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A jigger, a shaker and the right glass get used every time
Every cocktail starts with a measure. A recipe written in millilitres only works if the person pours millilitres, so the jigger is the tool used most, and the one most often poor in a cheap kit. Next comes a shaker for anything with citrus, then a glass that suits the drink.
Below is everything we sell for a home cocktail maker, set against the drink it makes. Each one has a Field Manual page on how it is used.
Cocktail gifts by what they make
Stainless steel jigger, 25ml and 50ml
- What it is for
- Measuring every spirit, juice and syrup
- Who it suits
- Anyone who makes cocktails
- Field Manual page
- Jigger
Stainless steel cocktail shaker, 550ml
- What it is for
- Shaken drinks: sours, the Daiquiri, anything with citrus
- Who it suits
- Someone who makes sours; the strainer is built into the lid
- Field Manual page
- Cobbler shaker
Crystal ICE hiball, 42cl
- What it is for
- Long drinks: spiced rum and cola, ginger beer serves
- Who it suits
- Someone who drinks highballs
- Field Manual page
- Highball glass
Hiball glass, 38cl
- What it is for
- Storm & Spice and other long drinks over cubed ice
- Who it suits
- Someone who wants a plainer tall glass
- Field Manual page
- Highball glass
Club ICE tumbler, 26cl
- What it is for
- Short drinks over a large cube, such as The Old Standard
- Who it suits
- Someone who stirs, or sips neat
- Field Manual page
- Rocks glass
Contemporary mixer glass, 31cl
- What it is for
- Muddled drinks and short mixed serves
- Who it suits
- Someone who muddles mint or fruit
- Field Manual page
- Muddler
Hurricane cocktail glass, 42cl
- What it is for
- Tall drinks with fruit and plenty of ice
- Who it suits
- Someone who makes tiki-style drinks
- Field Manual page
- Hurricane glass
Handled drinking jam jar, 46cl
- What it is for
- Punch and long drinks outdoors
- Who it suits
- Someone who hosts in the garden
- Field Manual page
- Drinking jam jar
Bar blade
- What it is for
- Opening capped bottles of mixer
- Who it suits
- Someone who builds highballs from bottled ginger beer or cola
- Field Manual page
- Bar blade
Stainless steel spirit stones, set of four
- What it is for
- Chilling a neat pour without diluting it
- Who it suits
- Someone who sips neat between cocktails
- Field Manual page
- Spirit stones
Stainless steel hip flask, 150ml
- What it is for
- Carrying a measure outdoors
- Who it suits
- Someone outdoors as often as at home
- Field Manual page
- Hip flask
The gift pack
- What it is for
- Expedition Spiced Rum with a hiball, a jigger and a slate coaster, boxed
- Who it suits
- Someone starting a home bar from nothing
- Field Manual page
- Highball glass
Gift card: £25, £40, £75 or £100
- What it is for
- Their own choice from the shop
- Who it suits
- Someone whose kit you cannot see
- Field Manual page
- None
| Gift | What it is for | Who it suits | Field Manual page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stainless steel jigger, 25ml and 50ml | Measuring every spirit, juice and syrup | Anyone who makes cocktails | Jigger |
| Stainless steel cocktail shaker, 550ml | Shaken drinks: sours, the Daiquiri, anything with citrus | Someone who makes sours; the strainer is built into the lid | Cobbler shaker |
| Crystal ICE hiball, 42cl | Long drinks: spiced rum and cola, ginger beer serves | Someone who drinks highballs | Highball glass |
| Hiball glass, 38cl | Storm & Spice and other long drinks over cubed ice | Someone who wants a plainer tall glass | Highball glass |
| Club ICE tumbler, 26cl | Short drinks over a large cube, such as The Old Standard | Someone who stirs, or sips neat | Rocks glass |
| Contemporary mixer glass, 31cl | Muddled drinks and short mixed serves | Someone who muddles mint or fruit | Muddler |
| Hurricane cocktail glass, 42cl | Tall drinks with fruit and plenty of ice | Someone who makes tiki-style drinks | Hurricane glass |
| Handled drinking jam jar, 46cl | Punch and long drinks outdoors | Someone who hosts in the garden | Drinking jam jar |
| Bar blade | Opening capped bottles of mixer | Someone who builds highballs from bottled ginger beer or cola | Bar blade |
| Stainless steel spirit stones, set of four | Chilling a neat pour without diluting it | Someone who sips neat between cocktails | Spirit stones |
| Stainless steel hip flask, 150ml | Carrying a measure outdoors | Someone outdoors as often as at home | Hip flask |
| The gift pack | Expedition Spiced Rum with a hiball, a jigger and a slate coaster, boxed | Someone starting a home bar from nothing | Highball glass |
| Gift card: £25, £40, £75 or £100 | Their own choice from the shop | Someone whose kit you cannot see | None |
Single glasses, the jigger, the shaker, the hip flask and the spirit stones sit in gifts under £20. A pair of glasses fits under £50, and the gift pack is under £100.
