Here are all the tools I use when practising mixology. Each item can be seen in a larger image by clicking the small one. I’ve also included some information on each tool. Further down you can also see my glass collection, and last but not least, some other hobby related items.
TOOL | USE | RATING | |||
Boston cocktail shakers | Shaking is how you make a cocktail if it has citrus, dairy or eggs. Shaking mixes everything evenly and emulsifies the egg. |  Coated tin-on-tin, needs to be washed by hand, therefore not in use unless real emergency. |  Tin-on-tin, dishwasher safe version. |  In a traditional Boston shaker one part is glass and the other metal, so it's tin-on-glass. I have two of these and they are dishwasher safe. | |
Mixing glasses | Mixing glasses are usually used for cocktails with only alcohol in them. |  |  | ||
Jiggers | Jiggers are measurement tools for cocktail ingredients. I have a few japanese jiggers with oz and ml markings, one Leopold jigger and a plastic one from OXO (couldn't get the metal one anywhere). |  Japanese style jigger, coated (30 ml / 60 ml).  Japanese style jiggers, uncoated. |  Leopold jigger. Volumes 30 ml / 60 ml and markings inside at 10 ml, 15 ml, 20 ml and 40 ml. This one's heavy. |  OXO plastic "jigger". | |
Hawthorne and Julep strainers | A Hawthorne strainer is mainly used together with a Boston Shaker. It also fits a mixing glass. |  Hawthorne strainer, coated. |  Hawthorne strainer, uncoated. A good hawthorne has tight enough springs/coils to keep out all unwanted items including small ice pieces. I have two of these. |  Julep strainer, coated. | |
Bar spoons | A long enough bar spoon is good to have when making a cocktail in a mixing glass. |  | |||
Muddlers | You use a muddler to gently crush fruit, berries, mint leaves etc in your cocktail while making it.
|  This coated muddler has sharp rubber teeth in the bottom and makes this too destructive for anything muddled. |  This uncoated muddler has no teeth/spikes and is better in use. | ||
Citrus presses | These are literally used to press the juice out if citrus fruits. No one uses boxed citrus juices, right? For grapefruits these are too small. |  Orange press. |  Lemon press. |  Lime press. | |
Fine mesh strainers | These are used when the Hawthorne/Julepdoesn't do the job well enough. Many times you want to double strain a cocktail, using H/J and one of these at the same time. |  Coated strainer, round head. |  Uncoated strainer with sharp head. This one is a little bigger and allows more precise work. | ||
Measuring tools | As with baking it's equally important to follow recipes if you want the correct end result. These measuring tools help me with that. How else would you measure 1/8 teaspoon or 1/3 cup? |  | |||
Straws | Eco hippielogy has also found its way to mixology. Disposable straws are out and washables in. |  Metal colored metal straws. |  Colorful metal straws. |  Glass straws, hand made by Surfside Sips. | |
Speed pourers | These are nice to have if you're hosting a party or something like that where many bottles are needed often within a short period of time. |  | |||
Knives | In mixology you will need knives for many purposes so I've gotten a few. The Japanese Damascus steel knife is also pretty to look because going overboard is allowed. |  Samura Damascus vegetable knife's blade is 15 cm (~6") long. |  IKEA cleaver is strong enough for chopping ice. |  IKEA bread knife is long enough for sawing large ice made in cooler. | |
Bar matt and cutting boards | You could just work directly on a table, but these help protect the table surface. |  A rubber bar matt from Paderno is good at catching spilled liquids and it's easy to rinse afterwards. Size 45 x 30 cm (1,5' x 1'). |  This bambu cutting board from IKEA is big (45 x 36 cm) and sturdy. |  A smaller cutting board made from wood fibres by Arcos. It's dishwasher safe! | |
