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And you shake your tail how?

MatthewB

By MatthewB
in Spirits & Cocktails

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slkinsey

slkinsey

Posted
Posted

For me, it's vintage glass-and-silver shakers all the way. I only go to my (1950s era) metal shaker if I have a drink I really want to shake the hell out of. The GF got me a really cool amythyst shaker for my birthday last year that is also quite strong and good for a vigorous shake. I have never -- not even once -- had the problem of the cap sticking on one of my shakers due to negative pressure caused by rapid cooling.

If I am making a relatively pure cocktail (like a martini or a manhattan), I always swirl or stir the cocktail and the ice inside the cocktail mixer rather than shaking.

My parents have a shaker I really covet... it is relatively short and wide with gently curved sides. This makes it easy to swirl the cocktail and the ice by simply holding the shaker in an upright position and moving it in a circle along a horizontal plane. I think of it more as a cocktail swirler than a cocktail shaker.

I also have an interesting cocktail mixer that really is a swirler. It is gently cone-shaped, with the top of the vessel being around 50% wider than the base. It has an open top and a wide silver pouring rim with an ice catcher that covers around 40% of the top circumference. Clearly, this was designed so the cocktail would be stirred rather than shaken (indeed, shaking would be impossible as there is no top).

If I'm making martinis for a lot of people, I have a tall narrow martini pitcher I use for that purpose.

Everything is stirred with my grandfather's long-handled sterling silver cocktail stirrer, and I like to serve in my ancestral bar wear (e.g., my silver manhattan glasses) whenever appropriate.

My thoughts on the Boston shaker when used as a shaker is that it encourages too much movement and crashing together of the ice cubes, which leads to excess dilution, ice chips and muddying of the flavors.

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beans

beans

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Posted
My thoughts on the Boston shaker when used as a shaker is that it encourages too much movement and crashing together of the ice cubes, which leads to excess dilution, ice chips and muddying of the flavors.

Shake gently Sam! Yeah, that's it -- slooooowww and gennntle. hmmm.

Matthew this is leading to the Shaken v. Stirred debate!

How do you like your poison?

-light and airy (shaken) :wub:

-heavy and silky (stirred) :rolleyes: (where's the :sexy: smilie when needed?)

-or all out and out bruised? :blink:

:laugh:

Each cocktail shaker/stiring device assists in each area differently.

Boston shaker:

-less chilly on the creating hands when a guest, or your personal preference is icey as the arctic

-convenient when making 2-3 martinis/manhattans at a time

Stainless Steel "bullet" style, three part shaker:

-great on the eye

-nice for that gentle stirred and less shaken

-very easy for beating up and bruising that booze, but boy it gets darned cold!

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slkinsey

slkinsey

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I like to serve in my ancestral bar wear whenever appropriate.

Too much information. :biggrin:

Oh yea... first I put on my cocktail cape and sword...

Jeez... you put in one extra space, mistype one little letter.

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slkinsey

slkinsey

Posted
Posted
Each cocktail shaker/stiring device assists in each area differently.

Boston shaker:

-less chilly on the creating hands when a guest, or your personal preference is icey as the arctic

-convenient when making 2-3 martinis/manhattans at a time

Stainless Steel "bullet" style, three part shaker:

-great on the eye

-nice for that gentle stirred and less shaken

-very easy for beating up and bruising that booze, but boy it gets darned cold!

I would add:

Heavy Glass Shaker with a Metal Top (top including cap, strainer and spout)

-even better on the eye

-great control from gentle swirling to all out bruising

-doesn't get very cold to the touch, since glass is a very poor conductor of heat

and

Cocktail Pitcher

-also easy on the eye

-the tops for making cocktails en masse

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trillium

trillium

Posted
Posted

Ok, about this bruising business...I don't get it. What are we talking about? The actual chemical composition of the the stuff in your cocktail that isn't ethanol is changed? Or you just don't like the taste/dilution/viscosity of a drink that's been shaken for a long time? I'm not sure I'm buying the bruising thing, but I could be convinced with some decent evidence. And by evidence I don't mean that gin and other clear booze goes cloudy when it gets shaken vigorously and that means it's "bruised", ok?

I use what I guess is called a Boston shaker. Big glass thing and bigger metal thing. It works really well for the two of us (maybe we're just lushes). I have ancestral silver plated shakers from each side of the family and I think I tried to use them once. What a nightmare...leaky, slippery, blech. Mr. Harrington, OTOH, believes that all metal is the best exactly because it conducts heat. I think what he said was something along the lines of you're done when it's too cold to hold.

regards,

trillium

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slkinsey

slkinsey

Posted
Posted
Ok, about this bruising business...I don't get it.  What are we talking about?  The actual chemical composition of the the stuff in your cocktail that isn't ethanol is changed?  Or you just don't like the taste/dilution/viscosity of a drink that's been shaken for a long time?  I'm not sure I'm buying the bruising thing, but I could be convinced with some decent evidence.  And by evidence I don't mean that gin and other clear booze goes cloudy when it gets shaken vigorously and that means it's "bruised", ok?

No... I think you hit the nail on the head with your last one there. Nothing changes chemically, but it does go all cloudy and becomes overly diluted, which IMO negatively impacts the distinctness of the flavors and the viscosity in certain kinds of drinks. That's all there is to "bruising" IMO. Also IMO, it really doesn't make much sense unless one is serving a relatively pure cocktail -- a Martini, a Manhattan or something like that. In my "Samhattan" vanilla perfect-style Manhattan, I like to shake it quite a bit because I am mixing two bourbons plus two vermouths plus bitters. OTOH, If I am just having gin and vermouth, I want to flavors to be more pure. To my palate, shaking a Martini to the point where it gets cloudy obscures the purity of the flavors somewhat. That said, it could be that I am letting my eyes do the tasting and responding to the cloudyness. Regardless, I don't like it in a pure, simple cocktail.

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trillium

trillium

Posted
Posted

I'm a barbarian. I shake the hell out of nearly everything. But I start with whole ice cubes (not crushed), and a lot of times the main booze is freezer cold, so I don't get that much more dilution. I love the frothy bits of ice crystals on the top.

regards,

trillium

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Katherine

Katherine

Posted
Posted
Pint glass and a shaker tin, baby.

That and speed-pourers in your liquor bottles makes you feel like a real bartender.

Tap that baby on the edge of the counter, remove the glass with a flourish.

To prevent excess dilution, shake quickly and pour promptly.

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DrinkBoy

DrinkBoy

Posted
Posted

I usually use a Boston Shaker, or one of my favorite "pre-fab" ones is the WMF Duo shaker. It is a "Boston Style" shaker (ie. two part, no strainer).

I don't seem to really care for the three part (aka. "Cobbler Shaker") style of shaker with the built-in strainer. The strainers always seem to do more at holding the liquid back, then letting it strain through. You've got to shake and twirl the shaker to get all of the drink out. Using a boston shaker and a hawthorn or julep strainer gets you from mixing to drinking in far less time.

-Robert

www.DrinkBoy.com

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nightscotsman

nightscotsman

Posted
Posted
Prefab Cocktail Shaker (antique received as a gift, probably 1940s) with drink recipes printed on outside.

Looks like this

Dean, you sure we aren't long lost blood brothers?

I have one *exactly* like that.

:wacko:

I've got one of those too! (though I don't shake with it 'cause it leaks)

Great when I need a recipe for a Gin and Tonic. :huh:

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