Jigger Skull 90ml, Matt Anti-Fingerprint Finish

For bartenders working with long specs who do not want to fill twice. 90ml is three ounces: the base of a tiki drink, a punch or a tall drink, or two 45ml measures in one go when building straight in the mixing glass.

The difference between a 60ml jigger and the Skull Jigger 90ml is not the capacity itself, it is the number of movements. On a drink that needs 90ml of base, a 60ml jigger is poured one and a half times: two fills, two pours, two chances to misjudge the level. With the 90ml it is one fill.

Multiplied over a night’s work, the sum shows. It is the same reason kitchens have large measures: not because huge quantities are needed, but because repeating a movement is where errors build up.

If you mostly make classics at 60ml, the same shape comes in the short version, and the two can be told apart by touch because the silhouette is identical and only the height changes.

The Skull Jigger 90ml has a matt surface, and on an open bar that is a practical choice before an aesthetic one. Polished steel picks up fingerprints with every grip, and a jigger that changes hands twenty times an hour becomes a map of smudges to wipe down.

Matt hides them and holds better too: the surface has more friction, and a tool wet with juice slips less. On a 100g object moving full of liquid, that is a safety margin you appreciate on the first busy shift.

Specifications

• Capacity: 90ml
• Height: 11cm
• Width: 5.7cm
• Depth: 5.7cm
• Weight: 100g
• Finish: matt, anti-fingerprint
• Dishwasher safe: no, hand wash only

The manufacturer rules it out explicitly. Industrial cycles run hot with alkaline detergents, and a worked matt finish repeatedly put through that clouds in patches: it spoils the very feature the jigger was chosen for.

Warm running water and a cloth, straight after use, and it is done in half a minute at the end of service. If you need a jigger to throw in the rack with everything else, go for a bare steel model with no treatment, and it is worth deciding that before buying.

The stated measure is level full: fill to the brim, not by eye. On a large capacity the relative error weighs more, because three or four millilitres lost out of 90 seem little but become a wrong proportion when the drink has only two ingredients.

Check the Skull Jigger 90ml once: fill it, pour into a measuring cylinder, see where the level falls. From then on the hand knows where to stop and you no longer think about it.

The first is style. A skull jigger is not neutral and does not suit every bar: it says something about the bar it sits on, and on a deliberately understated list it is out of place. The second is space: the wide silhouette takes more room in a drawer than a cone and does not stack. On a narrow station the right place is the bar top, on show, which is where it earns its keep anyway.

The more you buy, the less you pay: 4 pieces -5%, 6 -7%, 8 -10%, on the same item.

FAQ

How much does the Skull Jigger 90ml hold? 90ml level full, or three ounces: the base of a long drink or a tiki.

Is it dishwasher safe? No, the manufacturer rules it out. Hand wash, or the matt finish is spoilt.

How big is it? 11cm tall, 5.7cm wide and deep, 100g in weight.

How does it differ from the 60ml version? Only the capacity and 1.5cm in height: shape, finish and weight are the same.

Is it a stamped spirit measure? No. It is for cocktail specs, not a stamped measure for single spirits.

Dispatched from Rome, Italy. To compare jigger types and measures, see the jigger guide.