Peeling knifes and grater | Peeling knives for peeling and garnising. |  Wanna make a nice twirly garnish from a citrus peel? |  Need a nice slice of citrus peel? |  Would you like some freshly grated nutmeg or cinnamon on your cocktail? | |
Cocktail picks | Cocktails are often garnished and one common way for this is to skewer cherries or pieces of fruit. |  Metallic cocktail picks. | The other glass cocktail pick has a pineapple made of glass. | ||
Cooler | This cooler fits nicely into my freezer and it's a great tool for making clear ice to be used in good looking cocktails. |  I removed the lid of this Coleman cooler (brutally and permanently) so that freezing happens only from one direction. | |||
Ice molds | You can never have too much ice (molds) when doing mixology! |  These molds have a silicone bottom which makes the removing of ice cubes from the tray easy. These make workhorse ice. |  These silicone ice molds make great pebble ice for Tiki drinks. Cube size 9x9x9 mm. | ||
Ice molds | These molds make bigger ice cubes (5x5x5 cm ) and longer ice rods suitable for highball glasses. |  |  |  | |
Ice tools | Working with ice requires many kinds of tools. |  A lewis bag & a wooden mallet make it easy to create crushed ice without the whole room flooding. |  An ice pick for making large blocks of ice smaller. |  Ice scoops are always handy to have. | |
Ice tools | Working with ice requires many kinds of tools, as I said earlier... |  A plastic barrel with lid and separate inner container for ice. |  Ice cube tongs, coated. | ||
This n' that | You might always need this n' that. |  These vinyl looking and feeling coasters are great for a music lover such as myself. |  A pink paper umbrella for your otherwise manly cocktail, Sir? |  You have to keep your bar tools organized somehow, right? | |
Sitrukko and Kirsikko | There's no way to translate the idea behind the names I've given these. These are made in Finland by Iittala and they are of Ultima Thule - series (more in my glassware below). |  Thsi is originally meant for cream. Volume ~3.5oz. |  Thsi is originally meant for sugar. Volume ~5oz. | ||
Bottles | You need bottles for many other things besides booze. |  IKEA glass bottles have volumes of 5oz and 2 cups. |  Clas Ohlson (another Swedish crap shop) glass bottles are 2 cups and 4 cups in volume. |  You need spray bottles if you want to coat the inside of your cocktail glass with absinth. | |
Jars | Glass jars are good for storing your dried citrus wheels or other garnish items. The volumes are 1,9 litres and 0,3 litres. |  |  | ||
Bar counter | I've (almost) accepted that I'll never have a 30 foot bar counter in my home. So this Vadholma kitchen "island" by IKEA is the next best thing. It's heavy and sturdy and the measuments of it are (W x D x H) 126 x 79 x 90 cm. |  | |||
Bar counter shelf | This shelf stands at the end of my bar counter (against a wall). I mainly keep syrups and decorative items in it. |  | |||
Bar cabinets | IKEA again. I bought the first one of these for my 50th birtday to keep my booze in order. After a few months I bought anoter one for the same purpose. The drawers on the bottom keep a lot of my bar tools in order. I've been told (by the mrs) that there will not be a third cabinet. |  | |||
Rails for stemware | You get more space for bottles in your cabinets when you hang your stemware from the cabinet roof. |  | |||
Fridge / Freezer | As almost all opened bottles of milder alcohols and home made syrups require refridgeration, I got a small fridge just for mixology. The small ice box also keeps a good amount of ice handy. |  | |||
Blender | The name of the tool is pretty self explanatory, right? |  | |||
Photo / video lights | My living room is dark all year round (even if it has big windows) so I needed additional lights for video/photo shoots. I have two of these. |  | |||
