Message 17788 of 39188 in General Discussion

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> .. [to] say that any cocktail with all alcohol should only be
> stirred, i think you are wrong there.
> Some martinis ... taste better a little watered down. Also, not
> everyone likes their gin/vodka so full on, and prefers it to be
> that little bit more watered down...
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It is a common misconception that shaking adds more water to the drink. When 
properly used, both methods should deploy almost the exact same amount of 
water (initially) to the drink. The difference comes in if you shake it so 
hard that ice shards slip through the straining process, and thus add a little 
more potential water to the final product.

The problem is that most folks stir their cocktails for the same amount of 
time that they would normally shake them. This is wrong. In order to chill the 
drink down to the same amount as shaking, you need to stir it longer.

The next time you are making some Manhattans, try this...

Stir one of them, and shake one of them, then strain them into a cocktail 
glass. The shaken Manhattan will have a rather unappetizing foam on the top, 
and the drink itself will be cloudy (if it doesn't, then you didn't shake it 
long or hard enough). While the stirred Manhattan will be a crystal clear gem 
of a drink, which aill beautifully glisten around the maraschino cherry which 
it contains. From a purely visual standpoint, I can't imagine how anybody who 
saw a properly stirred Manhattan would ever want it shaken.

-Robert Hess
 www.DrinkBoy.com
 www.MuseumOfTheAmericanCocktail.org