It's likely over the holidays you'll get together with old friends and perhaps more likely during this time of year you'll be offered a shot or shooter of some sort. Aside from being a college co-ed you typically aren't seeking Liquid Cocaine, a Redheaded Slut or a Prairie Fire as your drink of choice. So can shots be sophisticated? And what's the difference between a shot and shooter anyway?
Recently, I was at a neighbor's home for a little soiree. I say home in the most insanely gorgeous, picture-perfect sense. It was more like being on a movie set, and staying in character, the host had an array of offerings from the bar including ice cold vodka which she was serving in darling little shot glasses. She casually sipped hers throughout the evening, lending me to think about sophisticated shots.
Typically when I think of a shot, I think of something straight and strong with the sole purpose of getting your swerve on in a timely fashion or to toast a rowdy group. A shot defined by Merriam Webster Dictionary is a small measure, or serving (as one ounce) of undiluted liquor or other beverage. So if it's the amount of the liquor that defines it as a shot is it still a shot if you sip it? I tend to think yes, though my husband with numerous years of bartending behind him says NO.
You see, if you sip a shot of rare whiskey or a freezing cold shot of vodka, to me that is still a shot and it is most definitely sophisticated.
Next issue: Is there a difference between a shot and a shooter? Most people I asked (none of whom work in the bar/ booze industry) believe shots and shooters are the same thing. In fact the perception can be regional or even vary depending on the age of the person I was asking. Technically there is a difference. Amy Zavatto, expert dram drinker and author of the Complete Idiot's Guide to Bartending, says a shooter will include a mix of liquors and a mixer; a shot is a straight-up something, or mix of a couple of straight-up-somethings. (*Disclaimer she may have been sipping something when asked this technical question.)
No matter how you pour it, shots and shooters are perfect for putting your shot glass collection to good use. For this week's 10- Minute Happy Hour I'm pouring a chilled shot of Russian Standard Premium and pairing it with a simple cheese plate. And if you're curious I plan on sipping my shot and toasting my neighbor Mimi, who showed me how to make a shot seem sophisticated.
Do you think shots and shooters can be sophisticated or are they all Kamikaze's and Snakebites to you?
Maureen C. Petrosky writes what she knows, food, booze and parties. Author of The Wine Club, she appears regularly on The TODAY show to share her vices, and advice with the world. For more info check out www.maureenpetrosky.com or follow her on twitter @maureenpetrosky
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Can a shot be sophisticated? Not really. But then I don't consider anything you sip a shot, even if it's a single oz. pour.
Shooter vs. shot? In my book, if it's all liquor or almost all liquor it's a shot. Anything with approaching 50% or more of mixer is a shooter.
I definitely second all of Michelleb's comment. Sips do not a shot make. Shot = liquor, shooter = sweet and/or mixed...but both are something that go down the hatch in a flash.
So if you're going to sip it....call it an apéritif / digestif?
I don't have any idea what the proper nomenclature is, but my honey likes to sip a shot glass of Glenlivet every once in a while. To me, that's what sophistication is--having a fine-tuned palate so that you can savor and appreciate a little taste of something unique.
I always just assumed that the word shooter was a regional thing, because I never hear it used in the Chicago area.
I don't usually think of it as a shot if sipped, but I'm a whiskey drinker so if I'm sipping on a nice whiskey it won't be in a shot glass. Even without ice, in a double old fashioned glass it's merely 'neat.' But I wouldn't begrudge using the phrase "sipping on a shot of vodka" to describe the way your neighbor enjoyed her drink. The shot glass full of vodka is "a shot" she just chose not to "shoot" it.
My dad just told me a story over Thanksgiving about being in Ireland for business, and his Irish colleagues took him out one night after work. They asked for Jameson for everyone and it came in small shot glasses. My dad threw it back and the Irish guys looked at him like he was crazy! I guess in Ireland they sip their whiskey in small glasses too.
I don't consider something you throw back in one gulp to be sophisticated. Even if it's ouzo or vodka in Russia.
Love the teensy glasses for fruit cordials or other flavored booze like aquavit or amaretto. Sipping is classy. Gulping is not.
I wonder if this is true, as it is a very old joke. You may want to question your "father"
"An American business man in his late twenties is in Germany with fellow German colleagues. The highest ranking German order a Jagermeirter for everyone. The American see this as a party drink and downs the drink at once to prove he can relate to the Germans, but as he sets down the glass, the Germans look surprised he would do such a thing."
If it's in a Moser shot glass, it's sophisticated.
http://www.moserusa.com/barware_whisky_shot.html
http://www.moserusa.com/barware_bar_shot_glass.html
http://www.moserusa.com/barware_shot_glass_set.html
http://www.moserusa.com/barware_pebbles_shot.html
http://www.moserusa.com/barware_vodka.html
You would never put hard alcohol in cordial glasses, you would use something like these. And these definitely look sippable...
In my book a shot is a single shot glass of one liquor. A shooter is a mixed shot of 2 or more liquors or other ingredients, in a slightly larger shot glass. Both are meant to be consumed quickly and not sipped. An example of a shot would be a shot glass of Cuervo tequila. While an example of a shooter would be a JagerBomb, a shot of Jagermeister mixed with a half of a can of RedBull.