Stands for photo lights | The photo / video lights can't float in the air, so... |  | |||
Camera | A camera. I want a new camera for filming more YouTube videos. Suggestions? | ||||
GLASS BRAND & MODEL | VOLUME | HEIGHT | INFO | RATING | |
Riedel DSG Nick & Nora | 140 ml | 153 mm |  | Everything tastes better from these favorites of mine. The small volume restricts use to cocktails served up and without mixers. DSG = Drink Specific Glass | 100 |
Riedel DSG Rocks | 283 ml | 83 mm |  | Rocks glasses are usually used when serving booze neat or on the rocks. DSG = Drink Specific Glass | 100 |
Riedel DSG Double Rocks | 370 ml | 103 mm |  | Double Rocks glasses are bigger versions of the rocks glasses. Suitable for cocktails as well. DSG = Drink Specific Glass | 100 |
Riedel DSG Highball | 310 ml | 154 mm |  | These are not Fizz glasses, even if they look like it. The Fizz glasses are more narrow and higher. These fit ice and mixers nicely. DSG = Drink Specific Glass | 95 |
Riedel DSG Sour | 217 ml | 158 mm |  | Pretty much the same as Nick & Nora but with a opening turning outwards. DSG = Drink Specific Glass | 80 |
Orrefors More Coupe glass | 210 ml | 150 mm |  | Coupe glasses fit many kinds of cocktails for which the Nick & Nora might be too small. These also replace the classic V-shaped martini glasses and champagne glasses. | 95 |
Hurricane / Piña Colada glass | 450 ml | 195 mm |  | This is not a true Hurricane or Piña Colada glass, but something in between the two. Hurricane glasses are usually more narrow and Piña Colada glasses even curvier than these. | 90 |
Glencairn | 180 ml | 115 mm |  | The glass has been devoloped for the tasting of whisky. I use them also for tasting other boozes. | 95 |
Copper mug | 550 ml | 100 mm |  | The mug is made of stainless steel and the outside is coppar plated. Traditionally this would be used to serve Moscow Mules. | 0 |
Ceramic barrel mug | 635 ml | 120 mm |  | This mug fits even a larger Tiki drink or other refreshing summer drinks. | 98 |
Ceramic bambu mug | 410 ml | 178 mm |  | Is this supposed to imitate a barrel or a bambu mug? Whatever, it fits nicely with the Tiki theme. | 90 |
Meukow brandy glasses | 300 ml | 86 mm |  | I got these in a Meukow VS cognac gift set together with the bottle itself. They are basically rocks glasses. | 75 |
Iittala Ultima Thule beer glass | 600 ml | 149 mm |  | This classic Finnish glass line Ultima Thule from Iittala is very easy on the eyes and I actually use these in everyday use. | 95 |
Iittala Ultima Thule On the Rocks glass | 280 ml | 104 mm |  | As the name suggests... with or without rocks. As long as there's booze. Or milk. | 95 |
Iittala Ultima Thule shot glass | 50 ml | 57 mm |  | When you need a shot of this or that... One member of our family uses these for Kombucha shots. | 95 |
Spiegelau Lifestyle Coupette | 310 ml | 166 mm |  | These are way too big to be Coupe glasses and are now just filling my cabinet. Maybe they would be more useful with desserts. | 60 |
ITEM | WHO'S WHO | INFO | RATING | |
Movie: Cocktail (Blu-ray) |  | Starring: Tom Cruise, Bryan Brown, Elisabeth Shue, Gina Gershon, Lisa Banes Director: Roger Donaldson | Year: 1988, Duration: 1 h 44 min
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Book: Smuggler's Cove - Exotic Cocktails, Rum and the Culture of Tiki |  | Author: Martin Cate (and Rebecca Cate) who are the owners of Smuggler's Cove - a Tiki bar in San Francisco. | Tons of information on rums, Tiki culture and Tiki drinks. 354 pages. | |
Book: The Savoy Cocktail Book |  | Harry Craddock (bartender) has originally put together this book of cocktail recipes in 1930. My edition is from 2014. | Recipes used in the Savoy hotel in London. These recipes don't use ounces or millilitres. It's all about parts (1 part this, 2 parts that). 290 pages. |
