How to Shake a Cocktail Like a Pro

Shaking is the single most important physical skill in bartending. It chills, dilutes, aerates, and emulsifies a cocktail in under 15 seconds. Yet done poorly, it produces a flat, warm, or over-diluted drink. This guide covers everything from grip to timing so your shakes come out right every time.

Why We Shake

Not every cocktail needs Shaking. The rule of thumb: shake when a recipe contains citrus juice, dairy, egg, or other non-spirit ingredients that need to be integrated rather than simply chilled.

Aeration and Texture

Vigorous shaking introduces tiny air bubbles that lift the texture of the drink. A Whiskey Sour or Daiquiri gains a silkier, frothier mouthfeel from a hard shake that you simply cannot replicate by stirring. The bubbles also carry aroma to the surface, amplifying the nose of the cocktail.

Chilling and Dilution

Ice in a shaker does two jobs simultaneously: it drops the temperature of the liquid to around -5°C (23°F) and melts slightly to add the 20–25% dilution that integrates flavors. Dilution is not a flaw — it is a calibrated ingredient. A properly shaken cocktail should have a thin film of ice crystals on the surface of the straining ice when you open the shaker.

Wet Shake vs Dry Shake

These two techniques look nearly identical but produce very different results, and both are used in egg-white cocktails.

The Wet Shake

A standard wet shake includes ice. Most cocktails use a wet shake exclusively. For drinks like a Margarita or Gin Sour, add all ingredients, fill the shaker two-thirds with ice cubes, seal it, and shake hard for 12–15 seconds.

The Dry Shake

For egg white cocktails such as a Pisco Sour or Clover Club, many bartenders perform a dry shake first — shaking without ice — to emulsify the egg white proteins before adding ice for the final chilled shake. See the dedicated guide Gin: From Juniper to Glass for more on gin-based sours. The Dry Shake is covered in depth in its own guide in this series.

Boston Shaker vs Cobbler Shaker

Your choice of Cocktail Shaker affects workflow speed and seal reliability.

The Boston Shaker

A Boston shaker consists of two tins (or a tin and a glass). Professional bartenders overwhelmingly prefer it because the metal-on-metal or metal-on-glass seal is airtight, it opens with a single heel strike, and it fits comfortably in large hands. The downside: you need a separate Hawthorne Strainer to strain.

The Cobbler Shaker

A three-piece cobbler shaker has a built-in strainer and cap. It is more intuitive for beginners and looks beautiful on a home bar. The trade-off is that the built-in strainer can clog with pulp or ice, and the cap frequently seizes when the metal contracts from the cold. If you use a cobbler, always open it over a sink.

Which to Choose

For home use, either works. If you are serious about improving your technique, graduate to a Boston shaker. The industry has standardized on it for good reason: speed, reliability, and volume.

Proper Shaking Technique

The Grip

Hold both tins with both hands: one hand cupped around the bottom tin, the other pressing the top tin with your palm. Your thumbs should point in opposite directions. Never grip only the top tin — this is how shakers fly across the room.

The Motion

Shake in a straight back-and-forth motion at about shoulder height, not in circles. The ice needs to travel the full length of the shaker to properly agitate and chill the liquid. Think of it as a controlled, aggressive piston motion.

Timing

Shake hard for 12–15 seconds for standard cocktails. You will feel the tin become very cold and slightly painful to hold — that is your signal the drink is properly chilled. For egg-white cocktails using the wet-shake-only method, extend to 18–20 seconds to achieve adequate emulsification.

Common Mistakes

• Under-shaking: A weak 5-second shake leaves the drink warm and under-aerated. Commit to the full 12–15 seconds.
• Over-dilution: Using small, already-melting ice produces too much water. Always use large, dense cubes from the freezer.
• Not sealing the shaker: Test your seal before shaking. For a Boston shaker, give the top tin one firm downward heel-strike.
• Shaking spirit-forward drinks: Never shake a Martini or Manhattan. The aeration clouds the drink and destroys the silky texture these classics depend on. Use Stirring instead.
• Opening toward yourself or a guest: Always break the seal pointing the join away from people. Cold liquid under pressure will spray.

Temperature Check

A good rule for knowing when you are done: the outside of the tin should be frosted and almost too cold to grip comfortably. If it still feels room temperature, keep shaking.

With practice, the grip-seal-shake-open sequence becomes muscle memory. Spend an afternoon shaking water and ice until the motion feels natural, then apply it to your first proper cocktail. The Jigger handles measurement; the shake handles everything else.