Two Drink Minimum; The After 5 Cocktail Blog

As the sun goes down and local shops and groceries stores begin to close there doors and the flicker of lights from houses begin to diminish as all the children are tucked into bed…this is when the night life begins. Stale yellow lights from lamp post soon begin to be replaced by an array of bright buzzing neon rainbows flashing signs for cocktails and beer, live nudes and the ‘party scene’.

Men and women alike get donned up in their best (or not so best) attire and hit the streets all across this beautiful brazen county of ours, all in search of the same thing…that spot with the best Night Life.
As Americans we love the night time party scene…Dim dance clubs blasting the latest and greatest chart toppers while all sorts of multi colored lights flash and spin as smoke begins to bellow from beneath the DJ booth…
Ahh yes, we have all been there…shoulder to shoulder with complete strangers trying against all odds not to spill your drink down the bare back of the nice lady dancing in front of you as you simultaneously attempt to scan the crowd in hopes of locating your friend who you last saw scampering off with a random stranger of the opposite sex. As we all know, most of these nights are hit or miss…either they are great…or you end up wishing you would have stayed home doing something more fun and constructive…such as lying on the couch and catching up on your favorite TV shows…A prospect which keeps some people from ever stepping foot outside their house in attempts to go to the club…
But wait…all you people out there who are disgusted by the idea of paying for over priced drinks in an over crowded bar to get your taste of the night life…I have a solution for you…bring the party to the place you know best…your home…now I know the initial idea of taking a club and plopping it down smack dab in the middle of your living room my not conjure the best of mental images…but give me a chance to explain…
Imagine this…you have your house set up with dim lights…neon signs posted on the walls…stylish light up glasses and straws line your make shift bar…all to accommodate only those people who YOU decide are fit to party in your humble abode.
If the picture just painted brings a smile to your face…you have come to the right place…
Lets start from the top…

You are going to want to make the general ambiance of your home as bar like as you can…and what better way to do it then with neon lights??Here at After5Catalog we have got you covered on just about ANY type of crazy neons you can think of…Everyone loves Beerpong…but can you find a bar anywhere with a beer pong table?? Well you can now…right at YOUR bar!! Martinis and cocktails…like I said, if you want a neon sign…we got it!

So now that we have the neons taken care of…what kinda classy bar would you have without some really kick ass cocktail glasses?? Dim the lights down low and let theses sets of light up “drinking untensils” make the mood nice and mellow…

Last but not least…if want to go full bore and really deck your place out…try one of our personalized signs…we have a PLETHORA of customizable signs to fit just about anyones needs….

 

 

 

 

So the next time you are out with the guys or gals and someone spills a drink down your back…just remember…we here at after5…”have got your back”

 

 

 

 

It shouldn’t take a rocket scientist to tell you that Americans love football. Every Sunday this fact becomes crystal clear as hordes of people donning there favorite team apparel head out to local bars or fire up a grill in a backyard with friends and prepare to slam down some brats and burgers. But there is one facet of football in America — a staple if you will — that no matter where, or how you plan on watching the game, cannot be overlooked…I am of course speaking of none other then beer…

I personally, am from the mid west — Michigan to be exact — and where I come from unless you are actually attending the game, the next best thing is the tailgate party…a glorious event where you gather as many fellow football lovers as you can, round up all the old lawn chairs collecting dust in your garage along with as much meat as you can carry and all converge upon the largest empty parking lot you can find (most likely a stadium parking lot) you set up your grill and possibly a beer pong table and contiune to cook and drink all day with your favorite games blasting from every operational radio within ear shot…

Fortunately we here at After 5 take both beer and proper partying extremely seriously…So imagine this…you are lucky enough to have scored tickets to a game — Indianapolis Colts at New England if you will — there you are sitting in the stands, first quarter of the game and of course the first thing that comes to mind is “where is my beer”…now unless you came with a saddle bag full of cash, catching a game time buzz at the stadium can be, well how shall I put it…pricey

Not to fear, After5 has come up with what can only be described as the perfect solution. We call it… The Beer Belly. The Beerbelly is a beer dispenser that fits stealthily and comfortably around your waist, under your shirt, with a feeder tube and bite valve that delivers beer to the user. It’s covert and comedy rolled into one.

So there you are, ‘keeping warm’ by quietly sipping from your favorite beer while a stadium full of fans screams at the top of their lungs as the game of the year plays out below you…all this and you didn’t even have to give loose a dime to stadium costs…now that’s innovation my friends.

