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Bar Terms And Bartender Terminology

by the Barman Categories: Bartenders Guide

Bartender Lingo: Bar Terminology Every Bartender Knows

Whether you call them bar terms, bartender terminology or bartender lingo, it all
equates to the same thing – bartender language: the words you need to know to
become a good bartender. Learning proper bar terms is not difficult – they’re
aren’t that many and much is self-explanatory. Consider the list of bartending
terms below to be a kind of bartending dictionary – a literal A – Z of bar terms.

List of Most Popular Bartending Terminology

Back
Back – a ‘back’ is a small glass of something (like water or cola) which
accompanies a drink.

Eg. “Scotch on the rocks with a water back.”

Bar Spoon
Spoon – a long mixing spoon which often has a
lemon zester or something similar on the other end

Bitters
Bitters – a herbal alcoholic blend which is
meant to be added to other cocktails to enhance flavour
(e.g a Manhattan is rye, sweet vermouth and a couple
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 dashes of bitters). Angostura Bitters is one of the most popular brands and was
first invented by a German physician for stomach maladies in 1824.

Blend
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.

Build
Build – A bar term meaning to make a drink – starting with ice and then ‘building’
the drink by adding the other ingredients (i.e. alcohol, juice, garnish etc).

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. Then the gin is added.  A burnt martini is technically not a
martini as it doesn’t contain any vermouth.

Call Drink
Drink – Refers to when
the customer orders a drink by
giving both the specific name of
the liquor and the name of the
mixer.
E.g. Tanqueray Ten and Tonic,
Bacardi and Coke.

Chaser
Chaser – In bar terms,
anything that is consumed
quickly after a shooter or
straight (neat) shot of alcohol.
Meant to ease the strength of
the original shooter and / or to
mask its taste.

Chill – To chill a glass add ice and then water to any glass and let sit for a minute
or two (while mixing the drink in a shaker). Pour out the contents of the glass and
strain the drink into the chilled glass. This bar terminology is often used for
martinis.

Cocktail – A mix of alcohol and / or liqueurs combined with a mixer (like soda or
juice) and often shaken.
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 Cooler – An alcoholic-based bottled beverage offered in a variety of different
alcohols – vodka, rum, wine – which comes in a variety of flavours. (E.g. Smirnoff
Ice, Wildberry cooler, Mike’s Hard Lemonade).

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. Sambucca 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. It’s not recommended to flame drinks unless you
are VERY skilled. Bad things can happen!

Float – when one alcohol sits on top of another alcohol

in a shooter glass. (E.g. a B-52 shooter contains Kahlua,
Irish Cream and Grand Marnier. Kahlua is heavier than
Irish Cream which is heavier than GM so each one floats
on the other. This can be done by pouring very carefully
down the side of the glass or pouring the floated alcohol
over an inverted bar spoon, allowing the alcohol to
trickle off the spoon in many directions).

Free Pour – To make and mix drinks without using a measuring device like a
jigger or measured pour spout. To pour free of a measuring device, usually straight
from a bottle with a non-measured pour spout

Frost – To frost a glass, dip it in water, let it drain and then put it in the freezer.
This creates a layer of frost around the glass and works especially well for beer
mugs.

Garnish – A garnish is something added to a drink after the ingredients to

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 enhance the presentation. Common garnishes are lemon slices or lime wedges,
cherries, olives etc. Some garnishes are purely for looks and some are to add to the
flavour of the drink.

Highball – Any liquor mixed with soda, served in a tall glass (often called a
highball).

Jigger – A jigger is an hour-glass shaped steel measuring

device – where one side measures 1 ounce (30ml) and
the other measures 1½ ounces (45ml). However, jiggers
come in many different sizes.

Layer – Layering a shot or drink is done the same way

as floating. The heavier alcohol goes on the bottom and
the next, lighter alcohol gets floated on top using a
careful pour down the side of the glass or a pour over an
inverted spoon.

Mixer – Mixers are the non-alcoholic ‘mixes’ that accompany alcohol in drinks.
Mixers can be water, soda, juice, energy drinks etc (i.e. in the drink Rum & Coke,
the mixer is Coke).

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 and flavours (from the mint leaves in case of the Mojito).

Neat – This ones important to know in bar terms. If someone asks for a whiskey
neat, they are asking for a shot straight out of the bottle. Neat means no ice. Of
course that shot must be in a whiskey glass. Whiskey drinkers are picky!

Pony – A pony or pony shot is equal to 1 ounce.

