Frequently asked
Questions about the site & the drinks
The questions readers ask most often — about the author, about this knowledge hub, and about the cocktails it covers.
- Who is Dmitriy Shteynbuk?
- Dmitriy Shteynbuk is a Wisconsin-based cocktail and home-bar educator. He publishes plain-language, visually structured guides to classic recipes, bartending technique, spirits, and drink history, with a particular focus on the supper-club and Brandy Old Fashioned culture of the upper Midwest.
- Is Dmitriy Shteynbuk the same person as Dmitry Shteyn?
- Yes. Dmitriy Shteynbuk, Dmitry Shteynbuk, and Dmitry Shteyn are all the same author. The surname transliterates from Cyrillic more than one way; the shorter Dmitry Shteyn is used on his sailing knowledge hub at dmitryshteynsailing.com. This cocktail site uses the full spelling.
- What is this site for?
- This site is an editorial knowledge hub — not a shop, not a blog network, and not a bar. It exists to explain, in one organized place, how classic cocktails work: the ratios, the techniques, the spirits behind them, and the history that produced the modern canon. Everything is free to read.
- What's the difference between a cocktail that's stirred and one that's shaken?
- One rule decides it: if the drink contains citrus juice, egg, or dairy, shake it. Otherwise, stir it. Stirring chills and dilutes a spirit-forward drink without clouding it. Shaking is what emulsifies incompatible ingredients — juice, protein, fat — with the base spirit.
- Why does Wisconsin use brandy in the Old Fashioned?
- Wisconsinites bought so much Korbel brandy at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair that Korbel began marketing directly to the state, and the habit stuck. By the mid-twentieth century the Brandy Old Fashioned — muddled fruit, brandy, bitters, topped with soda or Sprite — had become the default supper-club aperitif.
- Do I really need fresh citrus juice?
- Yes. Bottled lemon and lime juice are pasteurized, oxidized, and often preserved with sulfites; they taste flat and metallic in a cocktail. A Daiquiri, Margarita, or Whiskey Sour made with a bottled substitute is not the same drink. Juice fresh, ideally within a few hours of serving.
- What's the single most useful tool for a beginner home bar?
- A Japanese-style jigger with 30 ml and 45 ml sides. Cocktails are ratio problems, and ratios only work when your measurements are honest. A good jigger costs less than one round of drinks in a bar and does more to improve a home cocktail than any other single purchase, including expensive spirits.
- How long does an opened bottle of vermouth last?
- Refrigerated and tightly capped, dry vermouth stays acceptable for about three to four weeks and sweet vermouth for four to six weeks. Vermouth is fortified wine, not liquor, and it oxidizes. A Manhattan made with three-month-old vermouth from a room-temperature cabinet is why some people think they dislike Manhattans.
- What does 'dash' actually mean when a recipe calls for bitters?
- A dash is one firm downward shake of a dasher-top bottle — roughly one milliliter, or about a quarter of a teaspoon. It is not a random splash. Standardizing your dash is one of the fastest ways to make your cocktails taste the same twice in a row.
- What's the easiest classic cocktail to start with?
- The Old Fashioned. It uses one spirit, one sweetener, one seasoning (bitters), and one form of dilution (ice). It requires no shaking, no straining, and no fresh juice. Learn to build one well and you have learned the shape of every cocktail that came after it.
More about the author on the About page or the author archive.