Now I realize not every one can pull off having a “beer belly” – Ladies we were thinking of you on this one — so we took an age old idea and put a lil twist to it. Presenting the Sippin’ Seat Cushion.

Whether you’re parked bench side or in the thin air of the nosebleed section, the Papa Berts Stadium Sippin’ Seat guarantees you the best seat in the house, at least from a drinker’s standpoint. Hidden inside its durable and super comfortable foam cushion exterior is a secret hot/cold beverage bladder capable of holding up to 750 ml (3 cups in America) of the day’s preferred drink. The Stadium Sippin Seat has an easy-to-use valve-to-plastic hose dispensing mechanism and an integrated carrying handle; it disassembles easily for cleaning and refilling.

Now for those of you who enjoy the “at home” approach to watching football, have we got something for you. Over the years I have come to find that most people who would rather stay home for the game do so because of there love for cookin’ on the grill. With that said check this out!

 

This is our Personalized Barbeque Branding Iron. The personalized Meat Mark-it Barbeque Branding Iron allows you to customize your outgoing message on each and every tri-tip, T-bone, London broil or rib-eye that leaves your grill. The barbeque branding iron includes 52 letters and spaces, so you can personalize your name or of course favorite football team.

Now we all know games can end up being extremely long and drawn out. Sitting there in your group of friends as the last min of the first half ends up taking 15 min. During these down times of the game, or perhaps even waiting for the game to begin, you and your crew might enjoy a nice friendly game of Brew-opoly.

Brew-Opoly is more than just a board game for people who like to drink beer. Similar to its real estate counter part…only entirely beer themed, more fun, and no creepy bald guy. Play with game tokens like a bottle opener, shot glass and pretzel, land on Cheers (collect $200!), Free Pretzels (win the pot!), Last Call (boo!), Happy Hour (thumb your nose at the sap in Last Call) and draw action cards from The Draft - this is a party game at its finest. Make your way around the colorful board and purchase brew pubs and microbreweries. You’ll still need to keep your eye on the banker, especially if you’re living up to our hopes and chugging beer each time you pass Happy Hour. Brew-Opoly is fun for the whole family and works wonderfully during those game day waiting periods.

So football fans, who ever you are routing for this season, make sure you do it in style and of course remember to have fun because in the end that’s what games are all about.

Written by: Jason Davenport (Head of Customer Service and Kickin’ Ass here at After5 Catalog)

Can’t sit still? In need of random stimulation? Want to throw a little rave into your beer? In case you haven’t heard, you can now drink your cocktail and impress your friends, all at the same time.

It doesn’t get much cooler than cocktail glasses, beer glasses, shot glasses, and ice cubes that light-up. And seriously, who doesn’t like neon? We’ve got a large selection of barware that will bring you back to 1982, and make you wish you’d never left.

Imagine this. You invite your friends over for poker night. They’re expecting beer, shots of whatever it is that you take shots of, and pretzels, yes? The simple stuff. So think of the look on their faces when they see that not only do their shot glasses light up, but they have LED dice inside that roll around like crazy, only to land on a random number and make noises at you thereafter. You might not ever get around to playing poker when your buddies get their hands on these, as they’ll be too busy trying to decipher whose shot glass is the coolest, and what random drinking games can come from it all.

Got any “no alcohol, please” drinkers at your party that are grumpy because they don’t have a glowing cocktail to stare at? No worries, as we happen to have ice cubes that do the deed as well. Our light-up ice cubes come in every fluorescent color you’d ever desire, including green, red, yellow, and blue. So if one of your buddies is whining about how their drink is boring and uneventful, toss a couple of these babies in and you’ve got yourself a quick solution. We’ve even got glowing ice cubes that look like dice, for those that are more difficult to impress.

Our light-up pilsner beer glasses come in sets of four, and you can choose between red, green, blue, or rainbow. I know what you’re thinking. “What happens when all the glowing stops?” Simple solution – replace the batteries! Who knew how easy life could be. Plus, these pilsners have set speeds that you can choose from in order to dictate all the flashing madness. You can flash slowly, you can flash quickly, or, if you get too excited and start to dump your beer all over yourself, you can stop flashing for awhile while you attempt to regroup.

