Cocktail Guide
Shake, stir, and the difference you can taste
Technique is not theatre. Stirring keeps a spirit-forward drink clear. Shaking aerates a sour.
DrinkCorner Editorial (demo byline) · Published 2026-08-20 · Updated 2026-09-01
Stir the Old Fashioned, the Martini, the Manhattan, and the Negroni. They are spirit, fortified wine, or bitter liqueur, and they want cold and dilution without a collar of ice shards. Shake the Daiquiri and the Margarita. Citrus and sugar need the aeration.
The Mojito and the Moscow Mule are built in the glass. They are highballs. A copper mug does not change the Moscow Mule's ingredients; ginger beer might, if the ginger beer itself contains alcohol. The cocktail page says so.
Measure. A 'splash' is how directories end up inventing drinks. Every cocktail in DrinkCorner lists millilitres for that reason. Garnish is specified, and where it is optional the page says optional.
These recipes are for adults. They are not a reason to drink more. Strength is deliberately not converted into a single ABV, because dilution is part of the drink and this demo did not measure it.
Sources
- Public-domain classic recipes filed in the cocktail directory
- Standard bar distinction between shaking sours and stirring spirit-forward drinks