Let’s put your newfound learning into practice by following a recipe that uses egg white (or one of its alternatives, like aquafaba) and making two cocktails: One with egg white and one without it.

The two main objectives will be to produce the best foam and creamy texture you can, and to compare how different the cocktail is by not using the egg white.

Here are three recipes that use egg white, choose whichever you prefer:

First, let's make the cocktail with egg white:

Now quickly make the cocktail without egg white. Obviously, there’s no need to dry shake it this time. Add the drops of bitters into the shaker along the rest of the ingredients, if you wish.

Now let’s compare the two cocktails: The most obvious difference will be in terms of presentation. You have one cocktail that has a layer of foam on top, and along with your garnish, it might even look more inviting. When tasting them side by side, you will notice a clear difference in texture – the one without egg white will be mostly devoid of it, save for some slight aeration from your shaking. The one with egg white will feel soft and smooth.

The other noticeable difference will be that your choice of spirit will be more upfront in the cocktail without egg white. The one with it will most likely have a much more rounded taste. Softening the edges of a drink will make it more palatable to folks who aren’t used to cocktails or spirit-forward drinks. It’ll also come handy when you’re developing your own recipes and you feel you want to pull back on an aggressive flavor or spirit.