Buy for the drinks they make most
Most home cocktail makers lean one way: shaken, stirred or long. The kit for each is different.
Shaken drinks need a shaker that seals
Anything with citrus juice, egg white or cream is shaken, because shaking chills, dilutes and aerates the drink at once. Our cocktail shaker comes in three pieces: a 550ml body, a lid with the strainer built in, and a cap. Nothing else is needed to strain the drink into the glass. With the jigger alongside it, the Daiquiri and every sour are within reach.
For stirred drinks, give the glass
Drinks made of spirit, sugar and bitters, such as The Old Standard, are stirred, so they stay clear. Stirring takes a mixing glass and a bar spoon, and we sell neither. What we can offer someone who stirs is the glass the drink is served in: the Club ICE tumbler has a heavy base and room for one large cube. Stirring vs shaking explains which drinks take which.
Highballs need a tall glass and a bottle opener
A highball is a spirit and a mixer over ice, and the glass does much of the work. The Crystal ICE hiball holds 42cl: a full glass of ice, 50ml of spirit and 150ml of mixer. The 38cl hiball glass is the plainer tall glass, made for Storm & Spice. The bar blade opens the small capped bottles of mixer, which stay livelier than a large bottle opened twice. What to mix with spiced rum covers the mixers and the ratio.
Muddled drinks and punches need sturdy glass
The contemporary mixer glass is a 31cl drinking glass with a wide rim and a sturdy base, wide enough to muddle mint or fruit in. Despite the name, it is a glass to drink from, not a mixing glass to stir in.
For tall drinks heavy with fruit and ice, the hurricane glass is the shape the Hurricane is named for. For a crowd in the garden, the handled jam jar holds a generous measure of punch with its ice, and the handle keeps a cold drink comfortable to hold.
A tool worth giving has weight, marked measures and a seal
Weight comes first. A heavy base keeps a glass steady while something is muddled in it. Solid stainless steel stays as it is, where a plated tool can flake once the plating wears through.
Measures should be marked in millilitres. British recipes, ours included, are written in 25ml and 50ml. A jigger marked only in ounces turns every recipe into arithmetic, and a fluid ounce is nearer 30ml than 25ml. Our jigger is 25ml at one end and 50ml at the other, in silver, gold, gunmetal or copper.
Anything that holds liquid has to seal. A shaker that leaks when it is turned over sprays the drink across the kitchen, and a flask that weeps leaves rum in a coat pocket. Our shaker seals without leaking.
Skip the novelty kit and the oversized glass
A boxed kit of a dozen tools looks generous, but a home cocktail maker reaches for the same three or four. The jigger is often the weak point: thin pressed steel, measures in ounces, sometimes no marks at all. A dented jigger no longer measures what it says.
Oversized glassware is the other trap. A glass far bigger than the drink either looks half empty or gets topped up with extra mixer, which drowns the spirit. A highball of around 40cl holds the standard 50ml and 150ml over a full glass of ice, and that is all a long drink needs.
Spirit stones turn up in cocktail kits, but they do not belong there. A cocktail needs the water that melting ice adds. The spirit stones are for the neat pour between cocktails: four stainless steel stones in a case, frozen and dropped into the glass, which chill a spirit without watering it down.
A hip flask is the gift for someone who drinks outdoors
A flask carries one measure further than any bar: a hill walk or a cold touchline. Ours is 150ml of stainless steel in black or silver, with a leak-proof seal. It arrives in a satin-lined gift box with a funnel for filling, so it needs no wrapping.
Rinse it with warm water once it is empty and let it dry open. The hip flask page covers care and capacity, and the flask itself is in hip flasks.
If you cannot see their bar, give the card or the pack
If you cannot see what is already on their shelf, the gift card comes in £25, £40, £75 or £100, with no other amounts. It is emailed on the day you choose, up to 90 days ahead, with your message. The person spending it must be 18 or over.
If they are starting from nothing, the gift pack boxes Expedition Spiced Rum with a Crystal ICE hiball, a 25ml and 50ml jigger and a slate coaster. The first drink can be made the evening it is opened.
For the bottle rather than the kit, how to choose a rum gift matches the rum to the way they drink it.
Send it direct, and send the message separately
Enter their address at checkout and the parcel goes straight to them. Deliveries are age-verified, so the person receiving it must be 18 or over and may be asked for photo ID by the courier.
Orders placed before 3pm on a working day are dispatched the same day and delivered within one to two working days. Orders placed at the weekend are dispatched on the next working day.
No printed note goes in the parcel, so send your message another way. A gift card carries one in its email. The Christmas last order date goes on the delivery page once it is set.