I watch lots of your short and long form videos. If I'm being completely honest, this is my favorite video (excluding Tiki videos) since 2020. Clear, concise, useful, and "well mixed." 😁
Love these basics videos! Keep 'em coming! No matter how much I think I already know on this stuff, I'm always pleasantly surprised with what else there is to learn. Like, I didn't know that using the other end of the bar spoon was valid.
Amazing video for someone like me who's just getting into the scene and had no idea how to stir a cocktail, until now. Couldn't have been better timing, thanks!
Love the video! I just took a mixology class at my university and my professor never went into the why of stirring. I did notice you recommended stirring in glass instead of metal. I’ve been reading Liquid Intelligence and Dave Arnold recommended stirring in a metal container like the cheater tin. He claimed that the lower specific heat of stainless steel (0.5 J/g-*C) as compared to glass (0.75) resulted in lower dilution due to the smaller amount of energy transfer. Might be an interesting thing to look into as a part 2 to this video
Dave Arnold is right. But I think he’s constantly in search of solving “problems” behind the bar that don’t necessarily need fixing. The thing is where this idea fails is that it doesn’t recognize that bartending is a bit of a show and the mixing glass is a much more elegant option. It may be more scientifically sound to stir in a metal cheater tin, but the guest can’t see what’s going on in the glass. It cheats the customer of the experience of the drink as the bartender makes it. It’s why you don’t see many bartenders using cheater tins. You can dial in the drinks dilution with technique
I still hear people request a shaken martini when we are out at a lovely bar. What the heck?! I am always appalled! How could anyone shake a bracingly cold, gorgeous, mind blowing cocktail meant to be beautifully stirred?! It's meditative to watch a wonderful bartender sitting a martini! I could watch that for hours! I feel the same about the Manhattan or an Old Fashioned but especially so about the martini which is such a spectacular cocktail! Superb video and info Leondro! Happy Holidays!! 🙂
I checked out the video because I was wondering when and how to stir and got a bonus. I made a Manhattan last weekend and was wondering how the Educated Barfly would make one. I'm looking forward to making one using your technique. Thank you for sharing including how ice works.
Love the technical side of all your videos, so I can't let this slide without making a comment... you just called OF Rye a Bourbon and I'm not sure how I feel about this... Just giving you a hard time, seriously as an avid fan of home cocktail crafting, your videos have introduced me to so much technical knowledge of why to do this or that, not just 'here is a cocktail make it like I did, click like and subscribe!' Thanks for the awesome content!
I was wondering if it matters whether you stir clockwise or counterclockwise, and if that changes, depending on which hand you're using. Thanks. Love the videos.
I love this more in-depth videos! I have a question though: How much cocktails would you stirr in one stirring glass (at the same time)? Let's say a group orders 8 manhattans, would you use 8 stirring glasses?
For a regular sized glass I’d do no more than 2-3 cocktails at like 3 to 3.5 ounces of liquid and in a class glass you could probably do 4. Really depends on the volume of the cocktail
Adding to that but out of topic (sorry), what about shaken cocktails, how many at a time? What about making another excellent tutorial video on home bartending and making many cocktails at a time, both shaken and stirred? 😁
Great video! What kind of glass did you pour that Manhattan into? It looks like a very small coupe - I don’t think it’s on your Amazon page that you linked anymore. If the cocktail is just 3 ounces or so, it’s maybe a 4-ounce glass, no?
Your video had a perfect timing. I was just trying to get my head around the problem whether to stir or shake sour's that have gin as there base spirit. Do you think shaking those kinds of cocktails is generally a better option and are there any exceptions where the stired variants are better, like the Tom Collins, ... ? Or do you think it's a person choice ?
hey leandro, can you make an episode about cocktail bitters and how to use them? as a starting bartender i‘m having a hard time with seasoning cocktails and or creating new drinks and amplify bitters. love your work, thank you for your inputs! greetings from switzerland, ben
3:14 You have it backwards. Metal tins are better for stirring cocktails because they have lower thermal mass than glass and sap less chilling power from the ice and saves that chilling power to go into the drink. Glass mixing glasses will sap more chilling power from the ice away from the drink. Dave Arnold hates glass mixing glasses and tells his staff not to use them. He gave up that battle at some point though. On page 23 in Liquid Intelligence, Dave explains why he prefers metal tins instead of glass mixing glasses for stirring cocktails. He says glass is OK only if you go through the effort of pre-chilling the mixing glass, but seldom will people go through that effort beforehand.
Hi! Sven from Sweden here. I have a question that has been hunting me for quite a time now about stirrring, and more precisely stirring two cocktails in one mixing glass. Is that even possible? I have tried but it seems like that the dillution stops before the drinks are ready. Whats your advise on this? What is the rule on shaking on this topic?
It is possible what you want to do is crack a couple of the ice cubes into small shards when you stir. Those little pieces will melt much more quickly and give you the dilution you need
Is there any downside to stirring with the teardrop end of the spoon? I've seen bartenders in excellent bars do it (with a double-teardrop-ended spoon, in fact!)
Nah not really. It’s much easier than using the other end as it doesn’t get hung up on ice. There are stirring implements made with only two teardrop ends for just this purpose
Just one more thing to add .... dont ever stir in a Wein- or Cognac Glas. The thin Glas gets cold and in a split of a second you can have it break. Allready happend twice to me.