Also included in our light-up barware selection and not mentioned earlier are acrylic martini glasses, margarita glasses, and these super awesome beer pitchers that are the life of the party, as they flash in quite the strobe-light manner, reflecting an assortment of colors as your buddies stare in awe at the barware rave you’ve created for them. You’ll have a blast with these cocktail-based items, but don’t forget to take the batteries out of everything before putting them in the dishwasher, or you’re going to spend a lot of time wondering, “What happened?!”

When we take the family skiing to

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the first thing I do after that grueling yet picturesque drive bordering the Sierras, is go to the fridge and crank the freezer to max cold and throw in the bottle of Level vodka. I learned this little trick. If you get the freezer to 8 degrees below, not only does this make ice faster than you can say avalanche, but it makes your vodka into this syrupy semi frozen drool that you actually have to encourage to get out of the bottle. Kind of like the consistency of lava only colder.

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Talk about an incredible martini. None of this stuffy “shaken or stirred?” Bond crap. You don’t need a cocktail shaker, no need for stirring. Just pour it into a martini glass. Preferably near a bottle of vermouth but not too close, and drop two olives in. There is no better martini in my mind. Maybe it’s the altitude, but Level vodka at 8 below is silky smooth and very potent. Like a martini should be. It even stays cold up until the last drop. That’s not speed drinking either! And if you are the real purist you can’t beat it. This cocktail trick spares you from polluting your expensive vodka with some rusty, tape water made ice cubes. -8 taste’s great!

Ok so this cool cocktail trick is great for a drink at the cabin so why not try putting frozen

Vodka_shots

It reminds me of a school science project cause the flask turns to ice right up to the fill line almost instantly. And, like the martini, it stays cold for a long time. Just don’t get the frozen flask too close to your skin. It’s kind of like when you lick a chair lift…it sticks. That you do only once. The bottom line, or the message I am trying to convey is, frozen vodka is better. Its better at home, it’s better at the slopes, and it’s better in the glass. You just need a freezer that will go to -8. Down side? This arctic vodka cellar that we turn our refrigerators into turns your ice cream into concrete, necessitating a microwave just to scoop out…….You shouldn’t eat ice cream anyway.

Words by Eric States

Bandolier

While we’re on the subject of tequila, I’d like to send a shout-out to my favorite Agave of the Gods, “Oro Azul Reposado.” This is a true sipping tequila, rich and complex, easy on the gullet, and not to be squandered in margaritas or shots. I discovered this excellent elixir in Baja a few years ago at the Hotel California in Todos Santos. (Yes, it’s rumored to be the Hotel California from The Eagles song, though Don Henley denies it. But I can attest: There is a dark desert highway, a shimmering light, a mission bell, and it’s a lovely place.)

And I got tiffany-twisted drinking Oro Azul that night. My drinking pals – one older brother and two childhood buddies – lined up about seven tequilas at the recommendation of the very knowledgeable bartender at Hotel California. I couldn’t tell you what the other tequilas were if you held a gun to my head. Was I too drunk to remember? No. But who remembers the 2nd, 3rd and 4th place finishers? I’m all about winners. ABC: Always Be Closing. Second place is a set of steak knives.

Among us four very different drinkers, Oro Azul Reposado was the unanimous favorite tequila.
And we each swore, upon our return to the U.S. and A., that we’d fill our liquor cabinets with the stuff. I found a bottle in Portland, Oregon (where I live) for $39.99, but you can purchase it online for as low as $33.99 through

Tequila_liquor_bottle

According to Oro Azul’s website, the Reposado is “double distilled 100% blue agave… carefully rested for over six months. The special resting process delivers a richer, cleaner and deeper tequila. It has a deep old gold color with pickling spice and sweet, creamy nougat aromas. A round entry leads to a dryish medium-bodied palate with creamy caramel, faint brown spices and ripe tropical citrus fruits. Finishes in a very lengthy, fruity manner, with nutty toffee and spice notes. Well-knit, balanced and delicious.”

I concur.

Written by Trevor Pitchford

Since the mere hint of the Margarita was mentioned in one of my last ramblings, I have tequila on the tongue ever since. The Margarita, sharing some of the same naive bartenderal problems as the Mai Tai, has a wider array of presentational and desired acceptance. When done right, especially on a hot summer day, blended is great. (Watch the cerebral freezer burn).

