Barspoon

A barspoon is a long spoon with a twisted shaft, and the twist is the functional part. It lets the spoon rotate between your fingers while the bowl travels around the inside of the glass, which is how a stirred drink gets cold without the ice being smashed about.

Our picks

Buy a stainless barspoon around 30 to 40cm long with a tight spiral and a teardrop or flat-disc end. Length should match your tallest mixing vessel — a spoon that does not reach the bottom of your mixing glass is useless, and one that reaches a collins glass covers everything.

The spiral should be tight and even along the whole shaft. A loose or partial twist does not roll smoothly between the fingers, which is the one thing the design exists for.

The bowl holds about 5ml, roughly a teaspoon, which makes it a usable measure for bitters, syrups and splits — one of the reasons it is worth having even if you never stir anything.

How to choose

Roll it between finger and thumb before buying if you can. A good spoon turns smoothly; a bad one has flat spots and catches.

Choose the end by what you will do with it. A plain teardrop weight balances the spoon and is the easiest to handle. A flat disc is used for layering a drink — pour over the disc to break the stream — and is a genuine convenience for a Black and Tan or anything layered. A fork end is for retrieving olives and cherries and is otherwise a nuisance. A muddler end is too small to muddle with properly.

Avoid anything with a plastic or resin handle, which cracks, and anything very thin, which flexes when you stir against ice. Weight in the hand is a good sign.

How to use it

Hold the shaft between your middle and ring fingers — not in a fist — with the thumb and index guiding. The spoon should rotate in place while the bowl runs around the inner wall of the glass, back of the bowl against the glass, staying in contact with the ice rather than cutting through it.

Stir smoothly for about 30 seconds for a spirit-forward drink, until the outside of the glass frosts. You are chilling and diluting, not agitating; the ice should rotate as a mass. There is more in how to stir a cocktail and on dilution in ice and dilution.

A clattering noise means you are chipping the ice, which over-dilutes the drink and clouds it. Slow down and keep the bowl against the glass wall.

As a measure, a level barspoon is about 5ml or a teaspoon — useful for the quarter-ounce of syrup or the splash of absinthe a spec calls for.

What to skip

Skip short barspoons under about 25cm, which will not reach the bottom of a mixing glass. Skip untwisted shafts entirely — a long teaspoon is not a barspoon.

Skip the muddler end as a reason to buy; it is too small and too hard to do real muddling with, and a muddled drink wants a proper muddler.

Skip ornate twisted-wire and novelty spoons, which bend. And skip the notion that you need three: one good spoon does everything.

Questions

Why is the shaft twisted? So it rotates smoothly between your fingers while the bowl runs around the glass.

What length should I buy? 30 to 40cm, matched to your tallest mixing vessel.

How much does a barspoon hold? About 5ml, roughly a teaspoon.

What is the flat disc for? Layering. Pour over it to break the stream so liquids float.

Why is my stirring noisy? You are chipping the ice. Keep the back of the bowl against the glass and slow down.