Barware & Cocktail Tools

Barware and cocktail tools are the jiggers, shakers, mixing glasses, strainers, spoons and glasses used to measure, chill and serve a drink. Shaking or stirring with ice sets how cold a drink gets and how much melted ice it takes on, while jiggers set its proportions and glasses its look.

How to choose Barware & Cocktail Tools

  • Jigger. US recipes are written in ounces and the official IBA recipes in milliliters, and a US standard drink of spirits is 1.5 ounces. A clearly marked jigger keeps proportions steady from one glass to the next.
  • Ice tools. Jerry Thomas's 1887 bar guide already said ice should never be touched by hand, only moved with a scoop or tongs.
  • Wine glass. Some drinks need no shaker at all. A Spritz is built over ice in a wine glass and stirred gently right there.

About Barware & Cocktail Tools

Barware and cocktail tools are what a bartender uses to measure, mix, chill and pour. Shaking chills, dilutes and aerates a drink in about 15 seconds, while stirring adds no air and leaves a drink warmer and less diluted than a shaken one.

The kit has a long history. Jerry Thomas's bar guide, first published in 1862, told bartenders to shake drinks well and strain them into a cocktail glass. It also called for a tin shaker on hand for egg drinks. Its mint julep pressed the mint into sugar and water, while its Real Georgia Mint Julep said to stir with a spoon and not crush the mint.

At a glance

Also called
Bar tools, cocktail kit
Main types
Jiggers, shakers, mixing glasses, strainers, spoons, glassware
Serve with
Ice, citrus, syrups and bitters

Barware & Cocktail Tools questions

When should a cocktail be shaken instead of stirred?

Stir drinks built only from spirits, such as a Manhattan or Negroni; in Dave Arnold's blind tastings, tasters almost always preferred them stirred. Shake when you want texture, which lasts in drinks with a foaming agent such as egg white. Shaking fills a drink with tiny bubbles and leaves it colder and more diluted, while a stirred drink stays clear, a little warmer and less diluted.

How many milliliters are in a cocktail ounce?

One US fluid ounce is 29.57 milliliters, so a 1.5-ounce pour of spirits is about 44 milliliters. For smaller amounts, a tablespoon is 14.79 milliliters and a teaspoon 4.93. Those figures come from the National Institute of Standards and Technology conversion card.

What is a Nick & Nora glass?

It is a small stemmed cocktail glass of about five ounces, named for Nick and Nora Charles of the Thin Man films. Bartender Dale DeGroff revived it from a 1930s catalog. Its tighter bowl and straighter sides hold aroma in and spill less than a wide, V-shaped martini glass.

Sources: National Institute of Standards and Technology; International Bartenders Association; Jerry Thomas, Bar-Tender's Guide.

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