‘It’s That Recoil For Me’: Dallas Bartender Says They Always Shake Drinks Up High. Then He Demonstrates Why

As every bartender worth their salt knows, cocktail-shaking is a fine art. But not for the reason you might think. Indeed, in a TikTok that has now amassed 58,800 views, Dallas, Texas-based bartender Yobani (@yobbbani) shared the one golden rule of cocktail-making: always shake drinks up high. In a 15-second video set to “Wait (The Whisper Song),” he demonstrates exactly why.

While on-screen text reads, “Why bartenders shake cocktails up high,” he starts by shaking the drink at a high angle. But then, he begins shaking at a lower angle.

Unfortunately, the optics are clear: shaking the drink at a low angle made the bartender look like he was engaging in some public indecency. With every angle he tried, the visuals looked worse. Needless to say, in this clip, actions speak louder than words.

So, it’s a good thing that there were plenty of words in the comments. “Wait a damn min,” one wrote.

“That recoil is insane,” another added.

A third admitted, “Every time you looked back had me rolling.”

“Well,” a fourth put. “That explains a lot.” A fifth asked, “What’s all that movement back there?” followed by the eyes emoji.

Is It Professional To Shake Cocktails High?

It goes without saying that shaking drinks low down like Yobani doesn’t look particularly appropriate. However, over on the r/bartenders subreddit, there’s a lot of debate over whether it’s wrong to shake cocktails at a high angle. In the post, OP shared how they got a new boss who told them that shaking up high was “unprofessional.”

“I’ve been told shaking above your shoulder is unprofessional by this guy and should always shake from the chest down,” they said.

However, bartenders in the comments failed to come to a consensus.

“I was taught to always shake above the shoulder because we are in the entertainment industry,” one said. “It’s not a professionalism thing, it’s just an ergonomics thing,” another wrote. “You get better leverage holding the shaker down closer to your body, less chance of it slipping and hitting something you don’t want it to hit, less stress on your shoulder, more control over the mass in general.”

Ultimately, a third Redditor summed it up when they said, “He’s the thing about bartenders, we all think we know the best way and what’s the most professional, and at the same time, we’re all full of s—. Ignore the opinions you don’t like and steal the ideas you do.”

While this situation is unresolved, it highlights one important message: Shaking a drink in a way that makes it look like public indecency generally isn’t the best idea.

BroBible reached out to @yobbbani via TikTok.