Cocktail Time with Kevin Kos

Clarification is one of the best techniques for making beautiful cocktails… but what if you could do this without specialty ingredients like Pectinex or agar agar 🤔? You can, and the secret is using the power of freezing!

It’s as easy as simply freezing the juice you want to clarify, then slowly thawing it out to get a clearer result—but not all ingredients will clarify the same. So to figure out the best ones, I freeze-clarified 5 juices in my latest video ❄️: https://youtu.be/psRX1C7auj8

As a plus, there I’ll also cover how you can use freeze clarification to concentrate the flavor of your ingredients while you make them crystal clear. So if you’re ready to concentrate the power of freezing for better cocktails, it’s Cocktail Time 🥂!

3 days ago | [YT] | 126

Cocktail Time with Kevin Kos

Kate Gerwin is one of the best bartenders in the world, and she just revealed her tips on making better cocktails on our newsletter: The Cocktail Times ✉️!

You may recognize Kate from her appearance on the Netflix show Drinkmasters, but she’s been working hard in hospitality for the past 20 years. She’s received multiple awards along the way, and now she owns Happy Accidents, a bar in New Mexico that also works as a distillery 🤩.

Kate has thankfully sent in a lot more tips and answers that we’ll feature this Friday on The Cocktail Times, so if you want to learn from a word-class bartender just click here to register: www.kevinkos.com/newsletter 👈. Kate and I will see you on Friday. Cheers!

5 days ago | [YT] | 122

Cocktail Time with Kevin Kos

As Jeffrey Morgenthaler points out in The Bar Book, tinctures are one of the best techniques you can master as a bartender 💪.

They allow you to pack a lot of flavor in small bottles, making it so that you don’t have to infuse entire bottles of liquor to create the flavor profile you’re looking for. It’s also easy to use tools like sous vide, vacuum chambers, or ultrasound to speed up your tinctures from a couple of weeks to a few hours, meaning that time is not a problem when it comes to testing out new tinctures 🤩.

With access to tinctures in just a matter of hours, this also means you can use them to test out new cocktail ideas and flavor pairings—or in other words, great job Jeffrey 😉. What’s your favorite way to use tinctures? Let me know down in the comments. Cheers!

1 week ago | [YT] | 156

Cocktail Time with Kevin Kos

Clarifying juices is easy 🤔. You don’t even need enzymes, milk, or expensive filters to get the perfect result, just your ingredient of choice and a freezer!

This is thanks to a technique called Freeze Clarification that you can use to alter the look, taste, and even texture of your juices. So now you can fine-tune your cocktails to elevate them even more, all without the need for difficult techniques or expensive bar gear 💰.

Check out my latest episode to learn more here https://youtu.be/psRX1C7auj8 👈, and I’ll also show you how clarified juices can be used to create crisp and stunning cocktails. I’ll see you there, cheers!

Skip the Carousel

1 2 3

1 week ago | [YT] | 175

Cocktail Time with Kevin Kos

I want to answer your cocktail questions… anytime 🤩! It doesn't matter if you're just getting into cocktails and want to create your first original recipe, or if you're more advanced and having trouble getting your Spring menu to come together, I want to help you one-on-one… but I can't do this on my own 🤔.

That's why, behind the scenes, we've been working to develop Kevin AI, training it on almost 20 years of bartending and hospitality experience – from my experience as a bartender and bar manager, to my masterclasses, and everything I've learned while talking with some of the most influential figures in hospitality around the world 🌎.

We are launching the beta version soon, and we're giving access to 25 people to help us test it out. You can get a chance by joining our Patreon and by filling out the form in our latest post here www.patreon.com/posts/ask-me-questions-152208902?u… 👈.

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 109

Cocktail Time with Kevin Kos

Safety is always first ⚠️!

In a recent episode I covered a 600 year old Japanese technique called kintsugi, which is used to repair broken and chipped glasses using gold 🪙. It’s making a comeback as many bars are focusing on sustainability, and cutting costs… but I forgot to cover an important safety fact.

As pointed out by @nicoperezgran on Instagram, you should never grind or sand dry glasses, as it releases a lot of glass dust into the air. So if you want to test kintsugi out, or if you’re working on a new art project using leftover bottles or old glassware, remember to keep them damp – yes, even if you have gloves, goggles, and a respirator.

Thank you to Nico for pointing that out, and if you want to learn more about the history of kintsugi, you can watch my episode on it here: https://youtu.be/E_Y7kLO3Iaw?si=gVY0z... 👈 Cheers!

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 68

Cocktail Time with Kevin Kos

When it comes to making syrups, shrubs, extracts, tinctures, and other types of infusions, the way you prepare the ingredients will have a huge impact on the taste of the final product 🤔.

If you want to extract as much flavor as possible, your best bet is to increase the surface area by splitting and chopping up the ingredients before infusing. If you instead want a more controlled infusion, then you should reduce the amount of the ingredient’s surface area that’s in contact with the solvent ⚖️. This can be useful when making infusions with a large number of ingredients like bitters or amaro.

As always, if you’re trying something new, like grinding your ingredients with a spice grinder instead of a mortar and pestle, make sure you write it down. This way you can keep your recipes consistent, especially if you want someone else to follow them later on for bar prep 😉. Until next week, cheers!

4 weeks ago | [YT] | 107

Cocktail Time with Kevin Kos

These are all Carajillos… really 🤩. Today we’re all about this trending combination of vanilla and coffee, taking a look at just how far it can go. We’ll make everything from the classic, to a highball, and even a Cocktail Time Carajillo with coffee foam and DIY Vanilla Tincture.

With its current popularity, the Carajillo might be the cocktail of 2026, so if you want to master it too make sure to check out my latest episode here: https://youtu.be/QXNPI7Ucivo 👈. I’ll see you there, cheers!

Skip the Carousel

1 2 3 4

1 month ago | [YT] | 152

Cocktail Time with Kevin Kos

This small change can make a big difference in your homemade sodas and carbonated cocktails 😮
When you chill your ingredients before carbonation, they can absorb much more CO₂, giving you fizzier drinks that stay bubbly longer.
But here’s a trick most people miss: clarity matters just as much as temperature. A clear liquid has fewer particles that act as nucleation points — tiny surfaces where bubbles like to form and escape. The fewer of those you have, the smoother and more stable your carbonation will be.

So next time you’re crafting a bubbly treat, chill and clarify — two small steps for pro-level carbonation ✨
Until next time, cheers 🫧

1 month ago | [YT] | 105

Cocktail Time with Kevin Kos

Are you ready for Valentine’s Day 🤔? Music and decorations are important things to keep in mind, but what about choosing the perfect cocktails?

This isn’t an easy choice, especially when you factor in speed behind the bar, how easy drinks are to batch, and overall consistency. To make things easier, I’ve written an e-book showcasing 4 Valentine’s cocktails that work just as well in a professional bar as they do for a home bartender looking to impress that special someone 🤩.

To make the decision even simpler, each e-book also includes a printable menu and a cocktail calculator, so all that’s left for you to do is make great drinks. Get your copy here: bit.ly/valentinese-book 👈, and now, it’s Valentine’s Time!

Skip the Carousel

1 2 3 4

1 month ago | [YT] | 55