The shaker everyone in the world wants is back, and it’s even sexier than last time.
Many great things have come out of Australia – the Black Box Flight Recorder, Pacemaker, Kylie, Coopers Beer, AC/DC, Electric Drill, Don Bradman and, of course, The Imperial Shaker.
The Imperial Shaker brings together the technological skills of the electric drill, the rock and roll stylings of AC/DC, the slick ease of Don Bradman and the thighs of Kylie into one bundle of joy.
Back in 2014 we brought you news from Australia of the release of the Imperial Shaker. It’s fair to say you lot got very excited, as did the rest of the world with machines shipped to some of the planets greatest bars, and getting inducted into the Museum of the American Cocktail in New Orleans.
For the last six years the shakers have been providing fun, and invoking massive jealousy, throughout the industry and now the MK2 Imperial Shaker, Champion and Sling Shaker’s are here so let’s find out all about them with the man behind the machine, Jason Crawley.
Jason moved from Blighty to Oz 10 years ago but still holds his family heritage very dear, a heritage which provided the inspiration for the Imperial Shaker designs. His Grandad, Bill Crawley, helped to create the crankshaft on the Merlin XII engine which powered the iconic Spitfire aircraft, and the shaker-tins are exact replicas of the Tank Buster shells dropped from the planes.
Whilst some elements, such as the shaker-tins have stayed the same, as Jason explains, the MK2 takes from lessons learnt:
‘It is always the case when it comes to the history of design, the MK2 is always-always better. The Imperial Shaker MK1 was a challenge in many ways to deliver, as it was the first of its kind and we were in new territory the whole way with balance, weight, shaking-cadence and all its hand-made components.’
So, the MK2 has some new design tweaks and here is where Jason gets his engineering geek on and I smile and nod, pretending I have the first fucking clue what this all means:
‘The shake shape has changed from the elliptical movement to a more aggressive up and down action. The shake movement has also increased 100mm so it is quite a violent action to say the least. The body is three times lighter thanks to now being cast in aluminium and not cast iron.
He’s also lost a leg. MK1 had 4 legs, but again weight saving and increased stability with 3 legs helped keep it planted and balanced for your cranking pleasure. It is now certainly possible for it to be used at events and be more mobile. I guess you could put wheels on it!
The drive-train has evolved from industrial rubber band drive to a gold bling-bling chain drive – which helps support direct drive and hardwearing limitless power.’
I like trains.
The Imperial Shaker is an impressive beast but the beast nature of it made it too big for some venues in terms of both physical size and cost. So welcome to the ‘Champion Stealth Shaker’ a two shaker bench top iteration. Due to new gearing and a liquid bath of lubrication (which interestingly is also on AC/DC’s rider these days) the machine runs much quieter and smoother than before, making it perfect for smaller bars.
I get the feeling it is the Sling Shaker which has got Jason most excited however:
‘At the top of the food chain is the Sling Shaker. We have taken a tip from Volkswagen’s Bugatti Veyron here by a joining of high performance V8 engines. Unlike Bugatti’s two engines we have formed three engines to create a Mexican Wave shake – of sorts. This is the Imperial Shaking device which I created for the all new Raffles Hotel in Singapore – along with my Grenadine*.’
Whether you read this or just looked at the pretty pictures there is no doubt you are already working out where it would fit in your bar. As well as being a beautiful bit of design they are designed first and foremost to be used and are built for reliability and longevity. Expressions of interest can be fired to jason@crawleys.com.au
After all:
‘The ambition is to have these devices adorn the best bars in the world and thrill a new generation of people who have got used to a very simple iphone aesthetic – with a sort of Orient Express romance.’
Anyone that gets their hands on one of these magnificent machines please let us know so we can come and have a play. Thanks.
*In case you were wondering, yes that was Jason getting a plug in for his syrups which, hopefully, will be available in the UK once this pandemic fuck fuckery is over.