And in relation. Chroma. In Germany Jagermeister is not consumed as a shot or a "bomb" as it is in the US. It is more like a "remedy", used to keep you warm when hunting, or to stave of illness and coughs. And as a digestif.
I can't imagine sipping any booze unless it was in a mixed drink. Ick. Too strong. My husband I and take whiskey shots all the time and it's down in one "shot" with a chaser. In our house it's done right out of the freezer in a shot glass during a commercial break to catch a buzz!! We use a marked measuring shot glass...3 T or 1.5 oz.
Shots to me are not, and never have been, meant to be sophisticated. I couldn't believe when I was drinking with an old friend from high school and she was sipping a miniature vodka! :P I had to laugh! Of course she couldn't believe I was a "down in one" gal.
In my time in Germany, which admittedly was a young man prone to over-consumption, I definitely saw a number of post-dinner "shots" that were consumed by adults with some degree of sophistication. They tended to be aquavit or something like Ouzo, and they were served in shot glasses but not necessarily consumed in one gulp (but not sipped either).
This would actually be a good serving idea for peppermint schnapps.
I don't know why, but it feels a lot classier taking celebratory "shots" of good quality vodka from my mid century Scandinavian cordials during the holidays with friends than it ever did taking shots of cheap tequila from cheaper shot glasses in bars in college. It's the difference between a butterfly chair and an Eames Lounge chair -- their both someplace to sit, but man...one just feels a little more special.
I think it's the intent. Sipping liquor to enjoy the taste, or downing it for the purpose of getting drunk. Downing it to get drunk is a shot. Enjoying a drink is just that, enjoying a drink. And why anyone would want to down a delicious glass of sipping whiskey is beyond me.
Sorry -- don't care how much you spent on the glass or what's inside it. If you down it like a shot, to me that seems like juvenile frat-boy crap. If you spent more money on your glassware or your pricey vodka, then it just seems like foolish juvenile frat-boy crap.
While there certainly may be people who drink Jaegermeister as a remedy, in my generation and below (and I am 40!) it's definitely known as a shot, and nothing, nothing !! else. It's famous as a shot, and it's even marketed as one : http://www.jaegermeister.de/de-de/produkt/jaegermeister-shot/
To me, a shot is not sophisticated, but if the liquor comes in a shot glass and is then being sipped, it's even less sophisticated. Shot glasses are for shooting. Which is why you don't serve your whisky (intended to be sipped, not shot) is served in a tumbler.
So, iIt's a generational thing and a Euro vs U.S.A. thing...
In my experience, in Europe some types of alcohol are served in small shot glasses because hosts just want to serve a small amount of alcohol, not have a major tasting or drinking session. That's why you would put whisky in a Moser whisky shot glass as opposed to say, a Reidel whisky bell glass (which brings out the fragrances more) -- the amount of whisky you want to serve would be lost in the larger glass.
That's also why knocking it back is not necessarily the correct way to drink such a shot in parts of Europe... the goals and intents are different than in the U.S.
Is there anything people on this website won't judge you for? Jeeze. Can't even shoot back my favorite liquor without being called a juvenile frat boy. It's just a drink, people. Be juvenile or be a pretentious snob, either way it doesn't matter.
In Sweden we have to sing a drinking song before each shot of snaps. This can lead to a lot of singing. Sometimes it's more sophisticated than other times but it is done at most formal dinners:
http://youtu.be/gEKHlWZddaE
As well as ordinary parties:
http://youtu.be/vCOkwHLxtA0
Just search for snapsvisa or "Helan går" on youtube!
Thought I'd just like to add a bit of professional insight (opinion):
I work at a cocktail den in Williamsburg, fairly popular for it's cocktails, and we have an interesting way of doing shots there. I would also like to mention that this is the first place I've encountered this, but have grown to love it. I would say the main difference between a shot and a shooter is simply the dilution of the drink and the proof of the drink. Our shots tend to be a sort of cocktail built within the glasses were shooting with, using a base liquor and generally two different lower proof liqueurs (vermouths, amaros, aperitifs). We'll shoot them, but I love to sip them and savor their flavor half the time.
Italian amaros are the perfect example of drinking a shot which tends to be followed after dinner. Also known as digestives, they are liqueurs made for drinking after meals to help digestion (if that wasn't obvious enough). Something more relatable to this article is Raki, an anise based aperitif usually served as an ice cold after dinner shot in countries such as Greece and Turkey.
To conclude this rambling..
All squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares.
All shots are shooters, but not all shooters are shots.
Of course though, this is purely my own opinion of the two terms.
I guess in my family we called them "cordials." Which was basically a shot in a nice glass (as opposed to one with a smart or rude quip) that you sipped through the evening. Apertif is the other word I've heard used. "Shot" just sounds coarse and... well, like a frat boy at the local dive.
I don't know how you define it in other places but to me a shot means straight up hard liquor with at least 30+% alcohol. Having an apperitif or sipping on a cordial sounds more like having a glass of port or sherry or something similar.