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Shakers and Pitchers

Building a home bar is more complicated than stocking up on a few dozen bottles of liquor and mixers and starting to mix drinks. A respectable bar has adequate, comfortable seating, the appropriate glassware, and all the requisite accessories. Among bottle pourers, bottle stoppers, corkscrews, stir sticks, strainers, jiggers, ice buckets, and blenders, two home bar essentials are shakers and pitchers.

Shake Things Up
How do you plan to make the famous 007 Martini without a drink shaker` The shaken martini is just one of dozens of drinks that require a drink shaker to make properly. Without a shaker, the high class Manhattan and the delectable Cosmopolitan simply won't come out right, and there's a reason why.

In addition to thoroughly blending all the ingredients, a drink shaker actually waters down drinks slightly by melting some of the ice through agitation. This ice melt is not substantial enough to significantly reduce the alcohol content of the drink, but the additional water netted from the shaker does take a little of the edge off of stronger liquors. Additionally, and more importantly, shaker ice melt allows the ingredients to blend better, which results in a smoother, uniform flavor.

More than Martinis
Well blended quality ingredients and the action of a drink shaker are the keys to a good martini, but a drink shaker is also the best way to blend great tasting shots at your next party. Lemon Drops, Kamikazes, B-52s, and Alabama Slammas are just a few of the standard shaker shots you can mix up right in a drink shaker. A drink shaker also lets you get creative and mix up a single batch of the same concoction for everyone to sample. Just be sure to write down the ingredients in case it's a hit!

Pitcher Perfect
Pouring margaritas out of the blender is like serving sauce straight from the saucepan. We use serving dishes because presentation is an important factor in the overall enjoyment we receive from the things we eat. Good presentation entices us, whets our appetite, and, in the end, makes the experience that much more satisfying. The same principle applies to serving drinks, which is why a drink pitcher is so important to a complete home bar.

Drink pitchers not only provide an attractive way to serve up mixed drinks, frozen drinks, and even beer, but they make serving drinks easier. Standard size pitchers can fill four pint glasses, which makes pitchers a convenient way to deliver multiple drinks to a table.

Drink pitchers also create a familiar and communal atmosphere, which is the goal for any party or gathering. People sharing from a single vessel has been a ritual symbolizing togetherness for thousands of years, which helps explain the appeal of drink pitchers.

Bar's Open!
Now that you've got the ingredients, drink shakers and pitchers, and all the right accessories, you're ready to start serving drinks like the pros. But through all the revelry, there's one more vital thing the pros do right: they serve responsibly. Follow suit, and there are sure to be many more good times ahead.