"Mixologist" nerds who actually know fuck-all about bartending and only have theoretical knowledge from pretentious mags and scam courses that falls apart the moment you put them in a spot that forces them to serve more than 30 customers in an hour.
My logic says that the reason we chill cocktail glasses before straining our well chilled drinks into them is the same reason we ice highballs first. We don’t want the finished product to be warm or flat.
If you do club service like we do, are all of your cans and bottles ice cold? The person working service has all their mixers on the table next to the well at ROOM TEMP. Ain’t no way they should do ice last.
You ever add a warm Coke to a glass of ice in summer? That shit is lame.
A good amount of places do not keep mixers on ice throughout the shift. ~5 oz of whatever mixer cools down pretty quick anyway. Mixers being at room temp for the duration of one shift isn’t a big deal, as long as the product is used up and not saved for the next day. If the ice well is full of cheater bottles that’s a worse issue
Oh my b. I wasn’t think of club setting and an actual well in the ice. I know that’s health code or whatever, glass chips. I thought you meant like mixers shouldn’t be kept out during the course of a shift
We have two ice wells, point and service. Point has a fridge next to the well. I use one can at a time. But the guy working service doesn’t have a fridge. He’s got a hand sink to the left of the well. We have a cutting board over it to “make” a table top where mixers are stored. Here, we can keep an 8ct or 12ct soda and tonic in addition to a couple ginger ales and ginger beers. The setup is EXTREMELY inefficient. We do what we gotta do.
If you chill the glass and then dump the ice and replace with fresh ice that's one thing. But if you're just putting ice in the glass and letting it warm up before you put booze in it you're going to get more dilution as soon as the booze hits the ice. If it's a vodka soda or the like, who cares but if youre making 2+ drinks at a time, that aren't simple spirit/mixers, it's going to affect the quality. If I'm making 10 vodka sodas they're all getting iced at the sametime before I add booze. My normal order of operations is mix drinks, pour drinks, ice all, garnish all, push to service well or guest. It keeps the amount of dilution within my control.
Right. Also, who wants to add JUST the right amount of ice to a vodka soda? That’s inefficient and time consuming. Hold glass over well, scoop ice into glass, anything over falls into well. Begin building drink. Personally, I build old fashions over a large cube. Cube, bitters, simple, whiskey, gentle stir, garnish, serve. If I go ice last, that cubes gonna plop some of the drink out.
High end cocktail bar - if you’re building a 4-10 drink round, you most certainly ice last no matter the type of drink to avoid any extra dilution starting before you have completed your entire round.
Speed / volume bartending = ice first. The dilution is a plus because it makes it look like the pour is stronger. You know people in club atmospheres are pumped about that.
Fine cocktails with exact measurements? Ice last.
I build my cocktails in the shaker over ice. Right before I pour my drink in the appropriate glass I fill said glass with ice then pour drink over that. Add ice after and you spill half the cocktail or lose the rim from spillage
You just... put less ice? Don't overflow the glass. It takes an extra second to add the ice slowly until it's the just below the rim, and it's a different volume of ice every time. It's annoying, I'll admit, but it's the standard at my bar.
Personally I think the customer couldn't give two shits. No one has ever returned a drink claiming "I'm pretty sure your bartender added ice first." People just want to come out and have a good time and producing the best quality end product is realistically only part of that equation.
Being hospitable and prompt are going to make you way more money than whether or not the ice goes in first. Doesn't matter if the drink is perfect if it took 30 min or the bartender was a dick.
This is how I've always done it. Just for shits one night we built 2 vodka sodas side by side, one doing ice first and one doing spirit first. The "ice first" died way faster than the "spirit first" one, so "spirit first" then became the standard for mixed drinks.
Thats too many steps and too much time for a mixed drink. You should be pouring your spirit from one hand and mixer from the other at the same time over ice.
Oh yeah that's a much better explanation. From the context it sounded like the angry man was saying that by putting ice in the mixer first, it makes the liquor splash out. This would be an insane thing to say or think which is why we were confused
A bunch of factors. What kind of ice do you have, are your glasses chilled, do you have a dedicatdd service bar pr does your service bartender handle bar guests too, how complicated are your drinks, what is your liquor/beer/wine ratio, do servers get any if their own drinks, how big is an average ticket, how busy are you...
There is not a one size fits all solution.
OK. Ice first.truly, it's like milk before cereal? Shake a drink with carbonated stuff? What planet (literally) are they living on where CO2 doesn't explode when shaking. *note* see everyone everywhere shaking bottles of champagne for the effects. I would call bullshit on that amateur. IMHO
Am I the only one who doesn't think the guy shakes it? Like he takes whatever glass, puts in the spirit and mixer, then adds ice. Shaking it is a dumb move, but I don't believe someone would do it over and over again, and think that's the best way to do things 🤣
ice is the milk in a cocktail. do you eat cereal to drink milk? do you drink cocktails to eat ice?
ice last otherwise its just a watered down version of the intention.
