The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails Definition of mixology (how to mix drinks)

mixology (how to mix drinks) is the act of mixing cocktails and other drinks and encompasses a set of techniques including shaking, stirring, and muddling. The meaning of the word “mixology” is debated among bar industry professionals, whether it is meant to indicate someone who creates drinks or is synonymous with bartending. However, the term “mixologist” itself originates from a passage in a dialect humor column by Charles G. Leland in Knickerbocker Magazine in 1856 in which a character refers to a hotel bartender as “a mixologist of tipulars.” The magazine was popular, and readers, finding the term amusing, began adopting it, at first in jest. By 1870, the term had taken on a more serious tone, as can be seen in William Fraser Rae’s Westward by Rail: “The keeper of the White Pine Saloon at Elko, Nev. informs his patrons that, ‘The most delicate fancy drinks are compounded by skilful mixologists in a style that captivates the public and makes them happy.’ ”

The term has since been used in multiple bartending books and many numerous articles referencing cocktails. Regardless of the historical context, mixology and bartending refer to the same set of techniques, with the distinctions that a bartender is generally employed to use these techniques to service guests (there are bartenders who have nothing to do with mixology), whereas a mixologist need not be employed as a bartender to practice mixology.

Building is used in simple mixed drinks such as the highball where the ingredients are easily blended and involves pouring the ingredients directly into the serving vessel. An example is a Gin and Tonic, where both the gin and tonic are poured directly into the glass with ice and served. See Gin and Tonic. Rolling is also a form of building, in which the drink is built in the glass and then “rolled,” that is, poured, into a cheater tin (the smaller end of the shaker) or pint glass and then poured back into the glass it was built in. The Bloody Mary, for example, is rolled. See Bloody Mary.

A more advanced form of rolling is called throwing and is when the mixologist pours the content of a drink back and forth between two tins or a tin and a glass, often theatrically and from a great height. Throwing is best exemplified in the Blue Blazer, where the contents of the glass are tossed between mugs on fire (fire is not necessary for throwing). The Blue Blazer is pictured in a plate in Jerry Thomas’s 1862 edition of How to Mix Drinks: Or, The Bon-Vivant’s Companion. See Thomas, Jeremiah P. “Jerry”; and Blue Blazer. This technique was nearly abandoned in the twentieth century, though it was the proto-technique for shaking. Throwing was preserved, however, as a part of Spanish and Cuban bartending and from there has recolonized the international bartending community.

Shaking is done in a shaker, comprising a tin and a glass or two cups—one larger and one smaller, sometimes with a built-in strainer, with the mouth of one pressed down over the mouth of the other, which contains the drink’s components. See cocktail shaker. Adding the liquid and ice forms a seal where the cups meet. The mixologist will then hold the shaker and thrust it back and forth—artistically, it is hoped—until the ingredients are cooled and integrated, and then generally deploy a strainer to keep the spent ice out of the glass. See cocktail strainer. According to Dave Arnold, a food science writer and bar owner, the proper length to shake a cocktail is twelve to fifteen seconds, after which there is no appreciable further gain in terms of temperature or dilution. Shaking is most commonly used to incorporate ingredients of various densities and textures such as eggs, sugar, juice, and cream, as it involves a more explosive movement than either building or stirring, but in some countries and regions of the United States it is the default way of mixing.

Bartenders have developed specific shakes for different drinks, such as the Japanese bartender Kazuo Uyeda, who created the Hard Shake. The Hard Shake is a choreographed shake, involving a specific pattern and movements, which purportedly elicits a different texture than standard practices. It is named the Hard Shake not because of how hard the shaker is shaken but because it is hard to master. See Japan and Uyeda, Kazuo.

Mixologists have also created different shaking styles to best incorporate egg whites or their vegan analogue, aqua faba (water from soaked chickpeas), such as the dry shake and reverse dry shake. The dry shake is when the drink is shaken before adding ice, and the reverse dry shake is when the drink is shaken with ice first, then strained to remove the ice and shaken again without it. In both cases, the mixologist is creating a texture similar to a meringue.

Stirring is a way to blend cocktails or mixed drinks that involves using a vessel such as a glass pitcher, pint glass, dedicated mixing glass, or even the larger portion of the shaker and a cocktail spoon and ice. See bar spoon. Stirring is principally used when the ingredients are all alcohol based, such as with a Martini. See Martini. The mixologist will press the backside of the spoon against the vessel and stir, creating a vortex at the top of the liquids. Stirring is more difficult than building or shaking, and its elegant execution depends upon the skill of the mixologist. Kazuo Uyeda describes stirring as weaving silk. (One secret to making stirring much easier is to use cracked ice rather than cubes; this also makes for a colder drink.)

Muddling is used to press or pulverize ingredients, releasing juice, oils, and/or other aromatic compounds into the mixing vessel. To muddle, mixologists use a muddler—a small wooden, plastic, or metal bat—or the back end of the spoon and twist the muddler or spoon while pressing against the ingredients. See muddler. The Mint Julep uses muddling to press the mint leaves into the sugar syrup in a gentle action, where the mixologist will press just enough to extract the oils and aromatic compounds from the leaves. In other drinks, such as the Caipirinha, the muddler is pressed much harder to extract juice from limes. After the ingredients have been muddled, they are also sometimes shaken or stirred and strained to further combine the ingredients and strain out any matter such as leaves or pulp. See Mint Julep and Caipirinha.

Swizzling is similar to muddling but does not always press against the solid ingredients. It uses a small tree harvested in the Caribbean, Quararibea turbinata, also known as the swizzle stick tree, where the branches have been cut and bark removed. (The swizzle stick is not to be confused with the plastic swizzle sticks that are historically found in hotel and tiki drinks.) Mixologists place the stick between their hands and rub their hands back and forth, creating a whirling motion, blending the ingredients. See swizzle; swizzle stick; and tiki.

Layering is a technique used to float a spirit, wine, or other liquid ingredient, either on top of the drink or as a series of layers within the drink such as with the Pousse Café, which can be many layers tall. See float; layering; and Pousse Café.

Once the mixologist creates the drinks, they then serve them with specific designations that are either endogenous to the drink or specified by the guest such as “up” or “on the rocks.” The term “up” refers to when a drink is served without ice in a stemmed glass such as a coupe. When it is straight spirits without ice, the term is “neat.” There is no corresponding “down”; drinks that are served with ice are referred to as “on the rocks.” Drinks served up or on the rocks may also have a salted or sugared rim, where the mixologist uses juice, most commonly lemon or lime, around the top outside edge of the glass and the presses the rim into salt or sugar. Therefore a Margarita, which was originally served on the rocks or with ice, may be served “up” instead with or without a salt rim. See Margarita.

What mixology does not necessarily include are aspects of hospitality and customer service. These techniques are the hallmark of a bartender, and thus a bartender must use all three sets of skills—hospitality, customer service, and mixology.

mixology (how to mix drinks)

NEWSLETTER

CONNECT

FINE PRINT

GROW YOUR BUSINESS