Like all professions in the world, mixology has bar terms and bar terminology that every good bartender needs to know to do their job well. If you’re not ‘in the know’ in bar lingo, you’ll have trouble taking orders from customers who are ‘in the know’. Customers who have been on the bar circuit for a while and have their favorite drinks tend to order them in a specific way.
If someone orders a “dirty martini, rocks,” they’re not ordering a martini in a dirty glass with some pebbles, they want a martini with a little olive juice, served over ice. And if a customer orders a “straight scotch,” he’s not saying he thinks it’s great that his bar carries whiskey, he’s ordering a shot of whiskey without ice.
Learning bar lingo isn’t too difficult, especially if you put your bar terminology to the test behind the bar from time to time. For the purposes of this article, we’re only going to list the most popular and widely used bar terms – things you really need to know but might not be able to figure out on your own.
Back: A ‘back’ is when a drink is accompanied by a small glass of mix (such as coke or water). For example, “vodka rocks, water back”
Build – When you “build” a drink, you prepare the drink, starting with the ice and then continuing to “build” by adding the alcohol, mix-ins, garnishes, etc.
Call Drink – A call drink is when the customer says the specific name of the alcohol and mix. Eg “Tanqueray Tonic” or “Coca-Cola Bacardi”
Chaser: A chaser, in bar terms, is anything used to ‘chaser’ another alcoholic beverage, usually used to mask the flavor or alleviate the strength of whatever is being chased.
Dirty – Dirty is simply adding olive juice to a drink, usually a martini.
Float: To float something is to place a layer of lighter alcohol on top of heavier alcohol.
Free Pour – pouring drinks without using any type of measuring device such as a shot glass, jigger or measured pour spout.
Frost: Some pubs use frosted beer mugs; These are mugs that are submerged in water, drained, and then stored in the freezer or refrigerator to create a glaze on the outside of the glass.
Garnish – Anything added to a drink to enhance the presentation, commonly includes cherries, lime wedges, lemon wedges, olives, etc.
Jigger – An hourglass-shaped measuring device that has two different measurements on each side. It is used to measure the amount of alcohol that goes into drinks.
Clean – clean simply means no ice – sometimes called Straight Up
Premium – A premium brand is a higher priced brand of liquor, also called a top shelf
Rim – Rimming a glass means creating a rim around the rim of the glass using anything from salt to sugar to candy. A commonly rimmed cocktail is a Bloody Mary or Margarita.
Rocks: Anything on rocks means on ice.
Twist: Adding a twist refers to grating the rind of a lemon into a twist and inserting it into the drink.
Well Drink – Unlike the call drink mentioned above, a well drink is any drink that uses the bar’s “house” brand of liquor. The ‘regular’ liquor used when the customer does not mention any brand.
Although we have listed a fair amount of bar jargon here, this list is by no means exhaustive. There are many more bar terms you may hear as a bartender, they just aren’t heard as often as the ones listed above. I hope this bar terminology helps you on your path to greatness as a mixologist!
Health!
