What Does It Really Mean To Muddle A Drink?

When ordering a cocktail that uses sugar or herbs for sweetness and flavor, it's common for bartenders to use a technique known as muddling. Old Fashioned cocktails and mojitos are high up on the list for being muddled along with mint juleps. While it might be best practice in the bartending world and commonplace even in your home bar, what does it really mean to muddle a drink?

Muddling a drink involves gently mashing fruit, sugar, herbs, or spices in a beverage to release their natural flavors. By gently breaking down the solid components of the drink, you can unlock a burst of flavor, whether it's from fresh fruit or herbs (sugar can be a helpful abrasive and sweetener here). To do all this, you'll likely want a tool called a muddler, like this highly-rated stainless steel OXO variety. That said, if you find yourself in a pinch, you can use a common kitchen tool like a mason jar to muddle ingredients. A dedicated muddler typically looks like a small baton and should be long enough to reach the bottom of your glass. 

Using a wooden muddler is often preferred because it treats delicate ingredients with care, though be sure to focus on how much force you apply and for how long no matter the material. Over-muddling can result in bitterness, compromising the drink's overall flavor in a mistake that's often made when making mojitos. Instead of crushing or breaking apart ingredients, muddling bruises ingredients in a more delicate, subtle process.

To muddle a drink you'll need to first place the solid ingredients like fruit or herbs in the bottom of the glass along with any sugar or seasonings the recipe or your taste requires. With the muddler, lightly press and twist. Take care with this step is important since you do not want to pulverize or crush the ingredients into oblivion, especially if you are using fresh herbs like mint or basil. When you crush these rather delicate leaves, you destroy their veins which contain chlorophyll. This is a harmless compound that makes plants green but can be excessively bitter in your glass.

This potential for getting overly aggressive and ruining a drink means that many bartenders are dead-set against muddling. But so long as you don't have an overly heavy hand when using a muddler, it can still be a great way to bring added flavor to drinks. It's even becoming more and more popular with non-alcoholic drinks. Without high-solubility alcohol to help extract flavors, ingredients like fruits and herbs may not infuse into a drink as effectively, so having a little boost from muddling can make a mocktail go from drab to fab.