How do I make shaken cocktails at home?

Most shaken cocktails are the same drink with different spirits. Learning the sour ratio and a proper hard shake covers a large part of the classic repertoire, and both are quick to learn.

What you'll need

• Shaker
• Fresh citrus
• Sugar syrup
• Ice
• Fine strainer (optional)

Step by step

1. Learn the sour ratio: 50ml spirit, 25ml citrus, 20ml syrup.Whisky for a whisky sour, rum and lime for a daiquiri, tequila with triple sec for a margarita. One template, many drinks.
2. Use freshly squeezed juice, always.Bottled citrus tastes cooked and flat, and it is the single most obvious difference between a home cocktail and a good one.
3. Make sugar syrup in advance.Equal sugar and hot water, stirred until dissolved. It keeps for weeks in the fridge and granulated sugar will not dissolve in a cold drink.
4. Fill the shaker with ice — do not be sparing.More ice means a colder drink and less dilution, the same principle as in the glass. A half-empty shaker over-dilutes.
5. Shake hard for about 12 seconds.Genuinely hard. You are chilling, diluting and aerating simultaneously. A gentle shake achieves none of them properly.
6. Strain into a chilled glass.Chill the glass with ice and water while you shake, then discard it. A warm glass undoes the shaking immediately.
7. Double-strain if there is fruit or herbs in it.Pour through a fine sieve as well as the shaker strainer. It removes ice shards and pulp, and the texture is much better.
8. Adjust the syrup to the fruit rather than following the recipe exactly.Citrus varies in sharpness through the year. Taste and adjust — the ratio is a starting point.

Tips

• A dry shake — shaking without ice first — is what builds the foam if you are using egg white or aquafaba. Then shake again with ice.
• Stirred drinks such as a negroni or martini should never be shaken. Shaking clouds and over-dilutes spirit-only drinks.
• If a shaker seizes shut, run warm water over the metal half. The metal expands and it releases.

Common mistakes

• Using bottled lemon or lime juice — It tastes cooked and dull, and it is the most noticeable single shortcut in a home cocktail.
• Shaking gently — Shaking chills, dilutes and aerates. A timid shake does none of them and the drink is warm and flat.
• Using granulated sugar instead of syrup — It does not dissolve in a cold drink and sits gritty at the bottom. Syrup takes two minutes to make.

Questions people ask