Young bartender in blue shirt holding glass of cold alcoholic cocktail and pours it into wineglass.
Great spirits and fresh oranges are essential to crafting a great cocktail. Bar tools are an important part of the cocktail recipe. Mixing a cocktail is easy with a good shaker, strainer, jigger, and bar spoon.
A group of bartenders have tested these tools over many decades and can recommend the best. Our industry experts have narrowed their top picks for making crafting cocktails easier, from heavy-duty juicers to double-sided jiggers. These are their top picks of the best bar tools right now.
Best Overall: Cocktail Kingdom Essentials Kit
This set makes a great gift for a new bartender. It includes a 500ml mixing cup, a 33.5 cm-long swizzle bar spoon, a stainless steel jigger and a strainer. This kit makes a great starting point for setting up your bar. These tools are a great starting point for setting up a bar. You can add zesters, paring knives and glassware to your arsenal. According to Talbot, the Cocktail Kingdom is a great place to get all your bar tools. “Their special tools are perfectly crafted and have fun novelty items.”
Best Juicer: Sunkist J-1 Commercial Citrus Juicer
Manually pressing juices using an old-fashioned countertop model is technically the best way. There is no friction or heat created in gentle pressing. But, complicated cocktail menus and ingredients make it difficult and inefficient to squeeze the juice this way,” says Kyle Kelley from Bia in New York’s Hudson Valley.
HIC Stainless Steel Japanese Jigger is the Best Jigger
Victor Bautista is the bar manager at Concord Hill, Brooklyn. A jigger is a small measuring spoon that can make cocktails. It accurately measures alcohol and other liquid ingredients and makes it easy to follow a recipe.
Best Strainer: Cocktail Kingdom Koriko Hawthorne Strainer
A great filter can separate liquid from solid, so your cocktail shakes and stirred drinks are perfectly chilled. Hawthorne strainers have the most popular design. They have a flat, perforated front and a flexible coil that can be bent to fit over any size of shakers or glassware. These strain out egg whites, citrus pulp, and herbs easily.
Best Shaker: Cocktail Kingdom Koriko Weighted Shaking Tins
Cocktail Kingdom tools are of the highest quality. I find them the most valuable brand, and they look great in front of friends and guests. My favorite item is the Koriko shakers, which are essential for bartending. They are extremely durable and maintain their good looks even after years of use.
Best Mixing Glass: Mofado Crystal Cocktail Mixing Glass
This crystal mixing cup holds 18 ounces of liquid. It can be used to make up to four cocktails at once. This elegant cut-crystal design features 100% lead-free hand-blown crystal. It has a pour spout to make it easy to strain and serve.
Best Muddlers: Fletchers Mill Muddler
A handy muddler will allow you to mash and crush your way to Caipirinhas, Mojitos, Juleps and more, helping to integrate flavors of spices, herbs, and citrus into a range of cocktails. But poorly-made muddlers can have a range of flaws: painted, stained, or lacquered muddlers can chip, sending shards of muddler into your drink. That’s why bartenders favor a simple wood muddler.
