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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My understanding is that in regards to James Bond, he should be asking for his drink “stirred, not shaken” as it would be easier to see if a powdered substance had been added – however, artistic license meant this got switched around as it “sounded cooler”
From me, a cocktail bartender.
Shake: when you have juice, cream, or eggs
Stir: when you do not
The shaking breaks down the organic compounds in the materials, incorporating them with the alcohol. Think of it like cooking. The force of shaking acts like heat. It also aerates the drink.
Stir all cocktails that do not have any of the above. You don’t want aeration, just chilling and dilution.
James Bond specifies a shaken Martini because the bartender would normally stir it.
Shaken breaks down the ice so it melts a little faster thus watering down the drink. That being said I think Mr Bond takes it this way as a way to not over indulge and still be able to stay sharp. This is my unprofessional uneducated guess lol.
OK, thank you all for the amazing responses! I never thought that it would get almost 200 responses!
Shaking breaks off more bits of the ice cubes, resulting in a slightly more watered down drink as the ice melts, as compared to stirring.
Most drinks these days are shaken, but it’s best to think of stirring as the default. It chills, dilutes, and combines your ingredients, while maintaining the clarity of the beverage.
Shaking also aerates the drink and mixes things more aggressively. You want to shake any time you have an ingredient that needs aeration (like citrus juice), or that needs to be broken down (like eggs or cream).
Shaking also gets things a bit colder, which is (probably, AFAIK nobody ever asked him) why Fleming liked his martinis shaken.
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