What can I say about the FlairCo Bottles? Whatever I say here won’t quite capture how revolutionary these bottles were for the sport of flair bartending. When I first started to learn to flip bottles, I saw these online and thought, “Why spend $25 on some plastic bottles when I can just bring home empties from work and practice with those.” That worked for a few months. Then one day, while I was trying to figure out a 2 bottle move, the two empty bottles I’d been using collided in mid-air and shattered into a million pieces, leaving broken glass all over my living room floor. No joke, I went directly to my computer and ordered 2 of these before I went back to spend an hour picking up broken glass before my roommate got home.

The FlairCo practice bottles were the first flair bartending practice bottles of their kind on the market and – while there are some other brands available now – none of them quite compare to the original. These things are nearly indestructible. I’ve owned about a dozen of them in my 14 year career – half 1 Liters and half 750mls – and I’ve only ever had one of them chip apart enough on the bottom that I decided to retire it.

Once you’ve decided/realized that these are worth your money, the two questions you need to figure out are: 1) what size do I need? and 2) how many should I get? As for size, they come in 1 Liter and 750 ml. Here’s my honest advice on which size to get: if you are a beginner to flair bartending (12 months or less) get a 1 Liter. A 1 Liter bottle is most like everything that you use behind your bar and this practice bottle will be most similar to what you generally use – it will be the best practice bottle for you. However, if you are getting on in your flair moves and are looking to practice some more challenging moves, consider getting a 750 ml bottle – it’s what 99% of flair bartenders ultimately end up using. The reason for this is that 1) the smaller 750 ml bottle will fit very nicely into the shaker tin, allowing you to practice a whole bunch of sweet new moves, and 2) if you are one of the lucky few who works in a full flair bar, the 750 ml bottle is the standard size bottle used in most flair bars. For 80% of the people reading this – especially if you’ve never owned a practice bottle – the 1 Liter FlairCo practice bottle is going to be your best bet. That being said, as you progress with your skill level you will ultimately want to move into using 750s. If you can afford to purchase one of each size, do so, and enjoy the versatility that you will have as you move forward.

To answer the question “How many should I get?”: for most people, the answer is just one. Most people who start get just one practice bottle. However, sooner or later, they end up buying 2 or 3 more, often of the 750 ml size. So, if you can afford to get one of each, cool. And if you’re already rocking the bar and can land some pretty serious moves, consider getting 2, 3, or even 4 of the 750 ml bottles. As the flair lessons progress on this site, we’ll eventually be using 2 bottles, 3 bottles, and even 4 bottles. As a juggler, we have a saying: “You should always own one more of an object than you’re capable of juggling.” If you can juggle 3 balls, better to have 4 so that you can learn to juggle 4. If you can juggle 4 torches, good idea to have 5 so you can practice learning to juggle 5. For flair bartending, it’s no different. If you have the means, consider getting at least two of whatever size you are currently working with (1 Liter or 750 ml) and be glad that you have the extra tools to practice with.

This is not a sales pitch but rather advice from my real-life experience. Once you get your hands on a FlairCo bottle, I promise you will not only flair safer but with more confidence and your skills are going to increase so much you’ll wonder how you ever flipped bottles without one.