booze/00-what-you-need.md

Gear You Need To Do This

A basic shaker - even a long drink cocktail glass and a strong plastic cup will do, but it looks (and feels) better if you get a proper Boston shaker for 15€.

Forget the strainer - strainers are for pussies. You can strain most drinks by cracking a thin opening between the tin and the glass and letting the fluid drain through it. The only notable exceptions would be drinks with small chunks of fruit, pips, and spices (like freshly squeezed lemon juice, cloves, etc.). Any old glass-sized sieve that you place over the top of the glass when pouring can get rid of those, and with practice, you will also learn to size the crack between glasses to keep the debris inside the shaker. Using properly sized ice cubes helps to keep them out as well.

What you absolutely need instead is a measuring cup, preferably one with two sides: a 30ml and a 15ml one. You won't believe how much easier and quicker making booze is with these.

For some cocktails, like mojito, caipirinha, etc., it's welcome to have a muddler, although acceptable results can be achieved with the rear end of a thick mixing spoon. Again, life is much easier (and you get more time to enjoy your creations) if you smash the contents with a muddler.

Some dasher bottle tops are also nice to have, they just make you much more precise and will prevent many a spill when you're in a hurry. Do mind that some spirits already have special fittings for that, and for those that don't, bottlenecks generally come in a couple of different widths, so it might make sense to buy a couple of both versions of dasher tops, narrow and wide.