Learn the Language Behind The Bar
Here's a guide to some key bar lingo you should know to become a bartending pro:
- Chaser: A chaser is a drink (usually a beer, i.e. whiskey shot with a beer chaser) that you drink after having a sip or shot of hard alcohol.
- Dirty: Adding olive juice to a vodka or gin martini, making it a dirty martini.
- Dry: Less vermouth added to a martini. An extra dry martini usually means just one or two drops of vermouth or no vermouth in a martini.
- Free Pour: Making and mixing drinks without using a measuring device.
- Frost: To frost a glass, dip it in water, let it drain, and stick it in the freezer.
- Jigger: The hourglass-shaped measuring device.
- Muddle: To crush up ingredients (herbs/fruit) with a tool called a muddler.
- Neat: Neat means straight from the bottle into a glass, no ice.
- On the Rocks: A straight spirit served over ice.
- Rolling a Drink: A mixing method where a drink is put together in one mixing tin then slowly poured into another mixing tin.
- Speed Rack: A rack normally attached to the bartender’s ice well where they have their most popular spirits, making them easy to grab and pour.
- Straight Up /Served Up: A drink shaken or stirred, then strained and served in a stemmed glass without ice.
- Twist: A piece of citrus peel (a thin, curled slice of a citrus fruit peel) added to a drink for flavour or decoration, either in the drink directly or hanging on the side of the glass. It is made using a tool called a peeler.
- Virgin: This refers to a non-alcoholic drink.
- Well Drink: An alcoholic beverage served using lower-cost liquors.
- 86: In the food service industry, "86" is a slang term that is used to indicate that an item is no longer available on the menu.
