Cocktail Shaking Vs Stirring: Everything You Need To Know
With people spending more time at home and making their own cocktails, we often get asked the questions:
“Why do we need to shake or stir a cocktail at all”?
And
“What are the differences between shaking and stirring a cocktail”?
Well, there are three main reasons for shaking or stirring a cocktail:
1. To combine the ingredients thoroughly and create a harmonious, consistent flavour.
2. To chill the drink - you usually want the cocktail to be much cooler than the room-temperature ingredients going into it.
3. To dilute the liquid - a little of this dilution is desirable for many cocktails, when done correctly; it helps create a well-integrated, smooth and flavourful drink.
The first reason you might choose to shake a cocktail rather than stir it is simply to cool, mix and dilute the drink more quickly. More importantly, though, is the matter of bubbles!
When you energetically shake the drink, thousands of tiny air bubbles form and aerate the liquid. This results in the drink becoming cloudy in appearance and foamy in texture.
Stirring, on the other hand, should keep your cocktail clear.
“But when should I shake and when should I stir”?
As above, cocktails that only use distilled spirits tend to be stirred. If you want a crystal-clear cocktail, stir.
If you’re using ingredients such as citrus juice, egg white, cream liqueurs, dairy products, jam or other similar ingredients, it’s time to shake.
If you’re making a cocktail for two or three people, especially one that uses lots of ingredients that all need thorough combining, it’s also probably better and less time-consuming to shake the cocktail up in a shaker, rather than spend ages stirring up individual serves!
At times you may not want or need to shake OR stir. Some cocktails are better built slowly in the glass and drunk garnished with a straw.
The truth is, as long as you enjoy whatever it is you are drinking, whether it is shaken or stirred, you are winning.
We’ll cheers to that.