Depends on how you make it because really it should be whip shaken with a little pebble ice but some people swizzle it in the glass, this is how it was thought to have originated and honestly it’s not a very good way to mix sugar and citrus
Holdup you can stir three or four cocktails at once?? And you just drop this bombshell on us in a fraction of a second and refuse to elaborate and leave.
The "bruising" argument here seems to be based on the Tales of the Cocktail article "A Scientific Argument for Never Shaking Your Gin", which quotes Shannon Stewart, "a research scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an avid gin drinker". Unfortunately Shannon Stewart's main qualification for speaking on this topic is that she's an avid gin drinker; her degree is not related to flavors or aromas or taste, etc., and she has no scientific studies to her name which focus on any of those subjects. In short: she didn't test this, she's just relating a theory based on an understanding (but not evidence!) of aroma and taste. What's happening here is the conflation of "scientist" with "scientific". A scientist can say anything they want on any topic and it does not make it inherently *scientific* . Even if it were, it does not make it *accurate* or true. Journalists unfortunately often makes this mistake which is how we end up with quite a lot of incorrect beliefs based simply on the fact that someone with an air of authority said it originally. Certainly the terms she's using are real and the logic makes sense, but it's just that: logic, not evidence. And I've been unable to find any other actual evidence of this phenomena, whether referred to as "bruising" or otherwise, only the passionate refrains for or against the existence of the phenomena from equally unscientific perspectives on both sides. The one scientific study that exists on the topic focuses only on the antioxidant properties, which is mainly useful if you drink martinis for their health benefits, but says essentially nothing about taste, especially since the quantitative differences in resulting antioxidants are miniscule. All of this is not to say that there are not detectable changes in the resulting cocktail between shaking and stirring; there obviously are, but I think they may well be more about texture and aeration as a sensation rather than a change in "flavor" per se. But that too is just *my* particular logic-based theory, and unfortunately I'm not a scientist so no one cares. ;-) Which is why I'd love to at least see a blind taste test done, just as you have with other strongly-held but ultimately pseudo-scientific or otherwise superstitious beliefs! Only you can shed the light of truth on this boozy mythology! 😁
I think a blind taste test is a great idea. Also the bruising argument has been around a lot longer than that article. I’ve done my own testing (practical not scientific) and come to a similar conclusion. The bit about head, heart and base notes is true. But hey let’s put this to the test in a practical side by side and see what happens.
@@TheEducatedBarfly Oh yes, the "bruising" idea has been around for ages. The problem is if you look into it, you get everything from reasonable-sounding (but again, untested) arguments about "top notes" to theories about rusty spoons in centuries past making gin turn literally brown from stirring. You see many opinions, *some* testing (but none blind and well-conducted, that I've seen), and little to no real evidence. The sheer variety of explanations and theories is itself one of the things that makes me a bit skeptical about the whole idea. So test away good sir!
Great video, as always! May I add, it actually does make a slight difference how much ice you're using when stirring. The more ice in the mixing beaker, the more the air above the liquid gets cooled down which tends to move down and help to cool down the drink even quicker. Additionally, using the spoon-side may (!) help getting more speed into the stirring action, because sometimes the teardrop end might just push aside the instead of moving it along. But that's really a rather small difference.
As per usual, very well said. No bs, educational (never knew about the gin bruising stuff) and it made me want to manhattan on a cold winter night so off I go to enjoy. Cheers
The point of stirred drinks are more about the preserving of complexity in the liquor was really good. Like hearing that put it into a much better perspective for me.
yes! very good video! so much good and essential information in there. stirring is one of the greatest mysteries for someone who is learning bartending techniques. it's been two years since i've started practicing and researching (yes, covid helped) and it feels like i've seen every video there is, but unfortunately most of them skim over details in the stirring technique. for beginners like me, there's three things about stirring technique that i have found very helpful that i'd like to add here: 1. the motion of stirring comes almost exclusively from your fingers, not your arm! when practicing, hold your underarm and hand straight and avoid doing circle motions with your arm. focus on the motion of your fingers to do the stirring motion and the spinning of the barspoon. 2. what motion to do with the fingers? one video explained it well (sadly can't find it anymore though): it is more of a push and pull motion than a twirling motion. pull the index and middle finger straight towards you for one half of the circle and push to finish the full circle. it's difficult to explain in text but you are rather bending and stretching your fingers, keeping your wrist straight and not doing a wave motion, if that makes sense. 3. clockwise or counter clockwise? that's just speculation on my end but direction doesn't really matter, go with what feels easier and right to you. leandro stirs right handed and counter clockwise. anders erickson and jean-felitx from truffles on the rocks both stir right handed but clockwise. maybe it's linked to how they are holding the barspoon (anders and JF hold the barspoon with middle and ring finger). those were hurdles and questions i had when i started practicing. i'm far from professional but my stirred drinks turn out fine. hope that helps beginners like me. cheers! :)
Hey Leondro since you’ve been in a bar management role is it looked down upon to use the tear drop side of a bar spoon? I know you are doing it in this video and I do it as well when stirring multiple but in a professional setting is it different?
Every cocktail in existence is based off six core templates. But the question your asking is a big debate. For me a riff becomes a different drink when you change enough of the idea behind the drink that it hits differently than the original
Isn't the last word shaken? Would a stirred one allow the botanicals in the chartreuse and gin to keep more complexity, or is it worth it for the lime juice?
Yes and I think because of the Proof of the chartreuse that drink needs the extra dilution from Shaking and the aeration of the lime. But a stirred version would actually work really nicely. You’d definitely get more complexity, botanicals and the texture would be a lot different, silkier. Give it a try!
