How to Rim a Cocktail Glass Like a Boss

Ever poured yourself a delicious margarita and then tried to rim the glass with flaky sea salt? Doesn’t work that way homie. Rimming cocktail glasses is an easy way to add tons of flavor to your drinks (virgin or otherwise). You can add salty flavors, sweet, even smoky with the right mix of sugar and spice. Add a touch of sophistication to lemonade with a sweet lavender rim, add a spicy touch to bloody Mary’s with cayenne pepper, and more. There are only two important steps to this process. Here we go.

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The Liquid. To rim a glass, first pour a liquid in to a plate, then turn the glass over and dip the lip of the glass about ¼ inch of the way up. You can of course, use water. But that’s boring. You can use wine (great for sangria), beer (great for beer cocktails), juice (think tropical: pineapple, mango, etc.). Really, your imagination is the limit.

The Mix. Get your glass out of the water and immediately dip in a mix that’s poured onto a plate. It should stick automatically. You’re probably familiar with salt for margaritas, but again, you can use any mix that’s ground finely enough: sugar, crushed candy, different types of salt (grey, flaked, pink). The trick here is to taste test (just dip a spoon into the dry mix, lick, and have a drink of your cocktail).

Get fancy. If you want extra credit, mix up a fancier dry mix. Start with spices, citrus, herbs, crushed cookies. The thought process here is to add a complimentary flavor to your basic sweet or salty foundation. So for a margarita, you might want to try salt with lemon zest. For a daiquiri, a pineapple juice and a crush coconut candy mix. Get the picture?

So to review: Make your mix, pour into a shallow bowl or plate. Pour liquid of your choice into a shallow bowl or plate. Place rim of cup in liquid, then dry mix. Then turn over and fill with beverage of your choice. And enjoy.