Ah the bartender shake, nothing else in the beverage world defines a bartender like his shake. Over the last couple of years throughout my travels, I’ve noticed a regional trend when it comes to the art of shaking a cocktail. When in New Zealand attending a seminar by Angus Winchester, he said the most interesting observation on cocktail shaking “the face you make when shaking a cocktail is in fact the same face you make when having sex” This is so true, so many great bartenders hand craft cocktails, have an enormous amount of product knowledge and are artists in their own right but when it comes to shaking their libation it looks like they are either trying to punish the drink or are fumbling around trying to get it over with.
Now the shake should always be hard and never lazy as you see with some bartenders, but there should be some form of style to it. Two great friends of mine and personal mentors have very good quotes when it comes to shaking. First Mr. Bobby “G” Gleason says,“Shake it hard and shake it with a smile!” Second Mr. Francesco LaFranconi says,“Shake it, don’t fake it.” Both are entirely true when it comes to great cocktails.
One of the newest theory on shaking cocktails is coming from the far east being called the “Hard Shake” invented by Mr. Kazuo Ueda one of the most famous bartenders from Japan. This concept then made its way to Slovakia's Mr. Stanislav Vadrna who taught it to famed New Yorker Eben Freeman of Taylor’s. The "Hard Shake" is a completely new way of looking at the art of shaking a cocktail. It takes the ergonomics and geometry of what’s going on in the tin and marries it with Eastern philosophy. As I’m not a true authority on this new cutting edge method I hope I’m doing it justice but if you want to know more about the "Hard Shake" here are a few interesting articles and a few demonstrations. (Note: Never shake it like a Polaroid or a salt shaker.) Cheers! - Anthony, Master Mixologist, Liquidity Global LLC
www.cocktail-academy.co.jp/hardshake/index.html
nymag.com/daily/food/2007/12/eben_freeman_of_tailor_imparts.html
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