THE DEBATE Jigger Vs. Free pouring
To be honest, a great debate is stirring among bartenders across the globe, about how exactly booze is poured into their mixing tins. On the merits of free pouring versus jiggering, and why the former, although more challenging it offers bartenders more, well, freedom.
Every drink measured, in every bar that serves craft cocktails across the globe, a debate simmers. Today, the term “free pour” refers to the style of pouring spirits or ingredients directly into a glass (mixing or otherwise), without a jigger to measure. Back when most bars didn’t stock a jigger, let alone refrigerate vermouth, siphoning spirits from bottle to glass was called, simply, “pouring.”
Thus the passion of the debate is, in part, derived from two types of schools of thought—old school & new school.
Jiggering didn’t come into vogue until of late when bartenders began digging up obscure 19th-century recipes that required a measuring tool to standardize odd, old-fashioned ratios. Soon, jiggering became the stylistic standard at cocktail bars, the flashing silver implement viewed as an emblem of precision is a satisfying twist of streamlined accuracy. Even to the layman, the jigger is a badge of legitimacy and expertise. After all, it’s the equipment by which we attempt to recreate the theatrics of cocktail lounges within our own homes.
But many bartenders like me still swear by the free pour, despite the obvious concerns (waste, inaccuracy, etc.). Of course, some drinks call for a jigger—like, say, a strangely portioned, seven-ingredient cocktail. But others like highballs and standard-ratio drinks can be made more efficiently, the argument goes, via the free pour. Why not free up a hand, and learn to pour accurately the first time around? Many advocates of free pouring will tell you that if a bartender lacks the skill to free pour, he or she has omitted an integral piece of knowledge from the craft.
As bartender and educator once put it, “Free pouring is the knife skills of bartending.”
The argument goes deeper, though, Jiggers can be inaccurate in their own terms. The jigger is seen as something of a safety blanket. While building a drink, (To avoid potential waste, most bartenders build ingredients in order of cost, cheapest ingredients in order of cost, cheapest ingredient first—e.g., simple syrup then citrus, liqueur and, finally, spirit.) As bartenders build drinks, they are able to count pours with the help of the metronome’s steady flash ( a steady sound at regular intervals ), eliminating estimation. “Technical Free Pouring,” is, a combination of understanding how ingredients act, how the body acts and how to master both by creating muscle memory via proper technique. “It’s a science, but you also have to practice. Bartending is a physical, athletic event. The only way to differentiate the counts for liquids of varying consistencies (even two different brands of gin will come out of the bottle at different speeds) is to develop a muscle memory for how each ingredient feels as it’s being poured. Not to mention, mastering all of this at high-volume speeds. In a way, many of the bartenders who practice free pouring are making a performative choice. It’s equal parts improvisation and theater mixed with a dedication to a collection of skills from another era. It’s mesmerizing to watch a seasoned bartender work three bottles at a time, juggling between the rail and the glass. With a flick of a wrist, patterns are created out of seeming chaos. And with this stylistic choice comes a certain freedom, one that allows for a deeply personal connection to creativity.
To tell you the truth I, Nathan Jacques a Bartender, Mixologist & now a Teacher has been in the middle of this conversation a million times, me being a lazy but stylistic bartender by heart, I will stand by the free pour method.