Margarita_pick

This style kind of kills two birds with one stone. Thirst quencher and tequila cocktail. There is even a dedicated blender that just came out called the Margarator, a bit like a smoothie machine on steroids. I must admit I prefer I like my margaritas on the rocks, with salt.
The flavor comes through much better without exposing the drink to all that surface area in the ice that you get with having it blended. On the rocks is harder to drink fast yes but, you can appreciate the fine subtleties of good tequila and a good mix. The Cadillac margaritas used to be, well still is, one of my favorite drinks. For those unfamiliar with a Cadillac the main difference is the floater of Grand Marnier on the top of the drink. It does a great job of cutting through young fresh lime juice if your drink is so tarnished. Margaritas, like wine, are also subject to the evolutionary change of the palate that just comes from time at the bar.

There are a pile of stories as to whom actually created this popular Mexican cocktail, personally I think people just got tired of drinking the worm an had a mission to try and make tequila more appetizing. Don’t get me wrong, the “good tequila” strait is very tasty. But don’t waste it on a fancy sweet blended one. You can’t taste it.

My taste for this drink has changed over the years from sweet too a hint of tart. Below is my favorite way to enjoy this classic drink;

Cadillac Margarita Recipe;

Margarator

3 oz’s of Silver Patron Tequila
1.5 oz’s of Cuantreau ( orange liquor)
.75 oz’s roses lime juice
.75 oz’s fresh squeezed lime juice
Floater of Grand Marnier
Serve on the rocks with a salted rim

There are many ways to make margaritas. Just about any fruit you can think of has been tried. This cocktail has a very flexible platform that enables a bartender to add many different flavors and still pull of a good cocktail.
This drink, like most tequila drinks, is potent, rowdy, tasty, (when done right) and can give you a nasty bottle flue if over enjoyed. Caution - it’s a sneaky cocktail, it creeps up on you. Ole!

Our friend Steve Marsh owns the Shoreline cafe. It’s the only restaurant in Santa Barbara that you can have lunch, island style, with your feet in the sand a cocktail in hand and chow on one of Enrique’s, the cook, famous jalapeño turkey casadias. (Not on the menu so you have to ask) Every Saturday my wife and I go there for lunch, rain or shine. Its our little weekly mini Hawaiian vacation. Probably one of the best kept secrets in SB. Great food great drinks. Especially Steve’s Mai tai.

Steve’s Mai Tai Recipe;

1 oz white rum

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1 oz Meyer’s dark rum
½ oz Orange Curacao
½ oz fresh pinapple juice
½ oz fresh orange juice
¼ oz sweet & sour juice
¼ oz Roses Lime Juice
¼ oz Passion Fruit Juice
Float 151 Lemon Hart rum on top

It is the one we base all others from. A perfect balance of not too sweet tropical fruity taste and a mellow mix of dark and light rum topped off with flammable 151. (No it’s not lit). Finding a blend like this tropical masterpiece is a bit of a crap shoot at most restaurants. Half the time Mai Tais are too sweet, not strong enough or like in Islands, expensive Hawaiian punch but with out the punch.

There is a larger cocktail bandwidth of acceptability when talking Mai Tais in comparison to lets say martinis, I know some of you might argue that but in a way its like developing your pallet with wine. It takes years of liver assault before you really discover the difference between two buck Chuck and Cuvaison. A bit of a gross exaggeration I know but the point is this - younger pallets typically don’t appreciate the subtleties of the better liquors and the more refined tastes of good booze.

When I first started drinking wine it was box wine and white Zin…sweet, cheap. Now, I will mostly blame my wife here, we have learned to drink beyond our budget with the more expensive sophisticated wines. My biggest mistake was buying her a wine cellar refrigerator for Christmas. Yes it does make a difference if you keep the wine at 54 degrees I must admit. But it’s kind of like filling up the Suburban with gas having one of these mini cellars. $150 for gas? I wish that’s all the cellar needed to be full. The only saving grace is Costco occasionally carries her brand or when we feel like leaning on Steve we hit him up for the bro deal on cases. Still. $20 for a bottle of fermented grape juice? It’s easy to bitch about our alcoholic indulgements but appreciating good wine has now become a standard with ourafter 5 cocktail hour. It used to be so easy in my younger days - Coors, Jose Cuervo, Two Buck Chuck, not the case anymore. Oh sure we still drink Jose but lets talk tequila another time.

