Shaking is probably the most essential cocktail-making skill you’ll use. But there’s more to it than just moving your arms and looking good behind the bar!

Let’s look at the basics and what you need to know to feel comfortable with shaking.

Get the basic art of cocktail shaking down in under a minute with this short how-to video.

Cocktail shaking has 4 key uses: 

1. Chilling your liquid 
2. Combining your ingredients 
3. Diluting the cocktail 
4. Aerating the mixture

While chilling, diluting and combining can be achieved through stirring, aerating a mixture can only happen when a liquid is shaken. 

Aeration, or working air into ingredients, gives cocktails a more velvety, consistent texture. It can also reduce bitterness in ingredients and increase sweetness.

While not all cocktails will need shaking, some of the best cocktails to shake are:

• Daiquiri
• Cosmopolitan
• Whisky Sour
• Sidecar
• White Lady
• Gin Fizz

Cocktail shaking has been around for centuries, but how well do you know your cocktail history and the origins of the world's most famous cocktails? Take our Cocktail Origin Quiz and equip yourself with some basic cocktail info.

• You can over shake a drink, so be careful! Try to use larger ice cubes because you can eventually feel the point at which you’ve broken the ice down and are ready to strain. Most drinks won’t need shaking for more than 15 seconds.
• Don’t forget to breathe! While that may sound obvious, shaking can be quite a workout and you’ll be using your cardio in short bursts. Remember to control your breathing when you’re shaking so you can remain professional and engage with the guest afterwards.

• Shaking is an essential cocktail-making skill used for chilling, mixing, diluting, and aerating drinks to enhance their texture and flavour.
• Try not to over shake your cocktail as this could make it too diluted.
• Shaking can work air into your ingredients which can reduce bitterness and give a more consistent texture.