Shaking versus stirring: when, how long, and why it matters

A shaker and a mixing glass do the same two jobs. Both make a drink cold, and both put water into it, because ice cannot chill a liquid without melting into it. The difference is what else happens on the way. A shaker beats air into the drink and leaves it bright and cloudy for a few minutes. A mixing glass leaves the drink silent, clear and heavier on the tongue. Choosing between them is a decision about texture first and speed second.

What you need

• A two-piece shaker (a large tin and a small tin, or a pint glass and a tin) for shaking.
• A mixing glass or the large tin alone, plus a long barspoon, for stirring.
• A Hawthorne strainer, and a fine mesh strainer for shaken drinks with citrus or herbs.
• Dry ice from a freezer, in solid cubes about 1 inch (25 mm) across. Crushed ice stays out of the shaker.
• A probe thermometer if you want to check your own numbers. It is optional, and it teaches a lot in one evening.

Which method, and why

Stir a drink whose every ingredient is clear: spirit, vermouth, liqueur, bitters, sugar. The Manhattan and the Martini belong here. Stirring keeps them glassy and gives you fine control of how far they chill and dilute, because the process is slow enough to stop at the moment you want.

Shake a drink that contains juice, cream, milk, egg white, or anything thick enough to need force to combine. The Daiquiri belongs here. Shaking is faster, colder, and it leaves tiny bubbles in the liquid that read as lift and brightness in the mouth.

The exception runs one way only. A drink that is normally stirred can be shaken if someone asks, and Punch's blind tasting found that lightly shaken Martinis and Negronis were close to their stirred versions. A drink with egg white or cream cannot be stirred into shape.

Steps: the hard shake

1. Chill the glass you will serve in. Fill it with ice and a splash of water, or put it in the freezer for 10 minutes.
2. Measure the ingredients into the small tin. For a Daiquiri that is 2 oz / 60 ml white rum, 0.75 oz / 22 ml lime juice and 0.75 oz / 22 ml simple syrup.
3. Fill the large tin about two-thirds with dry cubes. Pour the small tin over the ice and seal the tins with a firm press, slightly off-center so they wedge.
4. Shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds. Hard means the ice travels the full length of the tins and you can hear it strike both ends. Dave Arnold's measurements show the drink reaching about 0 C (32 F) in under 10 seconds and settling near minus 5 to minus 7 C (23 to 19 F) soon after; shaking longer changes almost nothing.
5. Break the seal by pushing the small tin with the base of your thumb where the two meet. Strain through the Hawthorne and the fine strainer into the chilled glass.
6. Expect about 0.75 to 1 oz / 22 to 30 ml of water to have joined the drink, which is 20 to 25 percent of the volume you started with.

Steps: the stir

1. Chill the mixing glass as well as the serving glass. A warm, heavy glass steals cold from the drink.
2. Measure the ingredients into the mixing glass. For a Manhattan that is 2 oz / 60 ml rye, 1 oz / 30 ml sweet vermouth and 2 dashes aromatic bitters.
3. Fill the glass with dry cubes so the ice stands above the liquid. Crack one or two of the cubes with the back of the barspoon to add surface area without adding surface water.
4. Stir for 20 to 30 seconds with the spoon's back against the glass wall, moving the ice as one quiet mass. Difford's puts the usual range at no more than 30 to 45 seconds; Arnold's colleague Thomas Waugh settled on about 45 seconds of continuous stirring.
5. Stop when the outside of the glass is frosted and a thermometer reads around minus 1 to minus 3 C (30 to 27 F). A stirred Manhattan in Arnold's test strained at minus 1.2 C.
6. Strain into the chilled glass. Expect roughly 20 percent added water, a little less than a shake.

The texture difference

Under a microscope, a freshly shaken drink is full of bubbles and a stirred one is blank. That is the whole story of mouthfeel: the bubbles make a shaken drink feel lighter and more open, and they also carry aroma to the nose. They fade within a few minutes, which is why a shaken drink should be served the moment it is strained. A stirred drink is dense and smooth, and it holds steady in the glass while someone talks.

What can go wrong

• The drink is watery. Your ice was wet. Ice that has sat in a bucket sweats, and that water goes straight into the tin. Use ice straight from the freezer, or drain wet ice in a strainer before it goes in.
• The stirred drink is warm. You stopped too early, or the mixing glass was warm, or the cubes were whole and huge. Pre-chill, crack a cube, and stir to the frost line.
• The shaken drink has no life. You shook gently or briefly. Count out loud: twelve seconds, full travel.
• The shaker will not open. Tap the join with the heel of your hand, not on the bar edge. A dented tin never seals again.
• Ice shards in the glass. Fine-strain every shaken drink that goes up.

A note on service

Stirred drinks are spirit-forward and often sit at 25 to 30 percent alcohol after dilution. They are meant to be sipped slowly. Please enjoy responsibly.

Sources

• Dave Arnold, "Cocktail Science in General: Part 1 of 2" and "Part 2 of 2", Cooking Issues, 2010.
• Simon Difford, "Stirring vs shaking a cocktail" and "Shaking cocktails: advanced tips, myths and lessons", Difford's Guide.
• Punch, "Examining the science and style of the shake" and "Go ahead, shake your Martini".