A bar spoon is a long spoon with a small bowl and (usually) a twisted handle used to stir cocktails and direct the flow of poured ingredients for drinks like pousse-cafes. See Pousse Café.
The implement has been in common use behind the bar since the mid-nineteenth century and is thought to have evolved from a particular design of apothecary spoon.
In traditional stirring technique, the back of the bowl of the bar spoon tracks, but does not press, the inside of the mixing glass. This technique moves the ice without agitating it and guides the liquid along with the ice, thus introducing less air into the cocktail. See stirring.
Bar spoons come in many shapes and sizes. The ends of some are covered in little red rubber knobs, others with intricate shapes significant to the brand that ordered them. Many ends, like the teardrop, trident, and coin-shaped flat disk have specific bartending applications as sugar-breaker, muddler, olive fork, and the like, but others are purely ornamental.
The spiraled handle used on most bar spoons prevents splashing when liquor or syrup is poured down it. It also allows the spoon to move within the mixer’s hand, maintaining form while allowing the spoon to rotate within the liquid.
See also mixology (how to mix drinks).
Arnold, Dave. Liquid Intelligence. New York: W. W. Norton, 2014.
Klopfer, Brady. “The History of Bar Spoons.” https://drinkedin.net/blog/41264-the-history-of-bar-spoons.html (accessed April 15, 2021).
Uyeda, Kazuo. Cocktail Techniques. Translated by Marc Adler. New York: Mud Puddle, 2010.
By: Clair McLafferty