Bart
Bar Tools and Glassware — What You Actually Need
The four tools worth buying, the three glasses that cover almost everything, and what each glass is actually for.
You can make almost every cocktail on this site with four tools and three glasses. Everything beyond that is preference.
Four tools
- Jigger. Buy this first. A dual 1 oz / 2 oz with interior markings covers every measurement in the library.
- Shaker. A Boston shaker — two tins, or a tin and a pint glass — seals better and chills faster than a three-piece cobbler.
- Strainer. A Hawthorne for the tin, plus a small fine-mesh strainer for anything with citrus pulp, egg or muddled fruit.
- Bar spoon. Long, twisted, for stirring and for measuring a quarter ounce.
Not needed: a muddler, unless you make Mojitos and Juleps, and a wooden spoon handle works. Not needed at all: anything sold in a boxed "mixology set".
Three glasses
| Glass | Size | For | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coupe | 5–7 oz | Anything served up, no ice | Daiquiri, Manhattan, Sidecar |
| Rocks | 8–10 oz | Anything over ice, short | Old Fashioned, Negroni |
| Highball | 10–14 oz | Anything long with a mixer | Gin & Tonic, Mojito |
The coupe replaces the V-shaped martini glass in every recipe. It is easier to carry, harder to spill, and holds a sensible measure.
Why the glass matters
It is not decoration. Glass choice controls temperature and dilution — a stemmed coupe keeps your hand off a drink with no ice in it, and a heavy rocks glass slows a large cube down. Serving an Old Fashioned in a highball means it warms and waters in ten minutes.
Ice
The most under-rated item in the list. Use big, hard, dry cubes and use plenty of them. More ice dilutes a drink less, because it melts more slowly. Half-melted freezer ice is the single most common reason a home cocktail tastes watery.
Every recipe names its glass
Bart lists the right glassware, method and difficulty for all 210 recipes.