There are several must-have tools for every bar, whether in your home or in a business. A muddler falls into this category.

If you are a seasoned bartender, then you are experienced with different muddlers and sizes and might have had your knuckles scraped on the inside of a shaker with a muddler that is too short.

You may have also had experience with muddled herbs tasting bitter because they were not crushed properly. The right muddler can make mixing drinks a pleasure and improve efficiency and taste.

A cocktail muddler is used in drinks that require crushed, fresh ingredients like mint, fruit, sugar cubes, and ice. The muddler is placed inside the mixing glass or shaker, and the bartender pushes into the ingredients much like a mortar and pestle crushes pills into powder.

A good muddler will release the flavor without adding any bitterness and is comfortable to use. certain recipes will call for muddling in the shaker; but if your muddler is short, that could cause your fingers to be painfully scraped along the sides or make you unable to muddle at all.

The muddler for drinks available on the A Bar Above website is a long-necked muddler that comes in solid beechwood with a long, ergonomic handle for comfortable use. This beautiful wooden muddler comes in natural wood, which is unfinished so there is no chance of any chemicals getting into your drink.

Another feature of this wood muddler is the long ergonomic handle and flat head. The long handle ensures that it is able to muddle in any shaker without you scraping your knuckles along the edges but is comfortable enough to be held securely while muddling in a shorter mixing glass.

The flat head of the muddler is perfect for lightly smashing herbs so you get the essence but not the bitterness.

There is a plastic muddler available as well, which is solid and has a nice feel and weight to it. The plastic muddler is made with food-safe high-end polypropylene, so there is no chance of shards or plastic contaminating the food you are muddling.

When it comes to tools for making drinks, the muddler is a necessity. If you ask any seasoned bartender, a muddler can enhance the flavor of your cocktail and create the unique taste of some drinks that require crushed sugar or fruit.

The muddler is a great-looking tool and is not expensive. When you are looking at outfitting your bar, there are other tools that you will want to get to go with your muddler.

A shaker is where you put all of your ingredients before shaking them all together and pouring the liquid into a serving glass. Shakers can be tall as in the Boston shaker, so a long muddler is perfect for those recipes that call for crushed fruit, herbs, or ice.

Some shakers come with strainers in them, but it is always a good idea to have a strainer on-hand for those drinks that need to be as smooth and chunk-free as possible.

Your recipe may require fresh juice from limes, lemons, or oranges. Depending on the level of effort you want to put in and the amount of juiced fruit you need, you can get a squeezer or a juicer.

A squeezer or press is a manual appliance that requires the user to squeeze the juice out of the fruit themselves. This can be hard if you have arthritis or a hand injury, but it’s good for smaller quantities of liquid.

A juicer is more expensive but does most of the work for you. A high-end juicer can take the whole fruit and separate all the parts from the juice with just the press of a button.

A strainer is particularly helpful if you have to muddle herbs or fruit because it will ensure extra little pieces won’t get in the final drink. The most popular strainer is the Hawthorne strainer, which will create a seal with the glass or shaker tin so there is little spillage.

A fine mesh strainer can also be used with the Hawthorne to ensure the smoothest possible cocktail, filtering out the littlest seeds, pulp, and ice shards.