Bartenders have relied on barware to help create alcoholic drinks for spirit lovers in the United States for hundreds of years. The occupation of bartender really began in this country in 1832 when Congress passed the Pioneer Inn and Travel Law, which made it legal for innkeepers to make fine spirits available to people without requiring them to spend a night at the inn. With this law, the bar scene was born, and barware would never be the same from there on out.



What really helped the American tavern and its barware take off was the Revolutionary War. Immigrants from everywhere poured onto the shores, bringing with them their exotic drinks and the know how to mix them. The race to find and use the best of barware was now on. Everyone knows of the dozens of different types of glasses, the shakers, the knives and cutting boards for the fruit, the corkscrews, and lets not forget the towels that are used in bars and clubs. However, bartenders also use strainers, which get very little billing when it comes to outsiders thinking of the bar scene. Nevertheless, the strainer is a critical piece of equipment that a bartender knows he could not do his job without.

Strainers of course strain the drinks, for example cocktails, so that pulp, pieces of ice, and fruit pits dont make their way into a patrons glass. Most barware is made of stainless steel to make them easy for the busy bartender to take care of. Stainless steel is used also because it will not fall victim to the acidic uses that a bartender uses, such as lemon and lime juice.

Most bar strainers have a long handle attached to a flat spatula like paddle with prongs to help hold it to a glass. A coiled metal slinky like spring around the edge of the paddle keeps the strainer in place and will strain the liquid that passes through it, leaving behind the junk that no one likes to find in their otherwise smooth drink. The bartender holds it on top of the mixing glass, and strains the drink through as it pours into the serving glass.

There are many bar strainers that are made in different sizes to fit into different glasses. The mixing glasses that are usually used are larger than the serving glasses, allowing plenty of room for mixing a drink. However, trying to wield a giant tumbler while working with a hand held strainer, pouring it into the serving glass, and then doing it 200 more times in a night sometimes has bartenders wishing that strainers were easier to use. There are many different kinds of strainers, but one that shows a lot of promise is one which is a barware mixer and cocktail shaker in one with straining holes at the top to strain drinks through. It can be stressful for a bartender to try to find a strainer (and the perfect one to fit the glass) and try to handle all the barware at the same time, sometimes even needing to find a good hole to strain through for smaller drinks and hiballs.

The right strainer is a really useful piece of barware because it significantly minimizes stress, cuts the time it takes to make the drinks, and the frazzled bartender can make more drinks faster than using a traditional bar strainer. Barware today continues to advance, making the job of bartending easier, faster, and less stressful.