You know the classic James Bond line “Martini, shaken, not stirred” is there an actual difference in the taste of the drink from shaking it vs stirring it?
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And here is a gizmodo on which gets you drunker
https://gizmodo.com/shaken-or-stirred-which-gets-you-drunker-a-scientific-5897248/amp
While there is the technical reason, watered down more, aerated etc, I’m pretty sure I heard Ian Flemming just put that in there cuz it sounds cool.
You might get ice chips with shaken but than you can double strain to get them out. That’s when you use the regular strainer and mesh strainer.
Both water down your drink a little. Try an old fashioned room temp, shaken, and stirred.
Also I think shaking gets the drinks colder. When you shake you shake until there is frost on the shaker. With stirring it hardly gets any frost and mostly gets condensation.
I’ve read a lot here about how shaking chips the ice, so how does the drink come out if something like frozen stones or marbles are used?
As others have stated, shaking it creates ice chips which waters it down…. but let me tell you WHY he does it.
I used to think James was just ordering a weak drink in a pretentious manner, and if anyone else did that, I’d agree. But James is a professional spy who relies on steady hands, split second reactions in life or death moments, but also has to play the part in social situations.
So, do not draw extra suspicion to himself, he orders his signature drink shaken, to water it down, in order to keep his wits about him.
Shaking breaks the ice into very small chips, which makes it feel colder in the mouth. It’s really quite nice and I highly recommend it for any chilled drink.
James Bond asked for his drinks to be shaken instead of stirred because by shaking the drink, you break the ice, thereby watering down the drink so that he could appear to drink more in terms of total volume compared to having a stiff drink on the rocks, this way he could fake being drunk more believably
Both make the drink colder by removing warmth.
Stirring removes warmth without adding air for a silky texture. This works for recipes that are just alcohol based like Manhattans because warm alcohol tastes and feels hot.
We shake drinks with citrus/cream/eggs because they either feel sharp and we need to make them smooth, or they feel heavy and we need to make them feel light. Shaking hard makes cold and adds fluff. We like cold and fluff in drinks.
The most common advice you’ll see is that drinks with opaque fruit juices (like lemon or lime) or with egg white should be shaken, and drinks without those juices should be stirred. This is because shaking makes the drink cloudy due to aeration (on in the case of egg, because of emulsification — you *must* shake an egg drink, stirring won’t make it turn out right). Shaking a drink cools it down very fast, and makes it a little bit frothier, which you usually want in citrusy drinks like sours.
Shaking can also fill your drink with tiny ice chips, which can be desirable or undesirable depending on what you’re going for. If your drink has only clear ingredients, you can keep it nice and clear by stirring it.
People will say that you shouldn’t shake gin martinis because it “bruises the gin,” but that’s not really a thing – it does alter the flavor, but that’s because of the ice chips and the aeration, not anything to do with the gin.
Personally, I will occasionally shake standard gin-and-vermouth martinis instead of stirring them, because I like the icy texture and the slight difference in taste that they have. I find it refreshing. Though most of the time, I will stir them to retain the nice clear look of the drink.
BONUS ADVICE: If you want to get into martinis, the real thing that makes the difference is the ratio of gin to vermouth. For a long time, everybody thought it was cool to order them as “dry” as possible, with almost no vermouth. Thankfully, that macho trend has died back, and people now go for a more sensible ratio. The dry end is 6:1, and the wet end can go as high as 1:1. Just make sure you’re using good vermouth (Dolin is my favorite), and that it isn’t spoiled (keep it in the fridge, and buy small bottles unless you’re going through it in less than 6 months), then play around with the ratio until you find your favorite. I’m usually a 4:1 or 6:1 guy, depending on how I’m feeling.
At the time, a proper gin martini was not shaken. It was believed that shaking bruised the gin. Bond drank vodka martinis and preferred them shaken and since it wasn’t gin it was not de rigueur. Like Bonds way of saying I know you don’t think I’m cool but I know I am.
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