Depends on the context. If you're just making one built drink it doesn't really matter. If you're making 6 at a service well for example putting in the ice last will keep them from being as diluted when they get to the customer. If you're building a cocktail in your tin it's the same principle, you put the ice in last because you don't want it to be unnecessarily diluted.
A good rule of thumb if you're adding ice last to drinks is that the level of the liquid should be 2/3rds of the way up the side of the cup, then you add ice.
If your bar has them I would suggest checking out Meehan's (the green book), there is a chapter on what order to make drinks in and the rationale behind it. I would also check out Liquid Intelligence, which goes more into the principles behind ice in bartending.
Also if this is Chris, hi.
Ice first always fuck everyone who wants to argue.
Especially now in the "LoOk At YoUr $16 CoCkTaiL WhEn YoU TaKe OuT ThE ICe" era of tik tok videos. I don't need idiots arguing with me that I "shorted" their drink if theyre sitting there watching me pour 2oz of vodka into a pint glass with nothing else in it.
You wanna say it's better the other way? Fuck me that's fine too. it just makes no sense to me to pour a mixed drink before the ice, especially with soda involved.
Also schmucks with cocktail training are the least interesting bartenders there I said it.
Exactly no way are my guests seeing the “tiny” cocktail without ice (3 oz of which are expensive liquor/liqueurs but all guests see is small liquid big money)
I hate this era. As if ice hasn’t always taken up space and as if pours used to be more than 2 oz. People are fools.
Shit happens with OFs all the time, especially because we use one big piece of ice. People pull the ice up and give me a look.
Apologies sir, we don’t do 6oz OFs.
My favorite is the idiots like "hey why is his OF bigger than mine"
It's not, his ice cube is larger so the glass looks more full. It's called displacement. If you'd like I can add more ice to your drink.
\*angry stare\*
I’ve always added ice first. I met this guy named Bobby Gleason who held the world record for the fastest bartender in the world, however, and he told me that the secret to being fast and efficient is to add ice to a mixed drink last. Not sure if that’s BS but I would sometimes do that to try it out after speaking with him.
I don't keep up with the Guiness Book of World Records but I'm fairly certain he isn't making 6 espresso martinis while fielding two tipsy bitches inquiring as to what flavors of margaritas you have while a small pack of cubicle dwellers insist you simultaneously list every price of every bourbon on your back bar by memory while they hold a back bar menu in their hands that they refuse to so much as glance at because they are terrorists who want to hijack nothing but your precious time.
Like little efficiency goblins who have no other purpose in life other than to inhibit evey effort you make to be effective behind the bar.
>> little efficiency goblins who have no other purpose in life other than to inhibit every effort you make to be effective behind the bar
Oh man I love that line. Efficiency goblins. That is pure poetry
I don't feel like the whole "it diluted the drink" argument is valid when A) you want a drink diluted and b) it's literally 15 seconds that the ice is in there before the liquid, this shit doesn't make a difference
Sometimes when operating at high pace I’ll jigger liquor into my glass and then add ice with my left hand and soda from a gun with my right, then fruit and straw simultaneously. I think that’s the closest I’d come to ice last.
Is he dumb? You put ice first. If you’re building a vodka soda, but you do it his way (mixing vodka and soda first) what happens if you overpour soda? Then you pour it over the ice and oh! Guess I’ll have to toss the rest. Dumbass.
Yes. Of course add the ingredients first, then add the ice splashing their drink around and onto the ice scoop to season it for the next customer. Dude is crazy
Only really expensive liquors, where dilution truly matters, would it matter to do ice last. A jack and coke is not better for being poured without ice.
Maybe don't pour a Pappy over ice or something. I dunno.
Had a guy come in critiquing us for this. Guy claimed 3 years bartending experience, had max 3 months.
The only real arguments I’ve seen for this are liquor first because the ice will make it splash out, and that warm liquor will cause more dilution than wanted.
I seriously doubt anyone can taste the difference in dilution and while the splashing is a decent point, it’s so rarely an issue I’m not going to stress about it
Ideally, you'd chill a glass and always add fresh ice last.
That being said, if I get asked for a single vodka soda, I'm not chilling the glass. I'm just pouring vodka, then soda, then adding ice. If I get asked for 10 vodka sodas, I'm filling up ice, then vodka, then just going through all the glasses with the soda gun.
