Cocktail Shaker Adventures

Several years ago a couple of friends of mine gave me a cocktail shaker as a gift. We celebrated it the proper way, with a cocktail party where I learned how to make Tequila Sunrises, Cosmopolitans, Martinis and a few other drinks. Since then I usually use it for my occasional (well, more like weekly) Martini.

The cocktail shaker is a classic one, with three parts like in the picture below. For reasons I will never know, one day I found the parts welded together. No matter how much force I applied, I was unable to take them apart. Granted, I am not the strongest man in the world but all my attempts to pry the three pieces apart failed. Turning one into three became my quest and my adventure.

My first attempt was the traditional run the tap hot and let the water pour on the lid. That didn't work, not even after holding it under the tap for five minutes; the three were still one.

My second attempt was a soaking marathon. Filled some tupperware with water, stuck the shaker inside and let it lie there for a whole week, hoping that whatever had glued the parts together would dissolve. When the week was over it was back to the hot water tap with the same result as the first attempt.

Heat and water didn't solve it, so my next step was cold. I stuck the shaker in the fridge overnight and in the morning it was back to the tap. Same result as before, the three were still one.

It was time for drastic, maybe even foolhardy, measures. I filled a pan with water, put it on the stove and stuck the shaker inside, holding it underwater with a wooden spoon. After a few minutes I heard a loud bang and declared partial success: the two halves were separated, though the lid was still attached. The one had become two.

Given the power of boiling water, I decided it was time for one last attempt at separating the lid from the body. Back into the freezer it went, for what was supposed to be a few hours but turned out to be a few days because I completely forgot about it. So, when I remembered, I put another pan with water on the stove and set it to boil.  Got the top half out of the freezer,  grabbed it with oven mittens and stuck the lid in the boiling water. After a minute or so I took it out, dried it with a paper towel and gave it a good twist. Miracle of miracles, the lid came out and the one were again three.

Of course I celebrated this success with a Martini.