Cocktail Shaker and Its History

Before the Boston, French, and Cobbler, the cocktail shaker was invented in South America. But the cocktail shaker—as we know it today—became a staple of bars in the mid-19th century. Before that, the preferred method for mixing smooth drinks was tossing them back and forth between two glasses. Supposedly, the shaker evolved when someone (an innkeeper at a bar) came up with the idea of ​​mixing two glasses together. According to Stephen Viskay in “Vintage Barware,” “Noticing that the smaller mouth of one cup fit the other, he held the two together and shook them for a bit of a show.” The New York Times gives the first description of the modern shaker in an 1848 writing to George Foster: “All-metal cocktail shakers appeared several times after they became standard bar equipment by the mid-1850s. In his seminal 1862 “How to Mix Drinks,” Jerry Thomas was already instructing his readers simply to shake the drinks. David Wondrich, “Imbibe!” As he wrote in his book, “The vintage shaker of the 1840s was a beautiful invention. By the late 19th century, a wealth of absurdities about the simple cocktail shaker were being produced, overflowing with twists and terrible ideas. The French, Boston and cobbler shaker. A wealth of absurdities about the simple cocktail shaker were being produced, overflowing with twists and terrible ideas. The French, Boston and cobbler shaker. A wealth of absurdities about the simple cocktail shaker were being produced, overflowing with twists and terrible ideas. The French, Boston and cobbler shaker.