June
25
2009
By
The Staff
of Valet.
 

Mix Master

In 1938, Fred Waring introduced his company's new innovation, a home blender that shredded ice and mixed drinks with ease, thanks to the signature cloverleaf carafe. It's that speciality shape that creates the swirling vortex responsible for unmatched margaritas and whipped daiquiris. By 1954, the company had sold more than a million of them and the Waring Pro Blender remains an essential kitchen implement that's not only good looking, but built to last. Any thoughts of frou frou drinks will be silenced by the muscular 390-watt motor (which sounds more like a heavy-duty drill than a kitchen gadget). Waring once famously remarked to a St. Louis reporter, "This mixer is going to revolutionize American drinks." And he was right. Waring Pro $115

Take your liquor neat? You'll appreciate the benefits of a 2-inch ice sphere in your highball glass. Top-shelf orbs are hand-carved, of course, but a new set of at-home trays makes them in the freezer. $16, MoMA store.

  • Fred Waring mixing a drink in a Waring Blender on top of his travel bar trunk, 1940.
 

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