Double straining

Double straining means pouring a cocktail through two strainers at once, typically a Hawthorne strainer held against the shaker tin and a small fine mesh strainer held over the glass underneath it. The combination catches both large ice cubes and the tiny shards, seeds and pulp that a single strainer lets through.

It matters most for drinks that are shaken hard with muddled fruit, herbs, or fine ice, since shaking breaks ice into small fragments that a Hawthorne's spring coil cannot fully block. Skipping the second strainer on those drinks often leaves a cloudy layer of ice dust floating on top or gritty bits of muddled fruit at the bottom of the glass.

Not every drink needs it. Stirred, spirit-only cocktails poured through a julep strainer are usually clear enough without a second pass, and double straining a simple highball just slows service for no benefit. A common mistake is using a mesh strainer with holes too large to actually catch fine ice, so it is worth checking the mesh size before buying rather than assuming any fine strainer will do the job.