Every recipe is simply a ratio of different ingredients. The ratio of these parts matter. Therefore measuring ingredients is absolutely vital.
These days there is really only one style of jigger used by professionals…the vast majority of them anyway.
It basically looks like a double ended hourglass. This gives you 4 different measurements with one end being twice the size as the other, and two other measurements etched on the inside. Measurements in between these 4 are judged by eye.
Although there is essentially one design, this double ended jigger, there are a lot of variations on the same theme, the most commonly used being the Japanese style jigger – pictured below.
Jigger
Like with all the tools, personal preference comes into play when choosing a style, some prefer the ‘Bell’ shaped jigger while others prefer a shorter and wider v-shaped double ended jigger.
The bar spoon is used by almost all professionals. Some bartenders like to have a whole set of different measurement spoons (which you might think of for baking) that are especially useful for smaller measurements.
If you make cocktails for long enough you’ll want to get into batching cocktails too. Not only to make life easier when you have a group to entertain, but also because there are some drinks you can only make by batching.