What Is a Jigger and How to Use It?

A jigger is one of the essential home bar tools you shouldn't skip. Without it, you're pouring every liquid ingredient by feel, and what ends up in the glass can be a long way from what you'd get at a proper bar.

This article starts with what a jigger actually is, walks through its structure and the styles you'll come across, and covers how to use one in practice.

Jump to:

• What Is a Jigger
• How a Jigger Affects Your Drink
• Types of Jiggers
• Jigger vs Shot Glass
• How to Use a Jigger

What Is a Jigger

A jigger is a bar tool used to measure the liquid ingredients in a cocktail, like spirits, syrups, and citrus juice.

It usually has a double-sided design with a different capacity at each end, most commonly 2 oz (60 ml) and 1 oz (30 ml). That setup lets you simply flip it over when you need a different amount, with no swapping tools or rinsing in between, which keeps things fast and easy to work with.

Each end is also slightly wider at the opening and narrower where it meets the other side, which naturally gives the jigger its cinched, hourglass shape. The wider opening makes it easier to pour into and to see where the liquid sits, while the narrow waist in the middle gives your fingers something to grip when you flip it.

Some models also have clear markings inside for smaller measurements like 1/2 oz and 3/4 oz. That comes in especially handy when you're working through recipes with all sorts of different ratios.

How a Jigger Affects Your Drink

Take the Margarita, a classic, as an example. Without a jigger, pouring by eye can land you in a few different places.

• Harsh: Too much tequila, and the alcohol overpowers the crisp, refreshing quality the drink is built on, sometimes to the point of being hard to sip.
• Sharp: Too much lime juice, and the acidity keeps hitting your mouth and teeth, the kind that makes you wince.
• Cloying: Too much orange liqueur, and it drinks like spiked orange juice, heavy and sweet with the burn of alcohol behind it.
• Flat: And if you go light on something, once the ice does its work, you're left with what tastes like water with a hint of spirit or fruit.

That may sound a bit dramatic. Your drink probably won't turn out that badly, but it will be hard to match what you get at a proper bar. That's the gap a jigger closes. It helps you hit precise ratios while you mix, keeping the margin for error small, the taste balanced, and the quality consistent from one drink to the next.

Some people will say a measuring cup does the same job. It sounds reasonable, but a measuring cup isn't nearly as nimble. You can't quickly measure out a set 2 oz or 1 oz pour with one. And if you use the same cup in both your home bar and your kitchen, flavors carry over, which is how you end up with milk that tastes like liquor or syrup with a slick of oil floating on top.

Types of Jiggers

The two most common jiggers you'll see today are the Japanese style and the bell style.

Japanese Style

Tall and slim, this is the most popular style at the moment. Its defining traits:

• A narrower opening keeps the pour more focused, which makes it easier to aim into a mixing vessel.
• Even weight distribution makes it comfortable and nimble to flip between your fingers, though how much you notice this comes down to your own hands.
• A rolled rim, found on most models, lets the liquid flow out cleanly, cutting down on clinging and dripping. It also strengthens the edge, so it's less likely to dent or deform if it takes a knock or gets dropped.

Bell Style

With its wider opening, the bell style stands out for a few things:

• The larger diameter makes it easy to pour into, so you're less likely to spill over the side.
• A clear view of the interior markings, though the wider opening also means those lines sit closer together.
• Solid footing on the counter, so it isn't easily knocked over.

Less Common Styles

• Handled jigger: The extended handle gives you extra stability in the grip and keeps your body heat away from the liquid. It isn't for everyone, though. Some bartenders find holding the jigger directly more natural, and since the liquid only sits in the jigger for a moment, body heat has next to no effect anyway.
• Stepped jigger: A single-sided design, usually with a step every 0.5 oz up to 2 oz. The steps are visually distinct, which makes it easy to read, but you give up the convenience of having two sides.

You may also come across names like classic, American, and hourglass. These labels aren't used consistently, though. Different bartenders apply them to different styles, and some will even call a bell or a Japanese jigger a classic. So when you're shopping, going by the actual specs and shape is more reliable than going by the name.

Jigger vs Shot Glass

Jiggers sometimes get compared to shot glasses. That's not surprising, since both are common sights behind the bar, and some bartenders do use a shot glass to measure. But the two were designed for entirely different purposes.

A jigger is a tool made specifically for measuring in bartending. Its double-sided shape lets you switch directly between two common volumes, and models with interior markings cover a wider range of amounts on top of that, which keeps things quick and efficient while you work.

A shot glass, on the other hand, was traditionally meant for serving spirits. It holds a single volume, and while some specialty models do come with markings, they still don't give you the advantage of two sides. Drop one, and it can shatter.

So for mixing cocktails, we'd suggest reaching for a jigger. A shot glass works as a stand-in, but it falls short on both flexibility and precision.

How to Use a Jigger

There's no set rule when it comes to grip. You can hold the jigger by its waist between your index and middle finger, palm up or palm down, whichever feels natural. Or you can just pinch it between your thumb and index finger. What matters is that it feels comfortable and flips easily as you work.

Once you've settled on a grip, here's how it goes:

1. Bring the jigger close to your shaker tin, mixing glass, or whatever vessel you're mixing in, so you're not moving it a long distance and risking a spill.
2. Pour the spirit or other liquid ingredient into the jigger until it reaches the amount you're after.
3. Then pour what's in the jigger into the mixing vessel. Bring the jigger back upright cleanly at the end, which keeps it from dripping.

Somewhere along the way, you'll probably notice something: surface tension makes the liquid bulge slightly above the rim of the measurement.

Some people think this throws off their accuracy. In practice, it's just normal physics. The margin it introduces is tiny, and you likely wouldn't taste the difference anyway. Look at it another way: the markings themselves have thickness, so whether you line up with the top or the bottom edge of a line, you get a slightly different amount either way.

Small variances like this are simply unavoidable, and fussing over them every single time will only slow you down. So feel free to let it go. What does make a noticeable difference in taste is skipping the jigger and pouring by feel.