Bartending Basics: Buliding and Rolling Techniques

"Building" a drink means the drink is built in the glass (instead of mixing tin) as follows: glass, then ice, then liquor(s), then mix (or mixes), then garnish and a straw or stir stick.

When a drink is built, all of the alcohol will be at the bottom of the glass and will need to be stirred by the drink recipient. While this may be advisable for drinks like a rum and coke (where carbonated soda is involved), my own bartending practice is to shake drinks that have more than one type of alcohol plus juices and/or sour mix in a mixing tin so that my customers are served a well-mixed drink. To do this, I build the drink in the glass first. Then, I pour the entire contents of the glass (including the ice) into my mixing tin, shake, and pour the contents of the mixing tin back into the glass. Then, I garnish the glass/drink.

You can also "roll" the drink instead of shaking it. Rolling simply means pouring the drink from the glass into the mixing tin (or another glass), then from the mixing tin back into the glass, and repeating this several times. I would recommend this method for drinks that contain soda as a mix ingredient.