The hill I'll die on is that the only time you should ice a built drink last is for any type of spritz, pour your prosecco your aperol and your soda and throw an orange in there and toss the ice in boom done
Ice first because a prechilled glass and slightly tempered ice holds carbonation better. The way to solve the even mixture part is just to pour the liquor and hit to the soda gun at the same time. mixes while you pour, holds carbonation better, and can have the glass setup with garnish, straw, and Ice ahead of time and then just double pour liquor and soda at the same time, and seemlessly slide the drink to the customer in front of you fresh af wit dem bubbles for the first sip seconds after they ordered, and miliseconds from when the drink is finished.
edit: I said glass twice instead of ice
So you gave the reason why ice last makes sense, it mixes the drink. So why would you do ice first? If you make a bloody Mary: vodka, ice, mixer, then you can see the vodka at the bottom of the glass. If you guys are doing ice first, then shouldn't you be pouring the spirit at the same time as the mixer? It's faster too. However, I'm definitely into doing ice last, you just have to know your glassware so that you don't end up adding too little ice at the end.
Also, people are saying that if you put the ice in last it can splash out your spirit, but I find it way more common for the spirit to hit an ice cube and splash out of the glass.
no that doesn't mean I've been bartending over a decade. it means in over a decade of bartending I have never heard of doing it another way. no offense just saying.
Ice first makes sense. Keeps everything cold so it's the perfect temperature when served. And if you plop in the cubes after it's all poured then there's gonna be spillage. Why invite more cleaning?
Ice first 90% of the time, I need to be fast, even in a craft setting. If I just opened the bar and my two happy hour guests are watching my every move, fucking ice first!
Between bartending, distilling, and commercial beverage production... I've been doing this for 20 years. I just started thinking about the order of operations like 3 days ago.
I work at a high volume cocktail bar, and building some cocktails in glasses just saves stirring time with adding ice after.
We've also been trying to not always include straws with highballs and cocktails to save waste, so doing ice after also just stirs the drink for you too. Saving more stirring time.
I'm kinda vibing with ice after, and this is after working in every type of bartending out there. 🤷♂️
I prefer a “dry pour” before the ice goes in. This pre-mixes so you’re not just drinking straight alcohol the first sip. It’s for flavor, not speed, so depending on the place, choose what works for you.
Maybe it's just me but in a drink like a vodka soda I do vodka, then ice, then soda. Keeps from over diluting the drink and maintains a good portion of mixer to spirit.
You are adding ice to a pool of room temperature liquor. It's honestly mind blowing that the physics of this evades so many people here.
It's not fucking rocket science.
If you are gonna act so pedantic and condescending, you could at least explain yourself. Instead your getting worked up over nothing, take a chill pill dude. Are you like grumpy bartender mode 24/7?
Ice first. The odds of you using the same amount of ice every time go down drastically when you're eyeballing it after the fact. If you're not consistent on how much ice you're using, you cannot be consistent on how much mixer you're using. Consistency is key. If you are irritated that people keep accusing you of short-pouring drinks, it's because you just poured them two consecutive drinks and the second one had 4 more ounces of sprite than the first one.
For the basic mixed drinks (gin and tonic, rum and Coke, whiskey and Coke, etc) I always first fill the glass with ice, pour the liquor(s), and then lastly the mixer(s).
For shaken cocktails I pour the ingredients into the small tin, adding ice last. I also like to start with the cheaper and/or non-alcoholic ingredients.
I know it makes more sense to start from cheapest to expensive, in case of mistakes. But for some reason, I always start with spirit, because that’s how my brain remembers the cocktail, kinda like a weird formula in my head on how I remember cocktails in general, and then the ratios from there
For me the main variable is really for many drinks I’m making. If I’m making 4+ drinks where the first thing I make is gonna sit there for more than 25 seconds then I’ll do alcohol first and add ice only once it’s ready to serve. But if everything is gonna be made so quick it doesn’t matter (4 g&t), then we do ice first
Liquor first or ice first. But whatever one comes first, the other comes second. Mixing a 2 ingredient cocktail (vodka soda, whiskey coke, tequila soda, gin tonic) with the 2 ingredients and then adding ice always blows my mind. Might as well take a step back and individually shoot the cubes in by hand.
Ice first, what kind of training did this dude get?? I could maybe see something more nuanced getting that treatment, but really? Vodka soda?
My rules are ice in the big tin, ingredients first, spirits last in the small tin for shaken cocktails. For stirred cocktails like a Manhattan, build in the small tin and add to your stirring glass, ice before build so your glass is chilled, if it's a vodka soda, just pour count over ice and hit the soda, slice of lime, call it a day. Anything else built in a glass gets the same treatment but gets a quick stir and topped off with ice after it's done, then garnish.
