Shaking

• Half-filling the shaker with ice.

  Why it happens

  It looks like plenty, and a fuller tin is heavier and colder to hold.

  What it costs

  Less ice melts faster and moves less, so the drink dilutes more while chilling less. You get a warmer, weaker drink from shaking longer to compensate.

  How to spot it

  The drink is cold but tastes thin, and the outside of the tin never fully frosted.

• Shaking until the tin is uncomfortably cold, then stopping.

  Why it happens

  Frost on the tin is the usual advice, and it is genuinely a signal — just not the one people think.

  What it costs

  The tin frosts well before the liquid has finished diluting. Stopping there leaves a drink that is cold and under-diluted, which reads as harsh rather than strong.

  How to spot it

  It tastes sharp and alcoholic at the first sip but improves as it sits in the glass.

• Shaking anything carbonated.

  Why it happens

  It is the reflex when a recipe has several ingredients and one happens to be fizzy.

  What it costs

  The dissolved gas comes out of solution violently. At best the drink is flat; at worst the shaker opens under pressure.

  How to spot it

  There is no bead in the glass and the drink tastes noticeably sweeter, because carbonation was carrying an acidity of its own.

Build order

Cheapest to most expensive, ice last. Building the spirit first means a mis-pour costs a measure of spirit; building it last means the error is caught while it is still a glass of juice.

Mise en place

Citrus juiced within the shift, syrups decanted into speed bottles, tins nested and dry. Wet tins slip and cost more time than they save.

Where the time goes

The shake itself is ten to fifteen seconds and is not where service time goes — it goes into finding, opening and re-racking bottles. A shaken drink is fast or slow depending on the station, not the arm.

What varies, and the control

Ice fill and shake duration, in that order. Fixing the fill and counting rather than shaking to feel removes most of the variation between two bartenders on the same recipe.

The modification you will be asked for

Asked for it less sweet or with less ice. Less sweet is a genuine rebalance; less ice is not — the drink is strained off the ice, so what the guest means is a smaller serve or a taller one.

• MargaritaTequila, orange liqueur and fresh lime, shaken hard over a salted rim — the reference point for every sour built on agave.
• DaiquiriWhite rum, lime and sugar, shaken cold and strained up — three ingredients with nowhere to hide.
• Espresso MartiniVodka, coffee liqueur and fresh espresso, shaken hard for a cold, foam-capped jolt.
• Pornstar MartiniVodka and passion fruit shaken bright and fruity, served with a chilled shot of sparkling wine on the side.
• Whiskey SourBourbon, lemon and sugar, shaken with egg white for a silky foam — the original template for every 'sour'.
• Tom CollinsGin, lemon and sugar, shaken and lengthened with soda — a tall, easy-drinking summer standby.
• CosmopolitanCitron vodka, triple sec, cranberry and lime, shaken pink and served up — sharp, bright and unapologetically 90s.
• French 75Gin, lemon and sugar, shaken and topped with sparkling wine — a Champagne cocktail with a genuine kick.
• Mai TaiAged rum, orange curaçao, orgeat and lime, finished with a dark rum float — tiki's most argued-over classic.
• SidecarCognac, orange liqueur and lemon, shaken bright and dry — a sugar-rimmed brandy classic.
• Amaretto SourAlmond-sweet amaretto shaken with lemon and a whisper of egg white — nutty, tart and silky.
• Long Island Iced TeaFive spirits, citrus and a splash of cola — deceptively smooth for how strong it actually is.
• Clover ClubGin, lemon, raspberry and egg white, shaken to a pale pink froth — a pre-Prohibition classic.
• AviationGin, maraschino and a whisper of violette, shaken with lemon — pale purple and quietly complex.
• Singapore SlingGin, cherry liqueur, herbal liqueurs and juice, topped with soda — a layered, tropical classic.
• ZombieThree rums, lime, spiced syrups and a rinse of absinthe — a strong, complex tiki classic.
• HurricaneDark and gold rum with passion fruit and citrus — a sweet, punchy New Orleans classic.
• Corpse Reviver No. 2Gin, triple sec, Lillet Blanc and lemon juice in an absinthe-rinsed glass — a sharp, citrus-forward classic.
• PenicillinBlended Scotch, honey-ginger syrup and lemon, topped with a peaty Islay float — smoky, spiced and citrus-sharp.
• French MartiniVodka, Chambord and pineapple juice shaken until frothy — fruity, pink and deceptively strong.
• Bee's KneesGin, honey syrup and lemon juice shaken bright and citrus-forward — a Prohibition-era classic.
• Last WordEqual parts gin, green Chartreuse, maraschino liqueur and lime — a Prohibition-era puzzle that somehow balances four loud ingredients perfectly.
• SouthsideGin, lime and mint, shaken hard and strained up — a Prohibition-era cousin of the mojito with no soda to hide behind.
• VesperGin, vodka and Lillet Blanc, shaken hard — the literary Martini variant with a name and backstory all its own.

and 45 more.

Alcohol-Free Whiskey Sour, Alcohol-Free Passion Fruit Martini, Alcohol-Free Espresso Martini, Alcohol-Free Margarita, Alcohol-Free Cosmopolitan, Cinderella, Virgin Painkiller, Virgin Mai Tai.