Bartending Techniques Part 1: Measuring Out Your Ingredients

Properly measuring out your ingredients is an essential first step to creating great drinks. Most recipes for cocktails that you'll find in books and online are listed in terms of ounces and parts of ounces but some websites, especially those catering to cooks instead of bartenders will list ingredients by cups, tablespoons, and teaspoons. Whether you're using measuring spoons or a jigger, measuring out your ingredients isn't difficult but does require some attention to detail. Because the recipes on this site (and most you'll encounter) are listed in terms of liquid ounces, we are going to mostly talk about using your jigger, but if you don't have one, here is a handy table of conversions for you.

Conversion Chart¹

1 barspoon....…….   1 teaspoon………..   ⅙ fluid oz………….    5 mL  
½ tablespoon.....    1½ teaspoons.....   ¼ fluid oz..............    7½ mL
1 tablespoon…....    3 teaspoons……..   ½ fluid oz………….    15 mL
1½ tablespoons.    4½ teaspoons.....   ¾ fluid oz.............    22½ mL
⅛ cup……………....    2 tablespoons…..   1 fluid oz…………...    30 mL

¼ cup……………....    4 tablespoons…..   2 fluid oz…………..    60 mL
⅓ cup……………....    5 tablespoons…..   2½ fluid oz……….    80 mL

½ cup……………....    8 tablespoons…..   4 fluid oz…………..    120 mL
⅔ cup……………....    10 tablespoons...   5 fluid oz…………..    160 mL
¾ cup……………....    12 tablespoons….   6 fluid oz…………..    180 mL
½ pint……………....    1 cup……………….....   16 tablespoons…    8 fluid oz………...    250 mL
1 pint………………...    2 cups…………….....   16 fluid oz………....   475 mL
1 quart……………...    2 pints…………….....   4 cups……………....    32 fluid oz……….    950 mL
1 gallon…………....    4 quarts………….....   8 pints……………....    16 cups…………….    128 fluid oz………..    3.8 liters

Using Your Jigger

Using your jigger isn't difficult and over time you'll get very fast at it, but first, take some time to get to know it. Know what any internal markings are indicating without having to look at the annotation and know the levels of commonly used measurements, even if they aren't specifically labeled on your jigger. For instance, if you're jigger doesn't have a marking for ¼ oz, pour a quarter ounce of water into it and memorize the level. It will be different for every jigger so it's god to pick a jigger you like and stick with it.

Before you pour a single ingredient, give some thought to the order in which you should add the ingredients to your shaking tin or stirring glass. Most recipes list the dominant alcoholic ingredient (the base) first, which makes sense when classifying recipes, but it's exactly opposite how you should generally work. A good best practice is to add your cheapest ingredients first. That way, if you make a mistake, you aren't wasting a bunch of expensive booze. This generally means adding sugars first, followed by citrus or cream, bitters, and then alcohol in ascending order of cost (this often, but not always, means adding the lowest volume alcohol first).

Another point to consider is the viscosity of the ingredients. Viscous ingredients have what's called holdback, the amount that stays stuck to the sides of the jigger when you pour. Some ingredients, like maple syrup have a high amount of holdback, others, like heavy cream, have some, and others, like vodka, have a negligible amount. You need to account for holdback in two ways. First, overpour beyond the recipe's given measurement slightly to account for the holdback. And second, consider adding your most viscous ingredient last or rinsing your jigger before measuring out another ingredient so that the measurement of your next ingredient after a highly viscous one isn't thrown off.

Many bartenders, especially those that use the hourglass-shaped jiggers, hold the jigger in their hand between their middle and pointer fingers or between their middle and ring fingers. This allows for easy manipulation back and fourth between the jigger shot and the pony shot, and if you have a steady hand, works quite well. I recommend, at least at first, that you place the jigger on a level surface so you can be sure of your pour. A slight tilt to a jigger held in the hand can throw a drink's proportions off.

Fill the jigger to the brim or to one of the internal measurements (if applicable). Unlike the accepted practice when reading scientific apparatus, the meniscus should be as level as possible, not concave, and it should not be convex either, meaning the pour should not be over the top of the jigger, held in place with the liquid's surface tension.

Once you've measured your liquid, dump it into your mixing tin or glass and measure the next ingredient. If measuring to an internal marking, like the 1/2 oz line in a 1 oz pony shot, it's perfectly acceptable to dump your second ingredient on top after measuring out your first; fill to the one ounce mark and pour both ingredients into your mixing vessel together. It saves a lot of time. 

I always rinse my jigger immediately after I'm done using it for a drink to ensure that the next substance measured won't be contaminated. You wouldn't want a $40 pour of single malt scotch to be adulterated by your well gin, for instance.

So that's it for jiggering, please let me know if you have any questions in the comments below. If you're following the lessons in order, the next one, on shaking your cocktails, can be found here. Happy mixing!

Notes

¹ The volume of a "standard" barspoon can vary widely. Make sure you know what volume yours holds if you intend on using it for measuring.