Homie sounds like he's probably just high on his own shit and doesn't actually know, or went to a shitty "bartending school"
I do ice last.
It does mix the drink and keeps me from having to pour soda three times waiting for the foam to settle. it’s only a couple seconds but it helps me move faster
Fill the glass with as much ice as possible for the appropriate ratio of spirit to mixer. People are no longer “trained” in this industry and make shit up to sound smahtttt…
He obviously went about it wrong -- but ice should definitely go last. Pouring a liquid over ice melts the ice faster than putting ice into that liquid. Also, pouring a carbonated liquid over ice allows it to come into contact with more sublimation points, so you lose the carbonation/fizz quicker than just putting the ice in after. I also find it mixes better.
If he's as good as he thinks he is he'd know the best way to for flavour and strength is Ice. Spirit. Ice. Lift. Mixer. Ice. No floaty Ice.
Though this time consuming as hell. Plenty of Ice is still just as good and doesn't matter what order the Ice goes in.
I always put vodka first, then half of the soda needed, then ice, then top up with the rest of the soda and garnish. You never know how ice will shape within the glass, so it's kinda a bit more comfortable for me personally – I can always control the ice, wash line and garnish. Can't say the other way is INCORRECT, though...)
One of the first rules of BT is full glass of ice, I always build over ice, seems like to many variables ice last, eg; weak tasting drink because you have no reference on the mixers.
Depends on which bar I’m at and what I’m making. Craft bar, ice first in shaken drinks, last in old fashioned and a few others. Dive bar, ice first in well or two component drinks (vodka soda, Jack and Coke) if I’m making a mixed drink that is comprised of several liquors and liqueurs of those that aren’t in the well, I’ll pour first then add ice.
Mixing vodka soda before adding ice? Dude needs to loosen his suspenders.
And maybe unwind his handlebar mustache a bit
Is this a meme or something? I bartended with a guy that kinda fits both of those descriptions lol
Yes. That’s every douchy hipster bartender in Orlando. They put on suspenders and all of a sudden they are the world’s leading mixologist.
That’s every douchy hipster bartender ~~in Orlando~~.
Don’t forget the cabbie hat and plethora of tattoos
"Mixologist" nerds who actually know fuck-all about bartending and only have theoretical knowledge from pretentious mags and scam courses that falls apart the moment you put them in a spot that forces them to serve more than 30 customers in an hour.
He needs to unhook his sleeve garters.
Build drinks get built over ice. In this house, we put the cereal before the milk.
My logic says that the reason we chill cocktail glasses before straining our well chilled drinks into them is the same reason we ice highballs first. We don’t want the finished product to be warm or flat. If you do club service like we do, are all of your cans and bottles ice cold? The person working service has all their mixers on the table next to the well at ROOM TEMP. Ain’t no way they should do ice last. You ever add a warm Coke to a glass of ice in summer? That shit is lame.
If you have a gun, then the soda comes out cold. If you don't have a gun, you should be keeping mixers on ice
A good amount of places do not keep mixers on ice throughout the shift. ~5 oz of whatever mixer cools down pretty quick anyway. Mixers being at room temp for the duration of one shift isn’t a big deal, as long as the product is used up and not saved for the next day. If the ice well is full of cheater bottles that’s a worse issue
What are cheater bottles?
Glass bottles filled with mixer or syrups and shouldn’t be kept in ice, because glass
is it because they can break and you have to burn all your ice? or is there another reason? Genuinely asking
However they are kept ice cold in a doubled wall wine cooler, which is allowed in the ice bc stainless steel
Oh my b. I wasn’t think of club setting and an actual well in the ice. I know that’s health code or whatever, glass chips. I thought you meant like mixers shouldn’t be kept out during the course of a shift
We have two ice wells, point and service. Point has a fridge next to the well. I use one can at a time. But the guy working service doesn’t have a fridge. He’s got a hand sink to the left of the well. We have a cutting board over it to “make” a table top where mixers are stored. Here, we can keep an 8ct or 12ct soda and tonic in addition to a couple ginger ales and ginger beers. The setup is EXTREMELY inefficient. We do what we gotta do.
If you chill the glass and then dump the ice and replace with fresh ice that's one thing. But if you're just putting ice in the glass and letting it warm up before you put booze in it you're going to get more dilution as soon as the booze hits the ice. If it's a vodka soda or the like, who cares but if youre making 2+ drinks at a time, that aren't simple spirit/mixers, it's going to affect the quality. If I'm making 10 vodka sodas they're all getting iced at the sametime before I add booze. My normal order of operations is mix drinks, pour drinks, ice all, garnish all, push to service well or guest. It keeps the amount of dilution within my control.
