- Fresh garnishes are easy to make at home with just a kitchen knife and a vegetable peeler.
- Fresh ingredients work best for garnishes because they provide the best possible color, flavor and aroma.
- The right garnish can also improve a drink by emphasizing the ingredients used to make it.
It's easy to think that garnishes just make a cocktail look pretty, but they also affect how a drink smells and tastes. The right garnish can enhance certain ingredients or provide contrast, creating a more complex drink.
"You're going to enjoy the cocktail much more if the garnish is prepared with care," says Mike Perez, expert mixologist, and bartender at Death & Co. LA.
With nothing more than a sharp knife, a peeler, some fresh produce, and a little planning, you can prepare fresh garnishes that take your cocktails to the next level.
Lime wedge or wheel
"Lime garnishes pair well with Daiquiris, Margaritas, and Moscow mules," Perez says. "Any drink that has lime juice as an ingredient is perfect with a lime garnish."
There are two primary types of lime garnish: wedges and wheels, and both are simple to make.
To make a lime wedge, first cut a lime in half from pole to pole. On the inside of the lime, make a shallow cut in the flesh perpendicular to the poles (this cut will become the slit that hangs the lime on the lip of your glass). Then, put the lime flat side down on a cutting board and cut it into four wedges. To use as a garnish, put the wedge on the rim of a glass, using the slit to hold it in place.
To make a lime wheel, first cut off the top of the lime about an inch from the pole. Then slice the lime thinly into circular rounds about ⅓ of an inch thick. To use the lime wheel, you can either place it over the top of the cocktail or cut a slit half way through and place it on the side of the serving glass.
Maraschino cherries
Maraschino cherries are one of the most iconic cocktail garnishes. They're best known for being used in the Manhattan, similar cocktails like the Red Hook and Rob Roy, and sometimes the Old-Fashioned.
Preparing a maraschino cherry garnish for a drink is as simple as placing the cherries on a cocktail pick and placing the pick over the top of the drink, or down into it.
The important thing is to use a high-quality brandied cherry and avoid bright, neon red cherries. The bright red cherries are made with artificial sweeteners and coloring which can jeopardize the balance of a cocktail by adding unwanted sweetness. The bright color also tends to look unnatural when paired with a classic cocktail.
Most mixologists, including Perez, recommend Luxardo Maraschino cherries for their rich complex flavor and ingredients.
Mint
Mint is the perfect companion to cocktails that use muddled mint as an ingredient, like the Mojito or Mint Julep. Mint also commonly garnishes many tropical and Tiki drinks, like the Mai Tai or Queens Park Swizzle.
To prepare a mint sprig garnish, start by removing leaves from the lower part of a single stem, leaving a leafy bunch at the top. Repeat this until you have enough sprigs of mint to bunch into a small bouquet that fits your serving glass.
"When you have your bouquet of mint, lightly slap it or clap it between your hands," Perez says. "It kind of wakes up the mint or activates it and gets the aromatic oils going."
To garnish, tuck the sprigs into the top of your drink, right by the straw. "When you sip from the straw, you want to be getting all of the fragrance from the mint," Perez says.
Pineapple
Pineapple garnishes work well with any drink that uses pineapple juice as an ingredient, like a Piña Colada or Jungle Bird, but can be used with any fruit-forward drink.
To prepare a pineapple garnish, first, hold the pineapple fronds near the base of the leaves and twist to remove them. Don't throw the fronds out, as they make a great garnish, too.
Begin by cutting the top of the pineapple off and discarding it. Cut the pineapple into 1-inch thick discs. From there, you can cut each pineapple disc into smaller wedge-shaped pieces. Depending on the size of your serving glass, you can cut each disc into four or eight pieces, just like cutting a whole pizza into slices.
To serve, cut a slit partway through each pineapple wedge and place on the side of your serving glass. To use the fronds, just tuck two leaves into the back of your drink.
Citrus peel
Citrus peels can be used in a wide variety of cocktails, most notably the Old-Fashioned and Negroni for orange peel and the Martini or Bee's Knees for lemon.
To make a citrus peel garnish, take a Y-shaped peeler and cut a big swath of peel from your preferred citrus. Avoid cutting too much of the white part of the fruit under the peel, known as the pith, as it can add some unpleasant bitterness to your drink.
Squeeze the peel over the surface of your drink to extract some of the citrus oils and brush the peel on the side of your glass. The oils add an extra burst of flavor and aroma to the first sip of your drink. To garnish, place the peel on the rim of your glass or down the side.
"With a long, wide peel, you can trim it and make something really beautiful," Perez says. Take your citrus peel garnish further by trimming it with a knife into the shape of a parallelogram. From there, you can go even further by twisting and curling it into a spiral shape.
Citrus crescent
If you want to add a slice of orange or grapefruit to your cocktail, the citrus crescent is the way to go. Grapefruit slices are an excellent garnish to a tequila or mezcal Paloma, and orange crescents pair perfectly with a Mimosa or Aperol Spritz.
To make a citrus crescent, cut your orange or grapefruit from pole to pole. On the inside of the pole you'll see a natural separation between both halves of the fruit. Cut ½ inch slices perpendicular to this center line to ensure perfect crescents. If there's too much pith on the garnish, it might be worth the extra step to trim it a bit.
Place the garnish on top of your cocktail, or, if it's small enough, use it as you would the lime wedge garnish.
Cucumber slices
Cucumbers have become a popular garnish in the bourbon, lime, and mint-based Kentucky Maid, with a refreshing Tom Collins, or even in a Bloody Mary.
There are a few ways to prepare a cucumber for garnishing your cocktails. The most simple way is to cut the cucumber into coins. To do this, just slice through the short length of your cucumber into pieces about half an inch thick. "You can also cut them at an angle," Perez says. "It gives the coins a slightly elongated look." To use these, simply float them over the top of your cocktail, or use a cocktail pick to balance them over the top of your glass.
You can also use a vegetable peeler to cut a long, thin slice of cucumber. This is perfect for tucking down the side of a tall Collins glass, adding a bit of color and fresh cucumber flavor to your drink. If you want to get really creative, you can fold the cucumber into a spiral shape and put a pick through it to hold it in place.
Apple fan
An apple garnish pairs beautifully with an Appletini, a Stone Fence, or any drink that uses apple brandy as its base spirit. A thin slice of apple floated on top of a drink would make a perfectly adequate garnish, but with a few extra steps you can make a much more impressive apple fan.
To make an apple fan, begin by cutting off the side of an apple, just before the stem and core. Slice the apple half into thin slices. When you have at least three slices that are about the same size, stack the slices and pierce through the stack with a cocktail pick. Spread the slices out to create a fan shape and place over the top of your drink.
Insider's Takeaway
Garnishing your cocktails is a great way to make an instant impression with your drink. By using fresh ingredients and simple kitchen tools, it's easy to make beautiful and well-crafted garnishes that add a visual flourish to your drink, along with aromatics and flavor complexity.