Five Essential Cocktail Tools
Have you ever wondered why your drinks at home don’t taste the same as when a bartender makes them for you? One reason might be the multitude of tools and ingredients at a bartender’s fingertips which help create the perfect drink. Luckily, with just a handful of the proper accessories, you can craft cocktails just like a professional.
A good template for a cocktail recipe includes spirits, sugar, water and bitters. Be sure to use fresh ingredients like citrus, fruits and herbs. Including a sweetener like simple syrup helps to balance the flavors in the cocktail. And don’t forget the bitters! Bitters are like liquid spices, meant to enhance and accentuate the flavors in the drink, like using salt and pepper in cooking.
A few essential tools can make all the difference as well. Cocktails are mixed in either a shaker tin or a mixing glass. Use a shaker tin to combine and chill cocktails with fresh citrus, fruit, herbs or dairy. Shaking incorporates air into the drink, adding bubbles and creating tiny ice shards. A mixing glass is used to chill and mix spirit-forward cocktails. Stirring a drink gives the liquids a smooth and silky texture. Knowing which technique to use will help you determine the tools that you’ll need to make your cocktail.
Here's a list from some local bartenders of 5 classic cocktails and the tools used to create them at home. Using your tools may take some getting used to, but with a little practice you’ll begin to taste the magic that you can create.
With this list of tools and ingredients, plus a few key bottles of liquor, you’ll be mixing drinks like a pro in no time. Think of mixology like cooking: if you switch an ingredient or add different amounts, the drink will taste different. Adding an ingredient can create a unique or seasonal twist to even the most basic recipes. Start with recipes as templates and adjust to fit your tastes. Cheers!
The Jigger
One of the most important tools used to prepare drinks is a jigger, since measuring ingredients is what helps maintain consistency and balance in cocktails. For Corey Littlefield, bartender at Estrella Cocina, “the jigger is a must have in my home bar.” The cocktail he thought best exemplified the use of a jigger is a classic Last Word, one of his favorites. “It’s a delicious cocktail with a balance of herbal and citrus flavors,” says Littlefield. “When made with an accurate measuring jigger, it can be perfected every time. Equal parts gin, green Chartreuse, maraschino liqueur and fresh squeezed lime juice. Without a jigger the balance of all complex flavors could never be enjoyed.”
The Strainer
One of the tools that your bartender uses most often is a strainer. A Hawthorne strainer has a metal coil attached and is typically used to strain drinks made in a shaker tin. A julep strainer looks like a really big spoon with holes in it and it is typically used to strain drinks made in a mixing glass. A fine mesh strainer is used in unison with the other two types to “double-strain” a drink, providing a smooth texture free from pulp or ice. This recipe for a New York Sour from Paul Compagnon of The Volstead demonstrates the importance of using a strainer. “For successful results, you need to do the thing most wine snobs would find abhorrent: place a pour spout in the red wine bottle, so you can better control the pour,” says Compagnon. “Start with separating the egg, so if you get a little yolk in the tin you are only tossing one egg away.”
The Muddler
Another tool that no mixologist can live without is a muddler. This is an effective tool for combining fresh ingredients like fruit and herbs. The Mojito is a classic cocktail known as the quintessential muddled drink. Using a muddler with teeth is important because you want to make the mint as fragrant as possible while also extracting all the lime’s juices and oil from the rind,” says Audrey Ancelin of Regard Libations.
The Barspoon
Once the ingredients are measured, mixing is next. If you’re using a mixing glass, a proper barspoon will almost do the work for you. “The barspoon is essential to any home bar,” says Ashley Demonte Howard of Grape and Grain Exchange. “A properly diluted and chilled cocktail makes all the difference, and a spoon is the only way to achieve this in any booze forward cocktail.” Shaking popular cocktails like the Old Fashioned, Manhattan or Negroni would cause the ice to break down and become too diluted, compromising the flavors of the spirits. Using a spoon ensures the spirits are well mixed, chilled just enough, and will open up the flavor profiles. “Plus when you nail the technique, stirring can be pretty effortless and impressive to your friends,” says Howard.
The Peeler
The garnish on the cocktail is not only the final step to setting a drink apart from the mundane; it can play an integral part in the flavor profile of a drink as well. Many garnishes such as citrus peel and herbs add aromatics to a cocktail and can create an entirely different result. “An Old Fashioned is a drink that perfectly demonstrates the importance of a peeler,” says Cody Mashni from Birdies Five Points.