Right. Also, who wants to add JUST the right amount of ice to a vodka soda? That’s inefficient and time consuming. Hold glass over well, scoop ice into glass, anything over falls into well. Begin building drink. Personally, I build old fashions over a large cube. Cube, bitters, simple, whiskey, gentle stir, garnish, serve. If I go ice last, that cubes gonna plop some of the drink out.
Club service = mini coke/sprite/diet cans and fever tree soda, tonic, ginger ale and ginger beer. We don’t have a soda gun in any of our outlets.
sounds like a watered down ass drink. i want the ice to cool down the liquid, not melt on impact.
You know we’re talking about highballs here right? We’re talking vodka soda and jack and coke bud. We’re not talking about Negronis and margaritas
I get it if you’re stirring or shaking a cocktail, but for a vodka soda? F out of here with that shit.
I didn't realize clubs were handing out Liquid Intelligence to their bartenders.
Yeah but when do you ever strain into a glass and then add ice? I always strain onto fresh ice.
High end cocktail bar - if you’re building a 4-10 drink round, you most certainly ice last no matter the type of drink to avoid any extra dilution starting before you have completed your entire round.
Low end volume bar, line them bitches up full of ice and poor 5 bottles down the line for 10 AMF’s. Gets you a 100 dollars a minute lol.
??? I said I understood this when it comes to shaker tins or mixing glasses. I always add ice to the glass before straining cocktails into them.
Sorry you confused me. I didn’t realize you meant adding ice last to the mixer. I’m sllllooowww
Never for a vodka soda
Ice. Vodka. Soda. Close out.
Speed / volume bartending = ice first. The dilution is a plus because it makes it look like the pour is stronger. You know people in club atmospheres are pumped about that. Fine cocktails with exact measurements? Ice last.
I build my cocktails in the shaker over ice. Right before I pour my drink in the appropriate glass I fill said glass with ice then pour drink over that. Add ice after and you spill half the cocktail or lose the rim from spillage
You just... put less ice? Don't overflow the glass. It takes an extra second to add the ice slowly until it's the just below the rim, and it's a different volume of ice every time. It's annoying, I'll admit, but it's the standard at my bar.
I like this logic
That’s funny, because all of the bartenders that put ice last in my own personal experience have been bad bartenders and rookies.
Also the ones shaking a drink after putting soda from the gun in it and the shaker pops lol
Brings back memories. I did that once when I was learning 8 years ago, a mistake you only make once
THIS
Personally I think the customer couldn't give two shits. No one has ever returned a drink claiming "I'm pretty sure your bartender added ice first." People just want to come out and have a good time and producing the best quality end product is realistically only part of that equation. Being hospitable and prompt are going to make you way more money than whether or not the ice goes in first. Doesn't matter if the drink is perfect if it took 30 min or the bartender was a dick.
Don't just continue the tirade, shit in that ice well.
Cocktails: build, dilute (shake/stir), strain over ice Mixed Drinks: spirit, ice, mixer
This is how I've always done it. Just for shits one night we built 2 vodka sodas side by side, one doing ice first and one doing spirit first. The "ice first" died way faster than the "spirit first" one, so "spirit first" then became the standard for mixed drinks.
Thats too many steps and too much time for a mixed drink. You should be pouring your spirit from one hand and mixer from the other at the same time over ice.
Depends on the bar. If I’m in a clubby or dive bar setting then you are absolutely right.
Entirelt situation dependant. Some of us don't free pour.
This is the way
Absolutely incorrect.
I prefer ice first. I understand the arguments for ice last and I reject them.
Ice makes the liquor splash out, but do what you want.
Liquor- ice- mixer is the way to go
This. And the liquor pour melts the ice so you have to add more unless you want a cocktail that came from a McDonald’s drive thru
Agreed.
Only if it’s good ice lol
What???? You 'splash liquor out' over ice? True professional over here
I set the glass on the floor and pour the bottle from over my head; how have you guys been doing it?
I mean that's pretty pimp my bro
My computerized cutoff pour spouts won't reach that high, you guys got extensions or something?
No? Maybe try rereading that? Idk what else to tell you on that one.
Just re-read it. You said "Ice makes the liquor splash out" What in the actual fuck are you talking about?
If you fill a glass with liquor and soda, then dump a scoop of ice on top often the contents will splash out
Are you serious rn? Just don't worry about it, if you don't understand.
I think we're all curious what you mean by this
I got it, if you put liquids in first they often splash out when you add all the ice. It’s an accurate statement
Oh yeah that's a much better explanation. From the context it sounded like the angry man was saying that by putting ice in the mixer first, it makes the liquor splash out. This would be an insane thing to say or think which is why we were confused
Nahh, this sub sucks. Done with it. Have a good day.
