Bar techniques, explained

Build

Make it straight in the glass you will drink from. Fill the glass with ice, pour the ingredients in in the order listed, and give it one gentle stir. No shaker, no second glass, nothing to wash up.

Stir

Put ice and ingredients in a mixing glass and turn them over slowly with a long spoon, keeping the back of the spoon against the side of the glass. Twenty to thirty seconds. Stop when the outside of the glass has frosted and your fingers are cold.

Shake

Fill a shaker about half full of ice, add everything, seal it firmly and shake hard for ten to fifteen seconds. Hold it with both hands, it gets very cold. Stop when the tin is too cold to hold comfortably. Shaking longer will not make it colder, only weaker.

Dry shake

Shake with no ice in the tin at all. Everything in, seal it, then shake hard for about fifteen seconds. It will feel like nothing is happening, which is right. This is what whips the egg white into foam, and ice would stop it. Then add ice and shake again.

Whip shake

Shake with a small scoop of crushed ice instead of cubes, fast, until you cannot hear the ice rattling any more. Five to ten seconds. Then tip the lot into the glass and top it up with fresh ice.

Roll

Pour the drink back and forth between two glasses, four or five times, from a bit of a height. It mixes everything without whipping air in, so a Bloody Mary stays clear instead of going frothy and pale.

Churn

Push a long spoon down into the crushed ice and stir upwards, lifting the drink through the ice rather than swirling it round. Keep going until the outside of the cup frosts and your hand is cold, then heap more crushed ice on top.

Muddle

Press the ingredients into the bottom of the glass with a muddler or the end of a rolling pin, twisting as you press. Four or five presses is plenty. With mint, press just hard enough to smell it: shredding the leaves makes the drink bitter.

Smack

Put the herbs in one open palm and clap your hands together once, sharply. That is the whole thing. You will smell it happen. It wakes the oils up without bruising the leaves the way muddling would.

Strain

Hold the ice back as you pour, so only the liquid goes into the glass. Most shakers have a strainer built into the lid. If yours does not, hold the lid on with your thumb and leave a small gap.

Double strain

Hold a small fine mesh sieve over the glass in one hand and pour through it, as well as through the shaker's own strainer. It catches ice chips, fruit pulp, bits of mint and any thread of egg, so what lands in the glass is smooth.

Unstrained

Do not hold the ice back. Tip the whole lot into the glass, so the crushed ice you shook with becomes the ice you drink over. Normal in tiki drinks.

Float

Turn a spoon upside down and hold it just above the surface of the drink, then pour slowly onto the back of it. Spreading the liquid out that way stops it sinking, so it sits as a separate layer on top.

Chill

Put the glass in the freezer for ten minutes before you start. If there is no room, fill it with ice and water while you make the drink and tip it out just before you pour. A warm glass undoes the cold you have just spent a minute putting in.

Rinse

Pour a small measure into the empty glass, tilt and turn it until the inside is coated, then tip the rest away. You are after the smell of it, not the taste.

Rim

Rub a cut wedge of citrus round the outside edge of the glass, then roll that edge through a saucer of salt or sugar. Do half the rim rather than all of it, so you can drink from either side.

Big cube

One large cube instead of a handful of small ones. It melts more slowly, so the last mouthful tastes like the first. Any large silicone tray makes them.

Crushed ice

Ice broken small. Wrap cubes in a tea towel and hit them with a rolling pin, or use the crush setting on a blender. It chills fast and waters down fast, which is exactly what these drinks want.

Dilution

The water that melts into the drink while you shake or stir it. It is part of the recipe, not a mistake: a spirit-only drink made without it is harsh and hot. It is also why the times matter.

Mixing glass

The glass you stir a drink in before straining it into the one you drink from. Any sturdy pint glass does the job.

Express

Cut a wide strip of peel with a peeler, taking as little of the white pith as you can. Hold it skin side down a few centimetres above the drink and pinch it sharply, so a fine spray of oil lands on the surface. You should see it and smell it. Rub it round the rim, then drop it in.

Twist

A wide strip of citrus peel, cut with a peeler. Not a slice and not a wedge.

Top

Fill the rest of the glass with the fizzy ingredient, pouring gently down the inside of the glass so it keeps its bubbles.

Coupe

The shallow, wide, stemmed glass. Drinks served in one come with no ice, so chill it first. A small wine glass will do.

Rocks glass

A short, heavy tumbler, also sold as an old fashioned glass. Anything squat and sturdy works.

Highball

A tall, straight-sided glass, the sort you would drink water from. Holds plenty of ice and a long fizzy top-up.

Flute

The tall narrow champagne glass. The shape is what keeps the bubbles going.

Wine glass

An ordinary large wine glass. Big enough to take a full load of ice as well as the drink, which is why a Spritz is served in one.

Julep cup

A metal beaker. It frosts up in your hand as you churn, which is half the pleasure. A short tumbler works, you just miss the frost.

Hurricane glass

A tall curved glass on a short stem, for long rum drinks. Any tall glass will do.

Tiki mug

A carved ceramic mug. Decorative rather than useful, so a tall glass works just as well.

Mug

An ordinary mug with a handle, able to take something hot.