Anyway, digressing again,

Tiki_mugs_2

I don’t think anyone that has gone to Hawaii’s Waikiki beach and had a good Mai Tai. Most of these have a splash of cheap rum, canned pineapple juice, Grenadine for that sweet cherry flavor, and a dry piece of pineapple for a garnie. Probably the best place to find a slaughtered Mai Tai is at one of those Hawaiian luau’s. I swear they use Hawaiian Punch here. If you go to the islands you will eventually go to a luau so be warned and take an extra flask of rum. Better yet drink beer here. It won’t pollute your memory of this great rum drink. As Rick Carrol states in his History of the Mai Tai, “Most Mai Tais served in Hawaii today are too strong, too sweet and, at $7 and up, too expensive. They are pale imitations of the original. Some taste like gasoline, others like cough syrup. They burn the throat, produce terrible headaches and generally give Hawaii a bad name. They should be served with a Surgeon General’s warning.” He has lots of great Mai Tai facts, recipes, and “where to get a good one” while in the islands, at this link. Summing it up, getting a good mai tai depends entirely on the bartender. They are a pain in the ass to make, encouraging a lot of short cuts, they require experience behind the bar, and are subject to the mood of the porer. But it is one of those cocktails that while watching it made by a good mixologist makes you salivate in anticipation. It’s getting close to 5:00 and I’m getting thirsty. Aloha!

Written by Eric States

The

Fairmontbar

If unplugging your mind from the rigors of work calls out than this is your remedy. They have a koa wood bar, the most prized cabinet and furniture wood in Hawaii, on the lower level of the lobby that with a floor to ceiling rear housing some of the worlds most classical cocktail shakers. Every time I go to this magical paradise I deliberately walk down to this bar and gawk at the artistic examples of barware mastery. Penguin shakers, classic crystal and stainless steel shakers, barbell shakers, cocktail shakers, there is such history there that the plating is worn off. Not that this inspires work for me, being that it ties in with After 5, but it just exemplifies that you are here to enjoy, grab the sunscreen get a Mai tai and forget about time. A cocktail for breakfast? No problem. Hawaii has a way of shedding that mainland guilt associated with drinking alcohol before five o’clock.

Ladyslegfrosted_2

So who invented the cocktail shaker ? How long has it been around? Well, these bar tools have elements of the cocktail connoisseur for a long time. Early shakers go back thousands of years BC in Egypt, South America and Mesopotamia. Bartenders discovered cocktail shakers as an efficient, showy bar tool in the late 1800s. The popularity of cocktail shakers really surged in the 1920s when martinis became the “In” drink. Enter prohibition. Bummer.
The cocktail shaker as well as the alcoholic drink were pushed underground spawning the world of speakeasies. During this time the shaker took on a life of its own and transformed into a piece of art. In order to disguise the barware, as well as provide a place to store your booze, they deceptively took the form of airplanes penguins, skyscrapers, bowling pins, barbells, rocket ships, and even a women’s leg. This was prime time for the cocktail shaker. It was in its hay day.

Nambe_shaker_2

Eventually being massed produced this bartenders tool became a standard household item for anyone who had a home bar. The drink shaker was eventually overshadowed by the electric blender, and that as you can imagine, stole the show. Turbo blend my cocktail with a flip of a switch? Wow. Since then we have discovered that beating alcohol to death at 2,000 rpm with a metal blade and 110 volts of power is just not cool. How would you like your martini Mr. Bond… Shaken or stirred? How about in a blender…not. Let’s leave the blender to the daiquiris, margaritas and any of the other sweet tropical drinks that need to beaten. (By the way they do make daiquiri to die for at the Fairmont swim up bar, I digress). Anyway, not to get too off topic here but the cocktail shaker has seen a strong resurgence as of late. When we sent out our first After 5 catalog with its impeccable timing of 9/11 in 2001, yes that really did happen, the country basically curtailed air travel. As a result many people turned towards home entertaining.
They bought more things for the bar, kitchen, the home, and possibly invigorated a new appetite for the venerable cocktail shaker. Are we responsible for this renewed interest in these stainles steel cocktail mixers? No, I seriously doubt it but maybe the timing of our little After 5 catalog might have been OK after all.

Last spring, I took my wife and daughters on a 4-day Disney cruise – and almost every day since, my home mailbox has runneth over with catalogs, brochures and magazines from high-end cruise lines. (Are all these upper crusty companies aware that I’m a cheapskate who purchased an off-season package w/ an inside stateroom – no window, just a round mirror?)

