Learn how to do anything: How to Rim a Cocktail Glass

Sunday, May 28, 2017

How to Rim a Cocktail Glass

A cocktail with a dipped rim has more interest and texture than a cocktail served in plain glass. Moisten the rim of a cocktail glass by dipping it into a liquid, such as water or juice. Then add a topping to the moistened rim of the glass. Use salt, sugar, or try a fun confectionary.

EditSteps

EditWetting the Glass

Dip the glass in water or soda. Use regular water or tonic water. Alternately, sugary soda leaves a sticky residue that can help your topping to stick. Look for light-colored soda so that it adds just the right amount of taste.^[1]
- Try a lemon-lime soda with a slice or lemon or lime as a garnishment.^[2]
Use fruit or juice. Cut up fruit and rub it along the rim of the glass. Or, dip the glass in a shallow dish of juice. Use juice that is similar to an ingredient in your cocktail.^[3]
- For example, rub a wedge or lime or lemon around the rim.
Dilute syrup. Use a ration of one part syrup to one part water to thin the syrup. Try a syrup that is commonly used with cocktails, such as simple syrup or grenadine. Or experiment with fruit or other syrups.
- Try maple syrup, honey, or agave.
Dip the glass in an alcoholic beverage. Use beer, wine, or a liqueur. Dip a clean sponge in the alcohol and use that to rim the glass if you don’t want to waste any alcohol by pouring it in a shallow dish.^[4]
- Liqueur is especially sticky and will help your topping adhere to the glass.
- Use beer as the liquid to make a beer-and-salt rim.

EditChoosing a Topping

Use salt or sugar. Pour coarse sea salt, kosher salt, or table salt onto your rimming dish. If you’d rather use sugar, you can opt for granulated or powdered. Try white or brown sugar, or raw cane sugar.^[5]
- Mix equal parts of sugar and ginger or nutmeg for a holiday twist.
- Muddle salt with lime zest for a citrusy take on the salted rim.^[6]
- Any dried herb you think will compliment your cocktail can be mixed sparingly with salt or sugar.
Make a candy rim. Use a powdered candy such as Fun Dip. Alternately, crush something up yourself, with a mortar and pestle. You can also crush candy in a folded-over freezer bag, using a hammer or meat mallet.^[7]
- Try crushing up Pop Rocks, sour candies, or miniature candy canes.^[8]
Apply graham cracker crumbs. Use graham cracker crumbs from the baking supplies section at the grocery store, or crush your own graham crackers. Alternately, you can use crushed cookies. Add a graham cracker crusted rim to any drink that pairs well with a sugared rim.^[9]
- Try a chocolate cocktail with marshmallow vodka and a graham cracker crust.^[10]
- Try a graham cracker rim for a pumpkin pie or key lime pie cocktail.
Use cocoa. Dip the glass into cocoa powder. This works well with chocolate or vanilla cocktails. Add a bit of salt to the cocoa for a salty chocolate rim!
- Almond milk is a tasty liquid you can dip the glass in before the cocoa powder. For example, try this with a sweet cocktail that uses butterscotch liqueur.^[11]
- Take a raspberry or two and garnish the glass or plop them into the cocktail.
Add sprinkles. Use multi-colored sprinkles, or play off of the shade of the cocktail you’re making. Get round sprinkles for a cleaner look. Try a rim with sprinkles for any cocktail that pairs well with sugar.^[12]
- Sprinkles go well with creamy cocktails, especially in flavors like sugar cookie or cake batter.

EditRimming the Glass

Wet the rim of the glass. Turn the glass upside down and hold it at a 45 degree angle. Dip the outer rim only, about a quarter of an inch deep into the dish containing your liquid. Rotate the glass to moisten the whole outer rim. Alternately, use a clean sponge soaked in the liquid to moisten the rim of the glass.^[13]
- For example, use a shallow dish full of water or diluted syrup. Use a sponge if you’re working with beer, liqueur, or another type of alcohol, so that none goes to waste.
- Use about two tablespoons of liquid per glass.
Dip the glass in a topping. Pour two tablespoons of topping (for each glass) into a shallow dish. Hold the glass at a 45 degree angle and dip it into the topping. Rotate the glass to coat the entire outer rim of the glass.^[14]
- Try twisting the glass to add a thicker layer of topping to the rim.
Clean off the excess topping. Shake the glass over the topping dish so that any topping which isn’t well adhered will fall off. Wet a napkin or paper towel. Wipe off any topping that strayed outside the line and looks messy.^[15]
- Set the glass down, upright, on a hard surface. Pinch the stem with one hand. With your other hand, press the moistened paper against the glass where the rimmed topping ends. Twist the glass by the stem, 360 degrees, to wipe off the excess topping in one clean line.