You've filled your martini shaker (first with ice, then with liquor, then with your Stirrings Mixer). Now what? The big shake - do it properly, and you'll not only impress your friends, but you'll create a better cocktail. Holding the top and the bottom of the shaker with both hands, give it a good, hard shake … being careful not to go over your shoulder (you don't want to whack the person standing behind you!). The reasons for shaking your martini are to:
1. Mix the ingredients - your martini should taste the same in the last sip as it did in the first.

With all of the delicious dessert cocktails and fuller-flavored ingredients now en vogue, it’s a perfect time to experiment with temperature. Creating warm cocktails is surprisingly easy; just follow these simple rules of thumb.

Believe it or not, some of the best cocktails can be created using tools that you probably already have in your kitchen. Try these tricks when you make your next libation:
1. To create beautiful citrus garnishes for the rim of your glass, use a vegetable peeler to peel thin twists from oranges, lemons, and limes.
2. Use a zester to create short, thin "sprinkles" of citrus to float on the surface of your cocktail. Also try this trick on a chocolate bar.

The jigger is an essential for every (home) bartender as balancing each ingredient within a cocktail is the key to making a great drink. Therefore, the accuracy with which ingredients are measured is critical to the finished cocktail. Enter the jigger: saving us all from a fate of disproportioned cocktails.

James Bond likes his martinis “shaken, not stirred.” And while we usually recommend shaking most Stirrings cocktails, there are some occasions that call for a stirred drink. The rules are as follows:  Shake opaque drinks, those made with fruit juices, milk, and/or cream. It’s okay to shake a vodka martini – vodka will benefit from the chill of the ice. Stir clear drinks, such as a gin martini. Shaking the drink will “bruise” the gin, taking away from the drink’s smoothness.
--------------

Frozen cocktails are relatively simple to make, and foolproof with these blending best practices.

Layering a drink is one of the oldest preparation techniques, becoming popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s. In its early days, it was best known for its use in creating “pousse-cafes,” delicately prepared cocktails that were composed of multiple layers of liquor, liqueurs, and syrup.

Some of our favorite bars, like Excelsior in Boston, have been known to freeze our Mixers and Essences into ice cubes to cool down their cocktails without cutting back on flavor.