Learn
Mixology 101
Every recipe on this site comes down to a handful of techniques. Here they are, in plain terms, with the drinks that use each one.
Shake
Shake anything with citrus, juice, syrup, cream or egg. Those ingredients need to be beaten together, chilled fast and loosened up with a little air, and stirring won’t do that.
Fill the shaker about two-thirds with ice, close it tight and shake hard for 10 to 15 seconds, until the tin is frosty in your hand. Strain into the glass. If you don’t want ice chips, pour through a fine tea strainer as well. With egg white, shake once without ice first (a “dry shake”), then again with ice.
37 shaken recipes Spicy Mango Margarita · Hibiscus Gin Fizz · Pear and Elderflower Martini · Cucumber Vodka Spritz · see Sours, Margarita
Stir
Stir drinks that are all spirit: whiskey, vermouth, bitters, liqueurs. Think Old Fashioned, Manhattan, Martini and Negroni. Stirring chills and dilutes without clouding the drink or filling it with bubbles, so it stays clear and silky.
Use a mixing glass (a pint glass works) full of ice and stir smoothly with a bar spoon for 20 to 30 seconds. Taste it. It should be cold and a little softer than straight spirit, not watery. Then strain over fresh ice or into a chilled glass.
17 stirred recipes Oxbow Rum & Smoke · Oxbow Old Fashioned · Smoked Cherry Old Fashioned · Winter Spice Negroni · see Old Fashioned, Negroni
Build
Building means making the drink right in the glass you serve it in. It’s how highballs, Collinses and spritzes are made, and it’s the easiest method there is.
Fill the glass with ice, add the spirit and the still ingredients, then top with anything bubbly last. Give it one gentle stir from the bottom. Stirring hard knocks the fizz out.
21 built recipes Elijah Craig Original Old Fashioned · Pineapple Coconut Mojito · Citrus Rum Punch · Saffron Spritz
Blend
Frozen drinks go in a blender with crushed or cracked ice. Add the liquid first and the ice last, and blend in short pulses until it’s smooth but still thick enough to hold a straw.
1 blended recipe Frosty Mint Julep
Smoking a glass
A little smoke adds a campfire note that suits whiskey and aged rum. The simplest way: light a small wood chip or a sprig of rosemary, let it catch, blow it out so it smolders, and turn your empty glass upside down over it for 30 seconds to a minute. Flip the glass and build the drink in it. A smoking cloche or a cocktail smoker does the same thing with less mess.
Do this on a heat-proof surface, away from anything that can catch, and keep open bottles of high-proof spirit well away from the flame.
3 smoky recipes Oxbow Rum & Smoke · Smoked Cherry Old Fashioned · Smoked Maple Old Fashioned
Syrups
Most of the sweetness in these recipes comes from a syrup you can make in two minutes. Keep them in a clean jar in the fridge.
- Simple syrup
- Equal parts sugar and hot water, stirred until the sugar dissolves. Let it cool. It keeps about a month in the fridge. Full guide →
- Used in Oxbow Old Fashioned, Spicy Mango Margarita, Cucumber Vodka Spritz, Grapefruit Basil Martini, Citrus Rum Punch, Cucumber Basil Smash, Spiced Rum Flip, Blackberry Bramble, Retro Collins, Whiskey Sour, Classic Espresso Martini, Cold Brew Espresso "Martini"
- Honey syrup
- Equal parts honey and warm water, stirred together. Straight honey seizes up on ice, so always thin it first. It keeps about two weeks in the fridge. Full guide →
- Used in Herbal Honey Sour, Honeyed Bourbon Bliss, Crimson Clover
- Maple syrup
- Use real maple syrup, straight from the bottle. It’s already a syrup, and a little richer than simple syrup, so start with slightly less than a recipe calls for and taste. Full guide →
- Used in Maple Whiskey Sour, Smoked Maple Old Fashioned, Eclipse Old Fashioned, Maple Bourbon Smash
More ingredient guides: spiced syrup, rich demerara syrup, fresh citrus juice, ice.
Glassware
You don’t need a cabinet of special glasses. Five shapes cover every recipe on this site.
- Rocks or old fashioned glass
- Short and heavy. For spirit-forward drinks over ice: Old Fashioneds, Negronis, sours on the rocks.
- Highball or Collins glass
- Tall and narrow. For anything topped with soda or ginger beer, so the bubbles last.
- Coupe or martini glass
- Stemmed, for drinks served “up” with no ice. Chill it first with ice water or a few minutes in the freezer.
- Wine glass
- For spritzes and sangria: room for ice, bubbles and fruit.
- Julep cup
- A metal cup that frosts over with crushed ice. A rocks glass works if you don’t have one.