"There are only two real ways to get ahead today – sell liquor or drink it.” That’s according to American comic actor WC Fields, who lived from 1880-1946. Now usually we talk about how times have changed. But, according to research company Marketline, the global alcohol industry is set to exceed $1 trillion by next year. A figure Fields probably wouldn’t have been able to comprehend in his lifetime. 

This massive number includes everything from a £17 martini in a hotel bar to a £4 pint in the local pub. From fast-paced, high turnover chain bars to luxurious high-priced cocktail hangouts, this is an industry that never sleeps. Somewhere in the world, right now, a drink is being shaken, stirred, muddled, imbibed. 

High turnover joints need strong, durable kit that can cope with some serious abuse. Not to mention glassware that might be washed and reused several times a night. At the other end of the scale, people paying £17 ($26.60) for a drink expect it to be made with and presented in kit worthy of the price tag. In other words: it’s essential to have the right tools for the job. 

From different types of shakers, glasses, jiggers and bar spoons, cocktail equipment and glassware plays a huge part in what keeps the industry’s wheels turning. For some bartenders it becomes an obsession and a collection, some pieces are lucky for competitions and, for others, it’s about slamming out the orders from a tough and trusty shaker. 

Hayden Scott Lambert, head bartender at bijou joint Bar Americano in Australia’s Melbourne, says having the right tools is important for consistency. 

“Like any job you need the right equipment or weaponry to complete certain tasks” he says. 

“I started off with just the basics for measuring, shaking and muddling drinks. Having the right tools for the job allows a bartender to recreate and consistently maintain a high standard of drinks.”

Alex Kratena, head bartender at World’s Best Bar Artesian says: “Cocktails are like cooking: 60% is ingredients, 40% is technique. Therefore we need deep understanding of ingredients and to use the right tools and technique in order to execute delicious cocktails. Cocktails are also often executed front of house and they are enjoyed through senses, but also experienced and rationalised by reflection – the right tools are essential.”

Valuable tools

Bringing everything including the kitchen sink behind the bar can be justified if you’re making drinks that require the big guns, but knowing when to look up and pay attention to your customer is an equally valuable tool. And if you have “all the gear but no idea”, well, then you’re really wasting your time. 

“Gadgets can be useful,” says Lambert. He cites “sous vide equipment, smokers and rotovaps (rotary evaporators)”. Lambert adds: “They can definitely share their place in a bar – but are they necessary? That depends on what type of venue, atmosphere and drinks you are trying to create. “I think bars and bartenders get bogged down with the notion that certain types of gadgets will make their drinks a higher standard. But you’re only as good as the understanding you have for a piece of equipment.”

For Kratena, who makes no secret of borrowing tools and ideas from the Langham hotel’s chefs, gadgets are exciting, but, like Lambert, he believes their use has to be “valid”. It is up to each bartender to decide whether a tool brings something new from a point of view which is valid and interesting. “I must admit I often buy every piece of equipment out there and test whether it’s better, faster, new or really the next big thing.”

The equipment on offer for bartenders at Spanish company Cocktail Bar Cook & Shake takes influence from the company’s other big clientele – chefs. Cocktail Bar’s Maria Grazia Massari says: “As we have the privilege of having the best chefs in the world as customers, we try to be helpful to the bartenders so they can learn from those chefs, from the research and development work done by them. We are able to offer to bartenders the more advanced products, tools and machinery of the global market, and also the technical and practical advice to help them develop their ideas at the highest level.”

Nowadays it’s not uncommon to see all manner of ‘kitchen equipment’ in cocktail bars, according to Massari. “Dehydrators, as well as vacuum sealers for sous-vide syrups, high quality Japanese ingredients such as yuzu juice, kabosu, sudachi, red shiso, machines such as anti-griddles [a device for flash freezing], and smoking tools” all make the cut, says Massari. 