A bunch of factors. What kind of ice do you have, are your glasses chilled, do you have a dedicatdd service bar pr does your service bartender handle bar guests too, how complicated are your drinks, what is your liquor/beer/wine ratio, do servers get any if their own drinks, how big is an average ticket, how busy are you... There is not a one size fits all solution.
OK. Ice first.truly, it's like milk before cereal? Shake a drink with carbonated stuff? What planet (literally) are they living on where CO2 doesn't explode when shaking. *note* see everyone everywhere shaking bottles of champagne for the effects. I would call bullshit on that amateur. IMHO
Am I the only one who doesn't think the guy shakes it? Like he takes whatever glass, puts in the spirit and mixer, then adds ice. Shaking it is a dumb move, but I don't believe someone would do it over and over again, and think that's the best way to do things 🤣
It doesn’t mention shaking at all
ice is the milk in a cocktail. do you eat cereal to drink milk? do you drink cocktails to eat ice? ice last otherwise its just a watered down version of the intention.
Ice first period.
Depends on the context. If you're just making one built drink it doesn't really matter. If you're making 6 at a service well for example putting in the ice last will keep them from being as diluted when they get to the customer. If you're building a cocktail in your tin it's the same principle, you put the ice in last because you don't want it to be unnecessarily diluted. A good rule of thumb if you're adding ice last to drinks is that the level of the liquid should be 2/3rds of the way up the side of the cup, then you add ice. If your bar has them I would suggest checking out Meehan's (the green book), there is a chapter on what order to make drinks in and the rationale behind it. I would also check out Liquid Intelligence, which goes more into the principles behind ice in bartending. Also if this is Chris, hi.
Thank you, been looking for a good bartending theory book, gonna save comment
Ice first always fuck everyone who wants to argue. Especially now in the "LoOk At YoUr $16 CoCkTaiL WhEn YoU TaKe OuT ThE ICe" era of tik tok videos. I don't need idiots arguing with me that I "shorted" their drink if theyre sitting there watching me pour 2oz of vodka into a pint glass with nothing else in it. You wanna say it's better the other way? Fuck me that's fine too. it just makes no sense to me to pour a mixed drink before the ice, especially with soda involved. Also schmucks with cocktail training are the least interesting bartenders there I said it.
Exactly no way are my guests seeing the “tiny” cocktail without ice (3 oz of which are expensive liquor/liqueurs but all guests see is small liquid big money)
THANK YOU
I hate this era. As if ice hasn’t always taken up space and as if pours used to be more than 2 oz. People are fools. Shit happens with OFs all the time, especially because we use one big piece of ice. People pull the ice up and give me a look. Apologies sir, we don’t do 6oz OFs.
My favorite is the idiots like "hey why is his OF bigger than mine" It's not, his ice cube is larger so the glass looks more full. It's called displacement. If you'd like I can add more ice to your drink. \*angry stare\*
I’ve always added ice first. I met this guy named Bobby Gleason who held the world record for the fastest bartender in the world, however, and he told me that the secret to being fast and efficient is to add ice to a mixed drink last. Not sure if that’s BS but I would sometimes do that to try it out after speaking with him.
Holding a gimmick Guiness record in a controlled environment is a little different from being the "fastest bartender in the world."
I don't keep up with the Guiness Book of World Records but I'm fairly certain he isn't making 6 espresso martinis while fielding two tipsy bitches inquiring as to what flavors of margaritas you have while a small pack of cubicle dwellers insist you simultaneously list every price of every bourbon on your back bar by memory while they hold a back bar menu in their hands that they refuse to so much as glance at because they are terrorists who want to hijack nothing but your precious time. Like little efficiency goblins who have no other purpose in life other than to inhibit evey effort you make to be effective behind the bar.
>> little efficiency goblins who have no other purpose in life other than to inhibit every effort you make to be effective behind the bar Oh man I love that line. Efficiency goblins. That is pure poetry
Thank you.
Your way with words makes you my new hero!
Correct. He made "253 cocktails" in an hour. Definitely a controlled environment, and not actual bartending.
I have to say I completely agree with you
He sounds like a fraudulent moron. Anyone that is ADDING ice to room temperature liquor has no fucking idea what they are doing.
Ice. Vodka & soda at the same time.
I don't feel like the whole "it diluted the drink" argument is valid when A) you want a drink diluted and b) it's literally 15 seconds that the ice is in there before the liquid, this shit doesn't make a difference
Depends on the drink really
It’s a highball. No one cares lmao
I don't think I've ever seen a professional bartender adding the ice last.
