and technique of mixing
Almost like looking in a fun-house mirror, Alberta’s backwards reflection of the classic and accepted cocktail methodology is funny and unexpected, distorted and endearing. Her intentional posturing outside of the accepted styles of her contemporaries have established her unique voice among the industry leaders. Her many innovative creations are truly exclusive to the “Flighty Way” of creative cocktailing.
The bartending philosophy espoused by David Embury, author of The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks approaches cocktails like the five French Master Sauces that are the basis for all gourmet cooking, identifies the “foundation” cocktails and all variants are built from there. Visualizing cocktails in this way aids in understanding the delicate balance of ingredients and has become the catalyst for all Flighty’s cocktail creations. She always starts with a base and then adds modifiers such as vermouths and liqueurs. Fresh fruit and herbs come later striving for balance and complexity in the drinks she mixes, keeping in mind the home bartender with little or no experience . While pre-prohibition era cocktails have become the modern day industry standard and are analyzed with a fine tooth comb, we often wonder what the cocktail landscape would be like if contemporary mixologists embraced a more sideways approach ala Flighty’s idol Crosby Gaige who so perfectly stated:
“Cocktails are living organisms like the cells in your body. They fluctuate like the tides. They are subject to the law of supply and demand, and are ruled and governed by the caprice or the creative instinct of each individual mixer.“