Of course, cocktail trends also affect what type of equipment is needed behind the bar. Nick Andrews, director of UK-based Urban Bar, says one of the biggest trends at the moment is smaller, individual service – think bartender coming to you, rather than you going to the bar. For this, he says, a three-piece shaker is an important piece of kit. 

“We have also started selling barrels in response to the trend for barrel ageing,” he says. Urban Bar stocks one, two, three, five and 11-litre barrels, all medium charred and prices start at £60.  But both Kratena and Lambert’s favourite pieces of kit are fairly simple. In fact, Kratena maintains that his favourite piece of equipment isn’t even something confided to the bar world.  “It’s a good cleaning cloth,” he says. “Makes life easier.” A humble statement by a man at the top of his game. 

For Lambert, a three-piece copper cobbler shaker is flavour of the moment. “It’s awesome – a little bit heavy on the arms, but it’s so nice to look at and really fits into the specific style of Bar Americano (where I work),” he says.

Glassware

Massari from Cocktail Bar Cook & Shake believes you can’t underestimate the importance of good glassware – and not just the kind you drink from.  “A good piece of glass (as in glasses, cups and mixing glass) has a big role in helping to create a better experience while tasting the cocktail. A clear glass is essential for that. The crystal carving and its finesse gives a touch of distinction to our drink and, consequently, to the place.”

She says the Japanese market is famous for its beautiful mixing glasses but countries such as Italy and Russia are also producing great designs. “Mixing glasses shine so much on the bar. They are one of the most appealing tools also for customers.” 

Kratena and Lambert are not only on opposite sides of the world – they also share opposite views on one element of glassware: vintage. Kratena thinks it’s time for something new but Lambert thinks there’s still mileage in the trend. 

“I’m really into nice glassware. Growing up in New Zealand I was always surrounded by nice Webb Corbett crystal” he says. “It’s also something I believe I’m quite good at finding. My glasses break more often but my customers appreciate the effort we go to in sourcing and finding vintage glasses. I think it’s a trend that will continue for a while.

“I used to think that every drink had to have its own glass, but Bar Americano has challenged my assumptions on almost everything. We try our best to keep glassware standardised but that’s pretty hard to do when you are only buying three vintage glasses at a time. Most drinks should have the right glassware but I think it’s a personal thing from bar to bar. Most customers are just happy at receiving a great drink in a beautiful glass.”

Kratena agrees that presentation is hugely important but he says: “I think the trend for vintage glassware shows the first signs of stagnation and has become really mainstream. It’s time to do new things.”

 He describes the glass as a “mediator between bartender and guest – a kind of stage which helps to articulate drinking experience from an interesting point of view”. 

He says the glass has three basic functions: it’s the vessel for liquid, it affects the tasting/drinking experience and aesthetics and it maintains the physical properties of the drink – hot cold, sound, smell etc.  “At Artesian we pay huge attention to service ware.” He cites the detachable Martini glass, Forever Young glass with mirror and the Mexican swizzle served in skull mug. 

Investing in quality is worth every penny, according to Urban Bar’s Andrews. “It’s a false economy to buy really cheap stuff. If you’re bothering to make a drink properly, then you want to use the right equipment. “We have just developed a new handmade glassware range.”

Branded glassware can be a contentious issue – on the one hand it’s readily available but, on the other, it can look tacky. For both Lambert and Kratena, less is more. “I really wish brands would work with us in speciality cocktail bars to provide us with glassware,” says Lambert. “But I don’t need pint glasses with their logo on them. It just seems like a huge waste of time and money. It also shows me that many brands don’t get our brand or concept. So no,  I really don’t like branded glassware.”

Kratena says balance is the key. “An understanding of good branding plays a major part in successful execution,” he says. “You can make a glass saying brand XXX, or you incorporate materials, smell, colour, lighting associated with the brand story, which will work much better.”

Wise words. And I’ll leave you with some more wise words relating to drink from our man WC Fields: “Always carry a flagon of whisky in case of snakebite and, furthermore, always carry a small snake.”