Shake or stir

If the drink is all spirits, stir it. If it has citrus, dairy, egg or anything you want to wake up, shake it.

That rule gets you through a Saturday. The rest is texture, temperature and water.

Stirring

Stirring is quiet on purpose. You are chilling the drink and adding water without beating air into it. A martini, manhattan or negroni should stay clear and silky.

Use a mixing glass, hard cubed ice and a bar spoon. The spoon stays against the glass; you turn the ice, you do not splash it. Stir until the outside of the glass is properly cold — usually twenty to thirty seconds. That is a feel, not a religion. Taste. If it is still hot with alcohol, keep going. If it tastes thin, you went too far.

Shaking

Shaking is violent on purpose. You are chilling harder, adding more water, and folding in tiny air bubbles. That is what makes a daiquiri look alive instead of flat.

Fill the tin with ice so the drink has something to work against. Seal it. Shake hard, over the shoulder, until the tin frosts. Split the tins, strain, and do not apologise for the noise.

Egg white or aquafaba: dry shake first (no ice) to build foam, then shake with ice to chill. Fine-strain so the glass does not collect ice chips.

The exceptions

A whiskey sour shakes. A vesper is sometimes shaken because that is how it was written, not because the texture is better. Some stirred drinks take a short shake when you are in the weeds and the mixing glass is gone — the drink will be colder and wetter. Learn the rule, then break it with a reason you can say out loud.

All tools and technique notes