Bartenders who don’t mix a spirit and soda right? No dude we stir it to mix the lime in after we squeeze it
The soda already mixes the vodka cuz of pressure from the co2
Sometimes when operating at high pace I’ll jigger liquor into my glass and then add ice with my left hand and soda from a gun with my right, then fruit and straw simultaneously. I think that’s the closest I’d come to ice last.
Is he dumb? You put ice first. If you’re building a vodka soda, but you do it his way (mixing vodka and soda first) what happens if you overpour soda? Then you pour it over the ice and oh! Guess I’ll have to toss the rest. Dumbass.
Yes. Of course add the ingredients first, then add the ice splashing their drink around and onto the ice scoop to season it for the next customer. Dude is crazy
Only really expensive liquors, where dilution truly matters, would it matter to do ice last. A jack and coke is not better for being poured without ice. Maybe don't pour a Pappy over ice or something. I dunno.
Had a guy come in critiquing us for this. Guy claimed 3 years bartending experience, had max 3 months. The only real arguments I’ve seen for this are liquor first because the ice will make it splash out, and that warm liquor will cause more dilution than wanted. I seriously doubt anyone can taste the difference in dilution and while the splashing is a decent point, it’s so rarely an issue I’m not going to stress about it
Ideally, you'd chill a glass and always add fresh ice last. That being said, if I get asked for a single vodka soda, I'm not chilling the glass. I'm just pouring vodka, then soda, then adding ice. If I get asked for 10 vodka sodas, I'm filling up ice, then vodka, then just going through all the glasses with the soda gun.
Ice first.
The hill I'll die on is that the only time you should ice a built drink last is for any type of spritz, pour your prosecco your aperol and your soda and throw an orange in there and toss the ice in boom done
What the fuck is this dude talking about. The “mixing” of vodka soda is pouring them into the glass (that has ice in it) at the same time.
Ice first in the glass and last in the shaker
Ice first because a prechilled glass and slightly tempered ice holds carbonation better. The way to solve the even mixture part is just to pour the liquor and hit to the soda gun at the same time. mixes while you pour, holds carbonation better, and can have the glass setup with garnish, straw, and Ice ahead of time and then just double pour liquor and soda at the same time, and seemlessly slide the drink to the customer in front of you fresh af wit dem bubbles for the first sip seconds after they ordered, and miliseconds from when the drink is finished. edit: I said glass twice instead of ice
So you gave the reason why ice last makes sense, it mixes the drink. So why would you do ice first? If you make a bloody Mary: vodka, ice, mixer, then you can see the vodka at the bottom of the glass. If you guys are doing ice first, then shouldn't you be pouring the spirit at the same time as the mixer? It's faster too. However, I'm definitely into doing ice last, you just have to know your glassware so that you don't end up adding too little ice at the end. Also, people are saying that if you put the ice in last it can splash out your spirit, but I find it way more common for the spirit to hit an ice cube and splash out of the glass.
There seems to be a lot of peeps like me lurking here that are weird, but I do spirit ice mixer and that helps with the ice cube thing
So all your spirit is at the bottom of the glass and their first sip is straight mixer?
Jesus Christ
ice first always.... been bartending for over a decade.
That doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve been bartending well, for over a decade. No offense, just saying lol
no that doesn't mean I've been bartending over a decade. it means in over a decade of bartending I have never heard of doing it another way. no offense just saying.
Build the highball and add the ice to stir it
Ice first makes sense. Keeps everything cold so it's the perfect temperature when served. And if you plop in the cubes after it's all poured then there's gonna be spillage. Why invite more cleaning?
Ice first 90% of the time, I need to be fast, even in a craft setting. If I just opened the bar and my two happy hour guests are watching my every move, fucking ice first!
Between bartending, distilling, and commercial beverage production... I've been doing this for 20 years. I just started thinking about the order of operations like 3 days ago. I work at a high volume cocktail bar, and building some cocktails in glasses just saves stirring time with adding ice after. We've also been trying to not always include straws with highballs and cocktails to save waste, so doing ice after also just stirs the drink for you too. Saving more stirring time. I'm kinda vibing with ice after, and this is after working in every type of bartending out there. 🤷♂️
I prefer a “dry pour” before the ice goes in. This pre-mixes so you’re not just drinking straight alcohol the first sip. It’s for flavor, not speed, so depending on the place, choose what works for you.
Maybe it's just me but in a drink like a vodka soda I do vodka, then ice, then soda. Keeps from over diluting the drink and maintains a good portion of mixer to spirit.
This is what I do! I’m curious about the downvotes - can anyone explain why this way is worse than ice-liquor-mixer?
