Tools of the Trade: Part 1, The Basics

Having just unpacked a brand-new 10 piece bar set from HomeWetBar (ok, most of their stuff is incredibly cheesy...this particular set happened to be a cheap way to get a boston shaker and an ice bucket), now seems like a perfect time to start discussing bar tools; that is, what they're called, what they're for, and which ones you actually need. There's too many to try and list in one post, so I'll just cover the basics for now and come back to the others later.

If you need to pick up some tools, I would highly recommend www.barproducts.com. If you can get past the absolutely awful website design (black background, neon text), everything I've ordered from them has been of reasonable quality and is incredibly cheap. At $1.95 for a jigger that costs $8 at a store, it's worth paying the shipping fees to order a few things. Also, for those of you who are in New York, the upstairs portion of Zabars has most of what you'll need at reasonable prices.


Jiggers

The jigger is an indispensable member of your home bar. The classic double-jigger allows you to measure your drinks quickly and efficiently. They typically have a 1 1/2 oz. jig and a 1 oz. pony, you can get them in a variety of sizes. I use two jiggers myself--one with a 1 1/2 oz jig and a 3/4 oz. pony and the other with a 1 oz. jig and a 1/2 oz. pony. This means I can measure anything from 1/2 oz. to 3 oz. with no more than 2 pours. Jiggers frequently come with a handle--though I can't for the life of me figure out why...my impression is the handle would just get in the way.

"What's wrong with my shotglass," you ask? Well, nothing, really. But a metal double-jigger does have a couple of advantages. First, shotglasses frequently aren't an exact measurement, and even when they are they only provide one measure rather than two. True, some shotglasses are really glass jiggers, with lines demarking two or three different measurements (I have one with 1/2, 1, and 1 1/2 oz. measures), but once you've used a double-jigger you'll realize that it's actually much simpler to pour to the top of a receptacle than it is to pour to a drawn line.

I don't mind admitting that, particularly if someone's watching you, the sexiest way to pour is to hold the jigger over the glass (or shaker), pour until the liquid almost reaches the top of the jigger, then dump the contents of the jigger at the same time as you let a little more liquor pour from the bottle into the glass. If you watch those few bartenders who actually measure their drinks, you'll see this in action.


Cocktail Shaker

You can not mix most drinks without a shaker, although the Boston shaker is a worthy alternative. While some drinks are stirred rather than shaken, you can't have any kind of home bar without a shaker of some sort. The classic 3-part shaker is convenient with its built-in strainer, although the parts of poorly designed ones sometimes get stuck together (I once owned one that frequently required pliers to remove the lid). I would also recommend a very small, single-drink size, shaker that saves on ice and cleaning when you're just making one drink (three large ice cubes suffice).


Boston Shaker

Consisting of a metal cup and a mixing glass that fit together to produce a watertight mixer, the Boston shaker is the mainstay of bartenders the world round. Although it 'requires' the addition of a hawthorn or julep strainer to keep the ice out of your drink (though a practiced bartender can easily just crack the seal enough to pour the drink and not the ice), it is easier to clean than the standard shaker. The mixing glass portion is also useful for making drinks that should be stirred, not shaken (whatever Bond, James Bond may have had to say to the contrary, most gin drinks should be stirred to avoid bruising the gin).


Hawthorn Strainer

The spring coil (it can be removed for cleaning) allows hawthorn strainers to fit a wide variety of mixing glasses, which is their main advantage over julep strainers (which serve the same purpose, so I won't discuss them). They come with between zero and four 'tabs'--I can't work out what the tabs are for, so I think the difference is simply asthetic. I'd highly recommend getting one of these, if only because it makes you look like a pro when you use one to pour a drink.


Citrus Juicer

These come in handheld, countertop, and electric varieties, and in so many shapes there's little point in my showing you a picture. As long as you realize you need some kind of efficient means of juicing lemons and limes, you're good. The electric ones are useful if you're making drinks for a large number of guests (though you can get by without), and I suspect the handheld ones tend to be more sweat and blood than they're worth.