Why Buy a Stirrer?

Stir it up

Drink stirrers can contribute to a festive atmosphere, but they also help keep the ingredients of a mixed drink from separating. Along with cocktail mixers, ice scoops, colorful barware, and decorative napkins, drink stirrers give a host an opportunity to express his or her personality and fully incorporate a theme into a party or gathering. Drink stirrers take the urgency out of finishing a drink, allowing guests to enjoy their cocktails at a leisurely pace, stirring and remixing the beverage as needed. Also called a swizzle stick, the most popular kind of drink stirrers are made from plastic, with a flattened tab at one end and a point or ball at the other end that submerges in a drink.

Patents pending

The plastic version, usually a memento from a trip, emblazoned with the logo of a rustic watering hole, used to be made with glass. As early as the 1920's people used these stirrers in glasses of champagne. Collectors still buy and trade the antique glass stirrers that survive to this day, and manufacturers have created replicas of these utensils in recognition of their increasing popularity. Jay Sindler patented a thin, plastic, spear-like stick with a flat paddle-shaped handle at the end of Prohibition Era in 1933. Placed in cocktails to hold fruit, or simply to stir the drink, various forms of the device had long been in use, but Sindler's plastic design and company took off.

Aside from the plastic and glass varieties of drink stirrers, confectioners have invented sugar cane or rock crystal drink stirrers, meant to dissolve into a beverage and imbue it with sweetness. These edible sticks can also be used for non-alcoholic drinks as well, such as shakes, smoothies, and coffee.

To swizzle or to stratify?

As to the use of stirrers in cocktails, they serve primarily as a type of garnish or decoration, but they do have a functional value as well. A stirrer of some kind, be it glass, plastic, or metal, should always be added to a drink that is "built" in the glass– meaning that the ingredients are poured straight into the glass without the use of a shaker. Similarly, if some of the ingredients are mixed in a shaker and additional ingredients are layered on top, a drink stirrer should still be served in the glass. In short, this simple device can keep the ingredients of a mixed drink from separating into unpalatable layers, keeping a cocktail's flavors balanced as it is consumed.

More information on stirrers