Joel McHale's Tips For Making Better Cocktails At Home - Exclusive

Joel McHale is a jack of all trades — actor, comedian, TV show host, occasional wedding officiant, and more (via Audacy). You may know him from his turn as Jeff Winger in "Community" or as the charmingly sarcastic host of "The Soup." Now, he's adding cocktail connoisseur to his resume. As the Chief Happy Hour Officer at carbonated beverage company Q Mixers, McHale is responsible for mixing business with pleasure. And he wants to help us all mix better cocktails at home, and "make the happiest part of the day even better with great drinks," as Jordan Silbert, founder of Q Mixers, put it.

Since McHale is now the resident expert in all things happy hour, Mashed asked him how we can all be better bartenders at home. In an exclusive interview, McHale shared with us his simple tips for making better cocktails every time, no matter what your drink of choice is. If you do want some inspiration for your bar cart, McHale also shared his new signature Q Mixers cocktail recipe, perfect for sipping at your next happy hour — or anytime, really. As they say, it's always five o'clock somewhere.

If you ask Joel McHale how to make better cocktails at home, the first thing he will tell you is that the ingredients matter — all of them. "Quality ingredients is the way to start," he told Mashed. "I love a gin and tonic, but again, it has to be like high quality gin. I usually use Old Raj." But McHale says really good alcohol alone isn't going to cut it. "Don't get a quality booze and then add crappy mixers. It's a mistake," he said, later adding, in true Joel McHale style, "it's like putting bald tires on a Porsche Turbo S, so why would you do that?"

Of course, if you ask McHale, he'll tell you to use Q Mixers to make your drinks because they "are super carbonated" and "it's all high quality ingredients." The bold-flavored carbonated mixer line offers everything from elderflower tonics, to kola, to ginger beer to liven up your cocktails. But basically, if you've got a good quality alcohol, and an equally superior mixer, then you can't go wrong, according to McHale. "I mean, yes, when you get into the more complicated cocktails, then those people are scientists, and I can't touch them. But when it's like gin and tonics, and martinis, and even a Moscow mule is pretty simple ... the only way you can really mess it up is by messing up the proportions. So, you don't want to serve someone an only-gin gin and tonic, because that would be a violation of the name."

If you really want to up your cocktail game, Joel McHale's got a recipe for you. His new go-to cocktail concoction is refreshing, unique, a little bubbly, and made with delicious, high-quality ingredients. Plus it's literally perfect for happy hour, and it's got the name to prove it. McHale calls it "the Five O'Clock Fizz." It's made with 1.5 ounces of blanco tequila, .75 ounces of Campari, .75 ounces of lime juice, and 5 ounces of Q Mixers Hibiscus Ginger Beer (via Q Mixers). Simply shake all the ingredients except the ginger beer together in a cocktail shaker and strain into a highball glass filled with ice. Finish it off with the ginger beer, and garnish the drink with an orange peel. The fun pink drink is bright, fruity, and floral. No matter when you sip a Five O'Clock Fizz, it'll feel like a happy hour. Trust us, or at least trust Joel McHale.

You can take your cocktails to the next level by checking out qmixers.com. To see more of Joel McHale, catch the series premiere of "Crime Scene Kitchen" on May 26 on Fox.