Helpful Tools
These are the tools we recommend getting your hands on to make at-home bartending a breeze.
1. Mallet and Lewis Bag: Putting ice for drinks in a canvas bag and whacking it with a wooden mallet produces fluffier, drier crushed ice than if using a food processor. Plus, it's more fun.
2. Ice Cube Trays: We recommend 1-inch silicone or rubber ice cube trays to make ice for shaking cocktails and 2-inch trays to make ice for serving. The latter are sometimes called “king cubes.”
3. Cocktail Picks: Whether metal, bamboo, or plastic, cocktail picks allow you to enjoy your garnishes without having to fish them out with your fingers.
4. Measuring Spoons: If you want consistent quality and flavor from cocktail to cocktail, we recommend using measuring spoons to measure your bitters (and all amounts less than 1/4 ounce).
5. Juicer: Ban the bottle! Freshly squeezed juice makes superior cocktails. A simple handheld juicer makes quick work of juicing citrus.
6. Muddler: A muddler is purpose-built for smashing fruit and herbs in a shaker. We prefer an unvarnished wooden muddler at least 9½ inches long with a 1½ -inch flat heat and a comfortable, indented grip.
7. Jigger: A read-from-above graduated jigger with ounce and tablespoon markings (our favorite is from Oxo) is best for measuring spirits.
8. Paring Knife: A small, sharp paring knife is all you need for slicing or chopping fruit and other fresh ingredients for use in cocktails.
9. Channel Knife: Use the channel knife part of a zester to make thin citrus twists, which impart a delicate citrus aroma to cocktails. For most other calls for zest, we prefer to use a vegetable peeler.
10. Peeler: A Y-shaped peeler cuts thicker strips of citrus peel for more boldly expressing citrus oils onto the surface of cocktails.
11. Measuring Cup: A one-cup glass liquid measuring cup (our winner is Pyrex) will allow you to measure in ounces, our preferred method.
