The Cocktail Spoon Trick To Pour Better Fizzy Drinks
A good bartender is an expert with many tools, from the muddler to the jigger to the spoon. In fact, there are more than a dozen common implements that professional or at-home bartenders are likely to use. However, the mastery of a select few, like the cocktail spoon, provides foundational skills relevant to the creation of many great cocktails. Learning to use these tools properly also has added benefits, as it unlocks trade secrets that are not only useful in a bar setting, but also guaranteed to impress at cocktail parties.
One cocktail spoon trick, in particular, is not merely functional, but also visually spectacular. Global bartending champion Kaitlyn Stewart — who goes by user @likeablecocktails on TikTok — went viral in 2022 after posting a video showcasing a cocktail spoon hack. In it, she demonstrated how to pour carbonated beverages down the handle of a cocktail spoon so that the liquid seems to hug the spoon all the way down into the drink, without fizzing over or spilling.
This trick doesn't require any advanced skills to master, but to pull it off properly, it helps to know why exactly it works in the first place.
Why this cocktail spoon trick works
The standard cocktail spoon is one of the most commonly used tools, and it is appropriate for many purposes, including measuring, layering, and even cracking ice. Like the muddler, cocktail spoons have two ends, and both are useful. But the primary purpose of this tool, of course, is to stir.
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The carbonated beverage gimmick that earned Kaitlyn Stewart more than half a million TikTok views, however, is extra functional in the sense that you don't even need to stir after pouring a drink in this fashion. The cocktail spoon's spiral handle guides the carbonated drink all the way down into the cocktail, integrating the liquid from top to bottom while maintaining its fizz. It's important to note, however, that this technique only works because of the cocktail spoon handle's clever spiral design, allowing any in-the-know bartender to accomplish the same trick without spilling a drop.
Of course, as the comments on Stewart's TikTok video showed, even some experienced bartenders were unfamiliar with this trick and its mechanics.
Getting to know your cocktail spoon
There are three stainless steel cocktail spoon styles commonly used: American, European, and Japanese. Each has a slightly different design, but it's important to note that all three styles typically boast spiral handles. This design feature doesn't just exist to impress people at parties (although it does that, too). Rather, its primary purpose is to provide optimal cocktail stirring. The twisty handle shape, for example, is famous for promoting a smooth, steady stirring motion without splashing or spilling the drink. It's rather ingenious, actually.
Have you ever wondered why some drinks are shaken and others are stirred? Shaking chills drinks and changes their texture, but it also dilutes them. Enter the cocktail spoon, whose unique shape is designed not only to facilitate the ideal stirring motion, but also to prevent the degree of dilution that occurs during shaking — a particularly important factor to consider when preparing classic stirred drinks like a Manhattan cocktail or a Negroni. It's true that stirring a drink will not chill it as quickly as shaking it, which is why a smooth, steady stirring motion is essential. That's why the cocktail spoon has such a specially constructed handle.
That unique handle also minimizes carbonation loss during tricks, such as the one Kaitlyn Stewart has popularized.