Everything You Need To Know About Stirred Drinks

Boldness defines the cocktails you create with stirring. The gentle swirling of the bar spoon around the mixing glass is like a slow dance where the ingredients blend and when everything settles down, each one still has its own distinct flavor teasing your palate.

Proper Stirring Technique

Stirring a drink is a delicate technique which blends the liquids while releasing less water from the ice, and creates a silky smooth cold almost syrup-like drink.

For any stirred drink, fill you your stirring glass approx halfway with ice, then add your cocktail ingredients and make sure the ice sits higher in the tin than the spirits. You don’t want your ice swimming.

Use your bar spoon to smoothly move the ice around in the glass rather than pushing it through the ice. Your stir should not create a lot of noise. We found that the easiest and most comfortable grip is to hold the spoon between your middle finger and your ring finger, with the first two fingers resting on top and the third and fourth underneath the neck of the spoon. The rotation of the spoon is mostly created with your fingers rather than the whole arm

Stir your drink a little longer than you feel you should, for about 30 seconds. Since stirring is less vigorous than shaking it takes a little longer to cool and dilute your drink properly. The idea is to add as little air (bubbles) as possible to give the cocktail a silky, smooth texture. The smoother you stir, the better.

Which Drinks are known to cause a Stir?

Any drink that is booze heavy/spirit forward is probably better stirred. Cocktails that contain only alcoholic ingredients such as light and dark spirits, vermouths, and liqueurs are meant to be stirred. Here are some of the classics you can easily master: Martinis, Manhattan, Old-Fashioned, Negroni, Sazerac.

Which Mixing / Stirring Glass to choose

When working with your stirring glass take notice of the weight, stability, and grip it offers.  We like heavily weighted bottoms and at least 750ml capacity for 2 perfect drinks.

Our Dealer's Choice line includes both Yarai and Plain style extra large mixing glasses in a set with Jigger and strainer or separately. Check them out

Get Creative

Experiment and have fun. Once you’ve perfected your stirred Manhattan, try it shaken and see the difference a technique can make. Try your Martini poured over an ice sphere or large ice cube in a rocks glass. While Stirring your cocktail taste it as you add ingredients in order to adjust ratio or add new flavors.

Now, whether you’re alone or in the company of friends, you can capture the thrill and satisfaction of mixing and enjoying home-built cocktails.  

Shop our Stir It Down Bar Tool Set