Wooden Muddler

So I had a fantastic caipirinha at a restaurant the other day, and made it my mission to recreate the drink at home. Limes, check, rum, check, the only thing I was missing was a muddler. I've used this several times since receiving it. I used it to muddle mint, limes and sugar for mojitos and caipirinhas, and to muddle mint for a mint simple syrup. It does it's job well, and is easy to hold. I can easily see how it will be a great kitchen asset, even for making things like herbal iced tea. It is also long enough to use in a cocktail shaker or pint glass. I hand wash it and it seems to be holding up well. I was looking for something simple and inexpensive and this fits the bill nicely.

It almost looks like lacquered wood in the photo but the one I got was just raw wood, possibly maple. It's a good size and weight and has no obvious flaws but after using it several times to make mojitos I think I'd do better with one that has a flat head rather than little teeth. If you're not careful you'll tear the mint into little bits with this one. It'll do for now but I might switch to the one that looks like a little baseball bat (KegWorks?) if I keep getting requests for mojitos.

I purchased this muddler to use as I am working on expanding my cocktail preparing skills. I really like it. The grooves on the bottom of the muddler are very effective for breaking up fruit in the bottom of a cocktail shaker and aren't difficult to clean. I have a flat-bottomed wooden muddler as well, and I prefer this one since it has the grooves on the bottom when I am muddling a mixture with fruit or berries. (Purists say to use a flat bottomed muddler with herbs so as as not to break them up, only to bruise them and release their flavors -- I haven't been able to notice a difference in flavor when using this one instead.) As with all my wooden kitchen tools, I clean this by hand instead of putting it in the dishwasher. The finish helps with the easy cleaning and there are no rough bits to catch on your hand.This is inexpensive and works very well. It's the item I reach for when making my cocktails. I would recommend it to a friend.

This muddler looks nice and works pretty well. I had hoped that the teeth/spikes on the muddling end would be an asset, but as it turns out then cause more problems than good, and aren't really needed. When I muddle things like ginger, the teeth on the muddler get gummed up with whatever I muddle, and it's hard to get that stuff back out to keep it in the drink I'm mixing. I've found myself using the back, flat end of the muddler instead of the intended end in order to not have to deal with that gumming-up.Still, it's a perfectly well built tool and good for lots of muddling functions. Whether the teeth are helpful or not probably depends on the fruit muddled.

The device worked very well for our first round of drinks, but promptly broke after the second usage. I won't bother with an exchange, there are too many other solid options in this category.

This muddler has a great feel to it, is very sturdy and is wooden (obviously) so it won't scratch or damage whatever glass you are using it with. The grooves on the bottom are deep and do a great job of muddling whatever it is that you are trying to muddle. I use this for making mojitos and it does a perfect job.

The shape of this muddler is good. It is nice and hefty, with a well textured face for muddling fruit. The first few uses confirm that it works well, fits in the hand well, etc.But after a few uses you start to notice something: it stinks.Here's why: it's made out of wood, and turned on a lath, with the wood grain oriented parallel to the long axis of the device. Which means that the end grain is at the muddler end of the handle. At first this isn't a problem, but once the finish wears a bit, the liquids and juices start to get drawn into the end by capillary action, and will remain there even when you was it carefully.And then they will start to go rancid and stink.Do yourself a favor: get a muddler where the surface that touches the fruit, is made of silicone, or plastic or stainless steel or something that doesn't absorb the juices.

The first picture looked like the muffler was stained, but the item I received was raw wood. So I felt misled. Works fine tho.