Shaken or Stirred?
Marcus Deaves • 28 July 2019
How not to mix them up...
Shaken, not stirred! Let's face it, neither Ian Fleming nor his author surrogate, James Bond were renowned bartenders; and in this age of mis-information and fakes news, the least we can do is get our drinks right, right?
Yes, I know, some potato-based vodkas are more advisedly shaken, but is there a 'rule of thumb' that will rarely let you down as badly as your
Sean Connery impression?
Well happily, yesh mish moneypenny!
'Cloudy ingredients, shake! Clear ingredients, stir!'
Shaken
Why
1. To mix ingredients.
2. To impart dilution from ice
3. To chill
4. To aerate and give drink required ‘body’, texture and character
Get ready
Prepare / Check Garnish, leaving any living garnishes to ‘happen’ as SOON as the drink is poured
Chill Glass, with ice if it’s not been in freezer or refrigerator.
Build
Pour spirit into short cup (Spirit ingredient first, so that it remains uncontaminated if you are interrupted – nicer to do a cheeky shot of bourbon than a cheeky shot of lemon juice or simple syrup, if you have to walk away from the drink for a while)
Pour remaining ingredients into short cup
Ice into tall cup to half* fill.
*A rule of thumb for most shaken drinks
Lock
Tall cup onto short cup and tap to form a seal at a jaunty angle
Turn the whole lot upside down (which is the way things will stay now)
Hold
Find the join of the two tins with the centre of left thumb
Wrap remaining left fingers around the waist of the shakers. Two fingers above the waist, two fingers below.
Right hand joins in.
Shake
Shake vigorously ‘through a horizontal plane, so that ice hits both ends of shaker. 8 – 10 seconds, no point in doing it any longer
Take right hand off, leave left hand on, bring the shaker into your chest, so that your left elbow forms a tight triangle
You’ll get to know how long to shake (vs) volume of ice (vs) state, shape, wetness of ice (vs) hardness of shake (vs) style of shake = your unique result.
Break
Use right hand to wiggle short cup upwards or tap the rim of the bottom cup, which will change its shape enough to free short cup.
Strain
Place Hawthorn strainer, spring downward into tall cup, having kept your left hand in position, your left index finger will come over the top of the strainer and keep it in place
Hawthorn holds back large chunks of ice.
A fine strainer will deal with ice shards and fruit pulp
Pour
Discard cooling ice or trickles of water from awaiting, chilled glassware.
If fine straining i.e. using Hawthorn and mesh, your pouring hand NEEDS to lift way above your fine strainer, which should be held steady and close to, but never inside glassware.
This height creates enough pressure for the stream of liquid to blast through any debris collecting in the bottom of the mesh.
A delicate, low pour will lead to debris in the mesh and a messy, slow, over-filling of the mesh and you’ll have to start again.
Pour drinks into the CORRECT, CHILLED
glassware as per required drink, garnish, drink, repeat.
Examples
Usually for drinks with fruit juice, cream, egg white, like sours and tiki style.
Try a Last Word, a Daiquiri or Cosmopolitan.
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Stirred
Why
1. To mix ingredients.
2. To impart controlled, visible, dilution from ice
3. To chill
Get ready
Prepare / Check Garnish, leaving any living garnishes to ‘happen’ as SOON as the drink is poured
Use chilled or frozen ingredients if possible
Keep spirits in freezer and modifiers in fridge
Chill Glass, with ice if it’s not been in freezer or refrigerator.
Chill all utensils if possible
Build
Add ingredients to mixing glass if drink is to be presented over ice
Add ingredients to chilled / frozen mixing tin if drink is to be presented 'straight up'
Add Ice
Stir
Introduce long bar spoon
The ‘penny-end’ of a bar spoon being rotated around the inside of the glass before making contact with the ice, is a nice way to introduce spoon to ice for the smoothest stirring technique - the spoon won't rotate in your hand and wear your finger away!
Stir ingredients until desired temp and dilution is achieved
20 revolutions should be more than enough for most drinks (as a guide only)
Place Hawthorn strainer, spring downward into mixing vessel
Hawthorn holds back large chunks of ice
A fine strainer will deal with ice shards and sugar crystals, but does WARM the liquid back up, so use only if necessary
Pour drinks into the CORRECT, CHILLED glassware as per required drink, garnish, drink, repeat.
Examples
Usually for drinks with fewer ingredients and without fruit juice, such as Martinis, Old Fashioned and the like.
Try a Hanky Panky, a Martinez or Martini.
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