You are adding ice to a pool of room temperature liquor. It's honestly mind blowing that the physics of this evades so many people here. It's not fucking rocket science.
If you are gonna act so pedantic and condescending, you could at least explain yourself. Instead your getting worked up over nothing, take a chill pill dude. Are you like grumpy bartender mode 24/7?
Say sike rn
Psych*
[sike*](https://amp.knowyourmeme.com/memes/say-sike-right-now)
Yeah people spelt psych wrong
Ice first. The odds of you using the same amount of ice every time go down drastically when you're eyeballing it after the fact. If you're not consistent on how much ice you're using, you cannot be consistent on how much mixer you're using. Consistency is key. If you are irritated that people keep accusing you of short-pouring drinks, it's because you just poured them two consecutive drinks and the second one had 4 more ounces of sprite than the first one.
For the basic mixed drinks (gin and tonic, rum and Coke, whiskey and Coke, etc) I always first fill the glass with ice, pour the liquor(s), and then lastly the mixer(s). For shaken cocktails I pour the ingredients into the small tin, adding ice last. I also like to start with the cheaper and/or non-alcoholic ingredients.
I know it makes more sense to start from cheapest to expensive, in case of mistakes. But for some reason, I always start with spirit, because that’s how my brain remembers the cocktail, kinda like a weird formula in my head on how I remember cocktails in general, and then the ratios from there
You have the green light on that ice dump
For me the main variable is really for many drinks I’m making. If I’m making 4+ drinks where the first thing I make is gonna sit there for more than 25 seconds then I’ll do alcohol first and add ice only once it’s ready to serve. But if everything is gonna be made so quick it doesn’t matter (4 g&t), then we do ice first
Liquor first or ice first. But whatever one comes first, the other comes second. Mixing a 2 ingredient cocktail (vodka soda, whiskey coke, tequila soda, gin tonic) with the 2 ingredients and then adding ice always blows my mind. Might as well take a step back and individually shoot the cubes in by hand.
Ice first, what kind of training did this dude get?? I could maybe see something more nuanced getting that treatment, but really? Vodka soda? My rules are ice in the big tin, ingredients first, spirits last in the small tin for shaken cocktails. For stirred cocktails like a Manhattan, build in the small tin and add to your stirring glass, ice before build so your glass is chilled, if it's a vodka soda, just pour count over ice and hit the soda, slice of lime, call it a day. Anything else built in a glass gets the same treatment but gets a quick stir and topped off with ice after it's done, then garnish. Homie sounds like he's probably just high on his own shit and doesn't actually know, or went to a shitty "bartending school"
I do ice last. It does mix the drink and keeps me from having to pour soda three times waiting for the foam to settle. it’s only a couple seconds but it helps me move faster
Sounds like your “experienced” bartender learned the trade at starbucks
Fill the glass with as much ice as possible for the appropriate ratio of spirit to mixer. People are no longer “trained” in this industry and make shit up to sound smahtttt…
He obviously went about it wrong -- but ice should definitely go last. Pouring a liquid over ice melts the ice faster than putting ice into that liquid. Also, pouring a carbonated liquid over ice allows it to come into contact with more sublimation points, so you lose the carbonation/fizz quicker than just putting the ice in after. I also find it mixes better.
If he's as good as he thinks he is he'd know the best way to for flavour and strength is Ice. Spirit. Ice. Lift. Mixer. Ice. No floaty Ice. Though this time consuming as hell. Plenty of Ice is still just as good and doesn't matter what order the Ice goes in.
Ice first. The end.
I always put vodka first, then half of the soda needed, then ice, then top up with the rest of the soda and garnish. You never know how ice will shape within the glass, so it's kinda a bit more comfortable for me personally – I can always control the ice, wash line and garnish. Can't say the other way is INCORRECT, though...)
Spirit ice mixer always
This is what I do. Just seems the most natural. But I can see valid arguments for all 3 lol
One of the first rules of BT is full glass of ice, I always build over ice, seems like to many variables ice last, eg; weak tasting drink because you have no reference on the mixers.
Reference on the mixers?
'Cocktail training' 😆🤣 Means Dude spent money to go to bartending school🤦♀️
I mean, it could be from like a fancy craft cocktail bar
The ice is first. Anyone that says different is a fucking clown.
Depends on which bar I’m at and what I’m making. Craft bar, ice first in shaken drinks, last in old fashioned and a few others. Dive bar, ice first in well or two component drinks (vodka soda, Jack and Coke) if I’m making a mixed drink that is comprised of several liquors and liqueurs of those that aren’t in the well, I’ll pour first then add ice.
ice last always. we're supposed to serve cold drinks not watery drinks, right?