OXO Steel Hawthorne Strainer

The Hawthorne strainer is the standard straining tool for shaken cocktails, and the quality range in this category is wider than most people expect. A bad Hawthorne strainer has a loose coil that lets ice chips and herb debris through, a gate that doesn't adjust properly, or prongs that sit too high and leave gaps between the strainer and the tin lip. OXO's version avoids all three of those failure modes at a price that makes it the default recommendation for anyone building out a first serious bar kit.

The coil is tightly wound and maintains its spring tension through repeated use — a characteristic that cheaper coils lose after a few months, forcing you to hold the strainer down manually during the pour. The gate slides freely along the guide pins and stays where you set it, letting you control flow rate without the gate creeping open under liquid pressure. Four prongs seat consistently against the flat edge of a shaker tin, creating a reliable seal even when you're pouring quickly or at a steep angle.

For home bartenders who double-strain most shaken drinks anyway — passing through a fine-mesh strainer into the serving glass — the Hawthorne functions primarily as a first-pass filter. In that role, the OXO is entirely sufficient. For bartenders who single-strain and want clean results, the tight coil does meaningful work catching what a loose spring would miss.