Premium – Premium refers to premium alcohol or top-shelf liquor (E.g. the well
or bar rail gin is Beefeater and the premium is Tanqueray)
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 Rim – To rim a glass, first wet the rim with a lime, or the lime juice in a rimmer,
then gently press the rim of the glass into a saucer of salt (for margaritas and
Bloody Marys), celery salt (for Bloody Caesars) or sugar (for specialty coffees and
cocktails). Be creative with your rim jobs – try to look for alternatives like crushed
candy cane, flavoured salts or other more exotic spices that match well with your
drink’s ingredients.

Rocks (On the) – On the rocks simply refers to a drink with ice. Eg. Scotch on the
rocks.

Roll (aka Box) – Not heard all to often in bar terms. To roll or box a drink, first
build the drink then pour it once into and out of a shaker tin. This gently mixes the
drink.

Sangria – A wine-based cocktail that contains wine, triple sec, orange juice and
fruit. Many variations exist and some recipes may call for the addition of a
different juice or may not contain triple sec but the basis of this drink is wine and
juice.
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 Shaker Tin – A shaker tin is usually metal while the mixing glass is made from,
well, glass. Used to mix cocktails, first ice and ingredients are added to the shaker
tin, then the mixing glass placed on top (creating a seal) and shaken.

Shake – Fill a glass with ice, build the ingredients, then pour everything into a
shaker tin and shake. Pour everything back into the original glass. Or, if you are an
experienced bartender then you will be able to fill the shaker with ice and
ingredients in perfect proportions.

Shake and Strain – Put ice and ingredients into a shaker tin, shake and strain into
a glass. Often used for shooters and martinis.

Shooter – a shooter or shot is a 1-2 ounce serving 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 (or shot) in one gulp.

Sour – the term ‘sour’ refers to the sourness of sour bar mix, bar lime mix, lime
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 bar mix or margarita mix (all different names for what are essentially the same
thing), which are used in many cocktails (such as a Margarita). If someone orders a
Vodka Sour, they want vodka and bar lime mix.

Speed Rail – This bar terminology typically means the long stainless steel shelf
connected to the front of the sinks and ice well at bartender stations behind the
bar. It holds the most commonly ordered liquor eg. rum, vodka, gin and whiskey,
and possibly other popular liqueurs or mixes.

Straight up – Refers to a drink, like a martini, which

is shaken in a shaker and strained into a glass. In
some areas, straight up is used interchangeably with
‘neat’.

Strain – To drain the liquid out of a shaker tin.

Toddy -A sweetened drink of liquor and hot water,

often with spices and served in a tall glass.

Twist – The rind of a lemon which is peeled using a

special peeler called a zester or lemon zestor. The
resulting lemon twist is thin and long.

Virgin – refers to a non-alcoholic drink. Used to order common cocktails minus the
alcohol. Eg. Virgin Bloody Mary, Virgin Pina Colada.

Well Drink – Last but not least for bar terms, Unlike a Call Drink, a well drink is a
drink where neither the brand of the liquor or brand of the mix is mentioned (E.g
Gin & Tonic, Rum & Coke).

That’s about all the bar terms you’ll need to know as a bartender. As you can see,
many of the bartending terms are self-explanatory which makes them a lot easier
to remember.

 
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2 Comments Sort by Newest

Add a comment...

Frannie OBrien
Hello my name is Betsy an this is about me I have been bartending since I was 16 years
old an have worked mostly exclusive bars,restaurants ,in Fort Lauderdale in my
20,s,moved back to New York continues to bartend my last job was 8 years ago when the
restaurant was open 9 years closed sold the place an owners retired. Since then I have not
been able to get hired any bar or restaurant because of my age I am 63 years old back in
the day knowledge was power now it,s about who,s pretty ,who,s got bigger boobs ,who,s
got a tight ass ,it is sooo disturbing I know so much an have sooo many stories ,seen it all
,an no one wants me !!!!
Like · Reply · Mark as spam · 4y

Debora Shapiro
Frannie, I too am 63 yrs old. I found my job bartending at an Elks Club. Maybe you can
check out some of those type clubs. Moose. American Legion, etc. Good luck..
Like · Reply · Mark as spam · 3y

Debora A. Carver Ellsworth

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 Debora A. Carver Ellsworth
I hardlly ever see Debora spelled like that! I'm thinking about learning to be a
bartender because I need $$$ to pay off some bills. But I worry - Am I too old? I'm
50. Maybe for a hopping kid bar, but old people want to drink to, right?
Like · Reply · Mark as spam · 3y

Debora Shapiro
Debora A. Carver Ellsworth Dont cut yourself short!!!
Like · Reply · Mark as spam · 3y

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