Best bar spoons

A bar spoon is three components and each has a job that is easy to miss.

• The bowl sits against the base and wall of the glass and pushes the ice column around. A rounded bowl tracks the curve of the glass; a flat disc can scrape.
• The twisted shaft is a bearing. Held lightly between thumb and two fingers, the spiral lets the shaft rotate in place while the bowl travels around the wall - which is the entire stirring motion.
• The weighted end is a counterweight. Mass at the far end carries momentum through each revolution and smooths out the jerk when your fingers change direction.

Understanding the shaft as a bearing is the thing that turns stirring from a chore into a motion. If you are holding the spoon in a fist and pushing, the twist is doing nothing for you - how to stir a cocktail covers the grip.

These are selections on published specification and construction rather than test results. The criteria, in order:

• Length options. The specification that matters most, and the one that makes brand secondary.
• Shaft twist quality. A well-cut spiral spins cleanly between the fingers. A shallow twist binds.
• End mass. Weighted ends smooth the rotation. Unweighted ones are lighter and jerkier.
• Bowl shape. Rounded bowls track the glass wall. Flat discs scrape and can chip a rim over time.
• Finish durability. Plated finishes wear at the twist first, because that is where fingers sit.

A spoon should clear the rim of your glass by roughly two inches with the bowl resting on the base. Too short and your knuckles end up in the drink; too long and the spoon fences with the rim on every revolution and the leverage feels wrong.

If you own both a small mixing glass and a tall collins, the honest answer is two spoons - they cost very little and one spoon that compromises between them is worse at both.

The end of the shaft comes in three broad styles and the differences are practical as well as aesthetic.

• Teardrop. A smooth weight. Best counterweight of the three, and usable as a light muddle for a sugar cube. The default recommendation.
• Disc or flat muddler. A small flat pad for crushing. Worse counterweight, better muddle. Reasonable if you make old fashioneds with sugar cubes regularly.
• Trident or fork. A small fork for spearing a cherry or an olive. Genuinely useful for garnish, a poor counterweight, and it is the style most likely to snag on a strainer spring.

Unweighted spoons exist and they are cheap. They work, and the stir is noticeably more effortful because nothing is carrying momentum for you. At the prices involved there is no strong argument for one.

Two habits shorten a spoon's life and both are common. The first is using it as a measure: a bar spoon holds roughly a teaspoon, which is a useful approximation for a dash of syrup and a bad way to measure anything you care about. A weighted spoon is also top-heavy in that role and drips.

The second is using it as a crowbar - prying a stuck tin, levering ice out of a mold. A twisted shaft is thin steel and it bends. It never bends back.

For measuring, use a jigger with interior lines: jigger sizes explained includes the bar spoon and teaspoon equivalents for small measures. For a stuck tin, the fix is a palm strike, covered in why shaker tins stick and leak.