How David Burtka and Neil Patrick Harris Include Everyone at the Party — No Booze Necessary

To move beyond basic cranberry-and-sodas, a few essentials can help you with infusion and extractions to create more layered, complex flavors. Many of the recipes in Both Sides of the Glass feature herbs such as mint and basil, which add green and floral notes and a fresh olfactory burst to drinks.

Muddling — the process of gently bruising a plant to release its oils — is a classic bartending technique used in everything from mint juleps to mojitos, but Burtka believes that you don’t need anything special to do it well. At home, Harris often forgoes using a muddler and instead uses the back of a spoon. “It’s just easy,” Burtka said.

Citrus juice is also a common ingredient in drinks, as it lends them a bracing tartness. While you can use a citrus reamer or manual juicer, Burtka forgoes that, too.

“I’ll just take a fork,” he said. He runs it around the inside of a half-cut lemon or lime to squeeze juice through his palm, while using his hand to catch the seeds.

There is one classic piece of gear that, in his opinion, does step things up: a cocktail shaker. By vigorously chilling drinks as you mix, shakers help to emulsify and aerate ingredients. The couple prefers shakers without a built-in strainer, since in some cases strainers can lead to spillage. Harris loves the elegant Parisian-style shaker from Cocktail Kingdom, a store that also sells two of Wirecutter’s cocktail shaker picks. (We have a whole guide to the best barware, if you’re interested in expanding your kit.) “It’s old-fashioned, brass, and just looks really, really cool,” Burtka said.

Inspired by antique designs, this ergonomic and gold-plated and stainless steel shaker comes in two pieces and holds two drinks.

And while Burtka lamented the “pineapple juice with ginger syrup” he’d been offered when he first explored sobriety, the book includes a number of fruit-forward concoctions, as fruit can add acidity, complexity, and body to a mocktail.

A good blender is essential here for mixing up frozen drinks and making your own fruit purees or pineapple juice (just add pineapple and ice). Burtka swears by his Vitamix 5200, a high-performing blender that makes easy work of everything from smoothies to nut butters — and has been the top pick in our guide to the best blenders since 2012. “I love a Vitamix because it’s the best,” he says.

Top pick

This high-performance machine is worth the investment if, like Burtka, you use a blender regularly and don’t want to worry about taxing the motor.