Regardless, my new favorite magazine from all this high-end junk-mail is Virturoso Life, “The Traveler’s Guide to Inspired Pursuits” (aka “Vacations You’ll Never Afford”). This month’s issue has a good story about boozin’ – “The American Cocktail Revolution,” which traces the history of the cocktail, and also details how we Americans (and our bars) have lost our sauce-superiority to a new breed of “handmade” European cocktails.

The culprit? Cheap cocktail mixes and artificial fruit juices and sweeteners. While our spirits have certainly improved – Absolut Vodka, Patrón Tequila, Bombay Sapphire Gin, Grey Goose Vodka, Cruzan Rum – our cocktail mixes haven’t.

So nix the mix? Yup. Think about it next time you’re out at your favorite bar or restaurant: all those those trendy, hyper-sweetened martinis; or the 31 flavors of margaritas; or the wacky red, white and blue festive cocktails with the sparklers and swizzle straws. They’re all tasty, sure, but so’s Kool-Aid on hot day.

Vl34_cover_sm

And think about it when you’re entertaining at home: It’s one thing to buy margarita mix. It’s another thing to buy bottled lemon and lime juice. And it’s quite something else to pick ripe lemons and limes from a neighbor’s tree and squeeze your own margaritas. C’mon – you ponied up $60 for the bottle of Patrón tequila; Why ruin it with cheap margarita mix? It’s like grilling up a beautiful porterhouse steak, then smothering it with ketchup.

The magazine story mentioned a few other tips for cocktail mixing I thought I’d pass along:

For drinks like mojitos
and mint juleps, try using sugar cane juice (guarapo) or raw sugar in lieu of standard sugar. It takes away any sickening sweetness, and adds a more complex and textured flavor to your cocktails.

Try using fruit juice ice cubes in place of standard ice. This prevents “water-down” as your ice melts, and it can also change/enhance the drinking experience as you sip. For example, cranberry ice cubes in a glass of vodka and orange juice will transform the cocktail into a Madras as the ices melts.

Got any fresh or handmade cocktail tips you’d like to share with us? Please do!

Written by Trevor Pitchford

James Bond: “Vodka martini.”
Bartender: “Shaken or stirred?”
James Bond: “Does it look like I give a damn?”

Casino Royale, 2006

Cheers to the latest James Bond movie (I just watched it on DVD), especially the new dark and edgy tone, and its welcome lack of goofy one-liners, cartoon stunts and throwaway bimbos. What also caught my attention was 007’s loose cannon inexperience as a secret agent. (Casino Royale was Ian Fleming’s first Bond book, and Bond’ first mission.) In the movie, greenhorn Bond makes a lot of mistakes – gets the %$&* kicked out of him, loses the girl, and apparently doesn’t even know how to order a martini yet (see above).

Which got me to thinking about this whole “Shaken, not stirred” martini catchphrase that’s developed over the last couple of decades. Does it really make a difference? If you line up two martinis side-by-side – one shaken, one stirred, both from the same recipe – how many people could honestly pick or prefer one over the other?

Martini_tray_6

I gathered two of my drunken friends and we put it to the test. Using the classic “dry vodka martini” recipe from later Bond appearances, I shook one, stirred the other, and served.

“I thought we were drinking beer,” said my old college roommate. Some things never change.
“The shaken martini is definitely colder,” the other, more successful friend, said. This, we attributed to the ice swishing around in the shaker before I served.
“The stirred martini tastes more diluted, if that makes sense,” the old roommate said. I had mixed both martinis the same strength, but we all agreed that the stirred martini had a weaker, vermouthy taste to it.
“These crackers are good,” said the old roommate, referring to the saltine palette-cleansers I’d put out for between sips. “They’re salty, but not in a starchy, dehydrating way like pretzels can be.” I made a mental note never to invite him back for serious drink studies like this.
“I like the shaken martini best,” said the successful friend, interrupting the doofus. “It’s very cold, like a martini should be, and it tastes more completely mixed.”

We all three agreed that the shaken martini tasted better, though it wasn’t a night-and-day conclusion. It took several swigs, back and forth, and some discussion before we could put a finger on the differences between the two.

If anyone out there can put some science behind our findings, I’d love to hear why one is better than the other, or if anyone prefers their martinis “stirred, not shaken.” And if you have any thoughts about saltine crackers, please keep them to yourself.

Written by Trevor Pitchford