Shaker Puzzlement

[The Hersch]

I recently acquired a beautiful silver cocktail shaker. Beautiful to look at, frustrating to try to use. In fact, it seems to be damned near useless. Here's a picture of the lovely little thing:

And another:

The problem is that when you mix a cocktail in it and uncover the little pouring spout, as you attempt to pour, the ice falls against the inside of the strainer and completely blocks the spout. I've tried both whole ice cubes and cracked. No crushed ice, but I don't want to use crushed ice. Now, I've seen (but never before tried to use) many shakers built exactly like this, and surely they wouldn't have kept making them if they were all completely useless. What am I doing wrong?

[jsolomon]

Have you tried pouring with the spout more to the side than the bottom?

[The Hersch]

Have you tried pouring with the spout more to the side than the bottom?

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I will when I get home in about twenty minutes.

[slkinsey]

Unfortunately that design sort of sucks as a cocktail shaker. I know, I've got some just like it. The best advice I can offer you is to turn the shaker almost upside-down when you're pouring, which should float the ice up to the other end of the shaker, and to jiggle the shaker when you're pouring, which should move the ice away from the internal screen.

[The Hersch]

Well, I've tried holding the thing at just about every conceivable angle, and I think the "this design sucks" assessment pretty much covers it. If you hold it sort of upside down and shake vigorously, it does sort of kind of dribble out a little of the cocktail. Not quite the suave effect I was going for. My gosh it's pretty though. Fortunately, I have another silver cocktail shaker that actually works.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[slkinsey]

You should also consider loosening the top cap when you pour. Some of the shakers I have with that design have a little hole in the cap on the opposite side of the pour spout. You have to cover this hole with your thumb when you shake, which I usually remember after I've already done a few shakes and sprayed booze out the little hole. Rather than simply being an annoyance, however, the hole serves an important function in this design: it serves as an air intake while you are pouring. Without this little hole, it would take twice as long to pour the drink. If your shaker doesn't have a hole like this, not only are you pouring through a narrow opening, but air has to enter the shaker through the same hole. This will inevitably produce the "glug glug glug" effect you get when you pour out a beer from too steep an angle -- and which, as we have all noted, actually makes the beer come out at a much slower rate. If you crack the lid open a bit, you'll let in some air and should pour more rapidly.

The other way you could still get some good use out of this shaker (and it would be a shame not to use it) is to shake the drink in the shaker, remove the top, slap on a hawthorne strainer and pour out of the top.

[The Hersch]

If you crack the lid open a bit, you'll let in some air and should pour more rapidly.

The other way you could still get some good use out of this shaker (and it would be a shame not to use it) is to shake the drink in the shaker, remove the top, slap on a hawthorne strainer and pour out of the top.

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Your second suggestion had already occurred to me. As to your first: Despite my elaborate education, when it comes to things mechanical I'm pretty much a total idiot. Thus, it had not occurred to me that a large part of what was going on was the lack of air intake. But you are absolutely correct! I went home for lunch and experimented, following your plan of attack. (Although a cocktail at lunchtime can be nice, I used plain tapwater for my testing.) Success! Well, of a sort. Striking the balance between allowing air to flow in and preventing liquid dribbling out the wrong way is a little tricky with this shaker, which doesn't have the little air-hole you mention. Perhaps I can perfect my technique mixing a few Pegu Clubs this evening, although the practice of mixing each cocktail will probably be pretty much offset by the act of drinking it.

Thank you very much indeed.

[slkinsey]

This may be heresy, but you could consider taking the shaker to a silversmith and getting them to put a little hole in the center of the cap. You would block this with your thumb when shaking and leave it open when pouring.

If it's an antique, you may not want to do this of course.

[jsolomon]

If you're interested in using a silversmith, but not changing the actual shaker, you could get ask about having a grate like the one under the unusable cap built into a sleeve that would go over the large hole in the top, have a shoulder, and then accept the cap again. It would add one more piece to lose, but then you would not actually be changing the shaker.

Just another option.

[The Hersch]

I don't know how old the shaker is, but I do know I don't want to spend any more money on it! At any rate, after practicing on a few cocktails last night, I can pour from it fairly well. Slightly awkward, and certainly from a utilitarian perpective this is not a good design at all, but good looks sometimes persuade us to overlook character flaws.