- Apéritif
- an alcoholic drink that is taken as an appetizer before a meal
- Back
- a ‘back’ is a small glass of something which accompanies a drink
- Bar Spoon
- a long mixing spoon which often has a lemon zester or something similar on the end
- Bitters
- a herbal alcoholic blend which is meant to be added to other cocktails to enhance
flavor
(e.g. a Manhattan is rye, sweet vermouth and a couple dashes of bitters).
See Our Page About Bitters
- Blend
- To mix up ingredients and ice in an electric blender. Depending on where you live, these could be called frozen drinks or blended drinks. This is different from a distillers or bottlers definition of blend, as the distiller
or bottle may combine different batches or barrels of a spirit, and this is called "blended"
- Build
- A bar term meaning to make a drink, starting with ice and then 'building' the drink by adding the other ingredients
- Burnt
- Refers to martinis with Scotch. Some recipes call for 1:2 scotch to gin, While others are just a drop of a peaty single malt swirled around the glass and then dumped out, and the gin is added.
Note: a burnt martini is technically not a martini as it doesn’t contain vermouth
- Call Drink
- Refers to when the customer orders a drink by giving both the brand and name of the liquor and the name of the mixer
- Chaser
- Anything that is consumed quickly after a shooter or straight (neat) shot of alcohol
- Chill
- Refers the process where a glass is chilled by putting ice and then water to a glass and letting it sit for a minute or two, use the time to mix the drink in a shaker, or gather the
ingredients. Pour out the contents of the glass and strain the drink into the chilled glass. This provides a cool drink, and preventing it from getting watered down from ice
- Cocktail
- A mix of alcohol and/or liqueurs combined with a mixer (like soda or juice) and often shaken
- Cointreau
- A brand name of a triple sec. Cointreau has more alcohol than triple sec
- Cooler
- An alcoholic-based bottled beverage offered in a variety of flavors
- Dash
- A few drops or a very small amount of an ingredient
- Dirty
- Adding olive juice to a martini which makes it a Dirty Martini. The more olive juice, the dirtier the martini
- Dry
- Very little vermouth added to a martini. The more dry the customer wants their martini, the less vermouth added
- Flame
- Setting a drink on fire. Sambuca is often lit on fire to heat it up before putting the flame out and drinking it. Another common method is to use 151-proof rum which is very flammable.
Please do not handle flame drinks unless you are VERY skilled, and always handle with care
- Floating
- refers to adding a liquor to a drink in such a way that the drink is not mixed or disturbed, it has layers to it.
Mastering floating takes skill and practice, but makes for a nice presentation.
Common ways of floating include: Using a syringe to add the liquor, and trickling the liquor over the back of a spoon
- Free Pout
- To make and mix drinks without using any measuring device
- Frost
- Create a thin layer of ice (frost) around a glass. To frost a glass, dip it in water, let it drain and then put it in the freezer
- Garnish
- A garnish is something added to a drink after the ingredients to enhance the presentation, and sometimes enhance the flavors of the drink
- Highball
- A liquor mixed with soda, and served in a tall glass (highball glass)
- Jigger
- an hour-glass shaped steel measuring device where one side measures 1 ounce (30ml) and the other measures 1½ ounces (45ml).
In actuality jiggers come in many sizes and styles
- Layering
- Layering is similar to floating. The heavier alcohol goes on the bottom and the next lighter alcohol gets floated on top. Using this technique multi layered (and colored) drinks can be made
- Mixer
- A mixer is a non-alcoholic liquid that is added to (mixed) with alcohol in drinks.
Mixers can be water, soda, juice, etc.
- Muddle
- To crush up ingredients with a special tool called a muddler. This is done for drinks such as the Mojito — where the muddling process extracts essential oils, aromas, and
flavors (in the case of a Mojito, from the mint leaves)
- Muddler
- A bartender's tool, to mash or muddle fruits, herbs and spices in the bottom of a glass to release their flavor and aroma. Muddlers
often look like small baseball bats.
Muddlers are available at most department stores and at
Amazon (affiliate link)
- Mulled
- Mulled spirits are wine and liquors that have been heated and spiced
- Neat
- Neat drinks have about 2 ounces. There are no added ingredients (no ice!), and the liquor is not served chilled.
Most neat drinks are high-quality spirits, brandy, and whiskey
- Pony/Pony Shot
- A drink that contains about 1 ounce
- Premium
- Premium refers to premium alcohol or top-shelf liquor
- Rocks (on the)
- On the rocks simply refers to a drink with ice
- Roll
- A term used to describe a drink that is first built, then the drink is poured into and out of a shaker tin. This gently mixes the drink
- Sangria
- A wine based cocktail that contain wine and fruit. Often triple sec or orange juice is added
- Shaker Tin
- Used to mix cocktails. The Shaker Tin goes on top of a glass, forming a seal, and the drink is shaken
.
- Salting
- Salting is a bartending term that refers to applying a thin layer of salt around the rim of a glass to enhance the flavor of a drink.
To get the salt to stay on the rim you need moisture. Cut a wedge of fresh lime or lemon and rub it all the way around the rim. Make a Pile about 3/4 inch of salt on a tray and place the glass upside down on the salt. Turn it slowly from side to side, and you will have a salted rim
- Schnapps
- A heavily sweetened form of liqueur made by mixing neutral grain spirit with fruit syrup, spices, or other flavors
- Shake and Strain
- Putting ice and ingredients into a shaker tin, shake and strain into a glass. Often used for shooters and martinis. This chills the drink, diluting it while shaking, the drink served does not get more diluted while it sits
- Shaking
- Shaking refers to mixing drinks by shaking the contents rather than stirring. A martini is one drink that is commonly shaken. Silver bar shakers are the most effective tools to use, as they are designed for that purpose and fit together properly, without leaking.
Most drinks need about 10 shakes, if the drink contains a creamy type of liquor, it will need about 30 shakes
- Shooter/Shot
- A shooter or shot is a 1-2 ounces of either straight liquor (like Tequila) or a mixture of alcohol (like a B-52 Shooter — Irish Cream, Kahlua and Grand Marnier) that is meant to be drank (shot) in one gulp
- Sour
- The sourness of sour bar mix, bar lime mix, lime bar mix or margarita mix (different names for essentially the same thing), which are used in. If someone orders a whiskey Sour, they want whiskey and bar lime mix
- Triple Sec
- Any clear dry orange-flavored liqueur, including the brand Cointreau.
Cointreau has more alcohol than triple sec
- Well Drink
- A drink are made with the cheapest liquor at the bar
Handling Glassware
It is very important that you know how to handle glassware. If you don't handle the glassware correctly, you can cut yourself or somebody else.
- Always use an ice scoop to fill the glasses with ice. Never use the glass to scoop ice. This prevents the
glass from breaking in your ice (glass in drinks is dangerous). If you break glass in your ice, throw away all the ice and make sure that there are no pieces of broken glass
- If a glass is hot, do not put ice in it. The glass can break with the change of temperature
- If the glass is cold, do not pour anything hot in it
- Do not stack the glasses too high
- Do not stack two different glasses together. They can get stuck together and if you try to separate them, they might break
- Don't carry more glasses than what you can safely handle in your hands. Use a tray to carry them
- Always handle the glass by the stem or base