James Bond. Nick Charles. Although you might admire the style and wit of these legendary cinematic drinkers, you won’t necessarily want to copy their mixing techniques. To get the very best results from your bar ingredients, here's a quick guide to when to shake, when to stir, and when to "build" your drinks:
Shaking
When?
If preparing a mixed drink containing fruit juice, cream, or eggs (but no soda or other carbonated mixers).
Why?
Shaking introduces tiny air bubbles into the mixture. This gives drinks containing fruit juice a slightly frothy appearance, and those containing egg whites a foamy, meringue-like head.
Examples
Margarita, Cosmopolitan, Daiquiri, Whiskey Sour, Ramos Gin Fizz (here, club soda is added after shaking is complete)
Technique
Place ingredients in cocktail shaker. Add ice to fill halfway (I generally use about half a tray of ice). Shake thoroughly - I’ll do it for about 30 seconds for a Margarita or a Daiquiri (a Ramos Gin Fizz, on the other hand, is at the extreme end of the spectrum and calls for up to 5 minutes). Strain into a cocktail glass and add garnish. (Next week, we’ll be taking a closer look at the two kinds of cocktail shakers: the Boston (pictured above, right) and the cobbler (pictured above, left), with step by step instructions for using each.)
Stirring
When?
If preparing a drink that contains all-alcoholic ingredients (a true "cocktail" in the historical sense of the term).
Why?
No air bubbles or little shards of ice to cloud the clarity of the drink.
Examples
Martini, Manhattan
Technique
Place all ingredients in bottom part of cocktail shaker (or cocktail pitcher or mixing glass), fill shaker with ice cubes, about 3/4 full (I’ll often use close to a full tray of ice for the job). Stir with a bar spoon (a long-handled spoon which traditionally has a twisted handle (see pic above), although any long spoon will do in a pinch). Let the mixture “rest” 30 seconds or so in order to allow the alcohol to chill and the ice to melt slightly, creating dilution, then stir again. Strain into a cocktail glass and add garnish.
Building (or '"Pouring")
When?
If the drink contains a carbonated ingredient such as soda (i.e., a highball).
Why?
Just a quick stir is all that's needed to blend the ingredients. Because the drink is to be served "on the rocks," there's no need to strain out the ice. This simple, one-step approach of combining alcoholic and carbonated ingredients directly in the drinking glass ensures the drink's fizziness isn't compromised by over-handling.
Examples
Gin and Tonic, Dark and Stormy, Vodka and Soda
Technique
Add all ingredients to the glass and gently stir with ice.
Nora Maynard is a longtime home mixologist and an occasional instructor at NYC’s Astor Center. She is a contributor to The Business of Food: Encyclopedia of the Food and Drink Industries and is the recipient of the American Egg Board Fellowship in culinary writing at the Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow. She previously covered food and drink in film at The Kitchn in her weekly column, The Celluloid Pantry.
Related: How to Make the Best Ice Cubes for Summer Cocktails
(Images: Nora Maynard)
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Thanks for this. I've started playing around with mixing at home.
And to think I've been shaking my martinis all this time! Thanks for the tips.
MAJOR question that I am dying to no the answer to:
What is the funky do-dad that is sitting on top of the glass cup in your main picture? The thing with the whisk part, please please explain to me its function!!!!
hotbubblez--That gizmo's a hawthorn strainer, which is used to strain the ice out of drinks mixed in a Boston-style shaker (a the 2-piece glass and metal set it's sitting on). I'll be talking more about this type shaker (and strainer) in my column next week (next Fri. @2:00pm EST)
shaking bruises the gin. makes no difference with vodka.
fwiw, I was part of a mass comparison tasting of martinis, gin vs. vodka, shaken vs. stirred. was broadcast on san francisco public access some years ago...
the winners were stirred gin martini, and shaken vodka martini. (though honestly only on person in the ten present could actually discern the difference between the shaken and stirred vodka martinis in a blind taste test. and we think he was guessing.)
it is worth noting that shaking does melt the ice faster, and does lead to slightly more watery drinks. less obvious with vodka.
Nick Charles reference FTW
I have heard that with a Martini, shaking makes the flavour of the gin sharper and stronger, so James Bond orders it so because he's being all manly and wanting a stronger-flavoured drink. ?
quick rule of thumb: Stir drinks you can see through, shake drinks you can't. I think I got that from Alton Brown.
as a former bartender--well, former outside the house get paid for it bartender--just like james bond, you have to decide for yourself. i personally detest a stirred martini unless made by someone who really knows what he or she is doing. too often you end up with something that is not properly chilled or blended because people are afraid of overdoing it. you have to remember that cocktails usually go with conversation, and so by the time the drinker reaches the last sip, if you haven't gotten the mix or the chill on, it's a nasty, warm, weak, unbalanced glurp.
my trick for finding out whether the bar is up to my standards is to order a cocktail not on the house list--things like a french 75 or a rye manhattan made perfect work well--and see if they can accommodate you. if not? dewars & soda, please, on the rocks.
the good news is that in finding these things out, you get to play a lot, and enjoy a number of cocktails!
I believe that James Bond ordered his Martinis shaken rather than stirred to show that he does not obey the rules and is an individualist (who doesn't know what a good Martini tastes like).
The instructions I received on stirring Martinis was to use well chilled ice and room-temperature Plymouth Gin and a good dry vermouth, and stir for the time it takes to sing two verses of "Mary Had A Little Lamb," about 21 seconds. That has worked well for me.
It really does depend on what you're making. Oh, and the next time that The Thin Man is brought up, you guys should definitely attribute the author of the book: Dashiell Hammet.