Cocktail terms: 73 bar words explained

Neat

Neat means a spirit poured straight from the bottle into the glass, at room temperature, with no ice, water or mixer. It applies to spirits rather than cocktails: a whisky or an aged rum ordered neat arrives as it left the bottle. Ask for water on the side if you want to add a few drops yourself. How to taste rum shows what a neat pour can tell you.

Up (or Straight Up)

Up means a drink chilled with ice while it is mixed, then strained into a stemmed glass with no ice in it. The Martini and the Manhattan are served up, and the stem keeps your hand from warming the drink.

Up and neat are different orders. An up drink is cold and has taken on water from the ice; a neat spirit has met neither. Straight up usually means the same as up, but some bars use it to mean neat, so if the difference matters, ask for the drink chilled or at room temperature.

On the Rocks

On the rocks means poured over ice, usually in a rocks glass. The ice keeps chilling the drink and keeps adding water as you sip, so the last mouthful is weaker than the first. One large cube melts more slowly than several small ones. The Negroni is served on the rocks, and many spirit-forward drinks can be ordered either up or on the rocks.

With a Twist

With a twist means finished with a strip of citrus peel, twisted or pinched over the drink to spray its oils across the surface. The peel is then dropped in or discarded. A twist adds the smell of the fruit without its juice, so the drink gains aroma and no sourness. Lemon is the usual twist on a Martini; a lime twist is sharper and fades faster.

Dirty

Dirty means made with olive brine. A dirty Martini takes a splash of the liquid from the olive jar, which adds salt and a savoury edge. The more brine, the dirtier the drink.

Perfect

Perfect means the vermouth is split equally between dry and sweet vermouth. A Perfect Manhattan halves the sweet vermouth of the standard recipe and makes up the rest with dry, which gives a drier, lighter drink.

Wash Line

The wash line is the level the liquid reaches in the glass. Bartenders use it to check that a drink has been measured and diluted properly for its glass. A drink sitting well below the rim, or one filled to the brim, points to a measuring or dilution problem.

Chaser

A chaser is a second drink taken straight after the first, usually a beer or a soft drink after a spirit. A glass of water or beer served alongside a spirit is sometimes called a back, as in a whisky with a water back.

Shaken

Shaken means mixed hard in a cocktail shaker full of ice, usually for ten to twelve seconds. Shaking chills the drink fast, adds water and beats in air, which gives a lighter, slightly cloudy texture. Use it for drinks with citrus juice, egg, cream or anything else that resists mixing. A Boston shaker is the two-tin version most bars use, and how to shake a cocktail covers the technique.

Stirred

Stirred means mixed with ice in a mixing glass using a bar spoon, with the ice turning quietly round the glass. Stirring chills and dilutes without adding air, so the drink stays clear and silky. It suits drinks made only from spirits, vermouth, liqueurs and bitters: the Martini, the Manhattan and the Negroni are stirred.

Built

Built means made directly in the glass it is served in, with no shaker or mixing glass. Pour the ingredients over ice, stir briefly and serve. A gin and tonic and a Cuba Libre are built, and so is the Old Fashioned: the sugar is muddled with bitters in the glass, and the whiskey stirred in over ice.

Muddled

Muddled means pressed with a muddler in the bottom of a glass or shaker to release juice and oils from fruit, herbs or sugar. The aim is to bruise, not to grind. Mint wants a gentle press or two, because shredded leaves turn bitter; citrus and sugar cubes take firmer pressure. The Mojito presses its mint this way, and the muddling masterclass covers each ingredient.

Dry Shake

A dry shake is a shake without ice, used to whip egg white or aquafaba into a foam before the drink is chilled. The ingredients are shaken hard with no ice, then shaken again with ice to chill and dilute. The two stages give a thicker, steadier foam than a single shake with ice. The Whiskey Sour is the best-known drink made this way.

Reverse Dry Shake

A reverse dry shake runs the other way: shake with ice first, strain the ice out, then shake again without it. Many bartenders find it gives a firmer foam that lasts longer. Both orders work, and shaken or stirred? describes the two side by side.

Whip Shake

A whip shake is a brief shake with a small handful of crushed ice, for a drink that will be poured over more crushed ice. The ice in the glass does most of the chilling, so the shake only needs to mix. The whole thing goes into the glass unstrained, and many tiki drinks are made this way.

Double Strain

Double straining means pouring a shaken drink through two strainers at once: the Hawthorne strainer on the tin and a fine mesh strainer held over the glass. The second catches the ice chips and pulp the first lets through. Use it for any shaken drink served up. It is also called fine straining.

Throwing

Throwing means pouring a drink back and forth between two vessels held apart, so it mixes and chills with less air than a shake. It sits between stirring and shaking, and suits drinks such as the Bloody Mary, where tomato juice turns thick and frothy if shaken hard.

Swizzle

To swizzle is to spin a swizzle stick between your palms in a glass packed with crushed ice, so the drink mixes and chills and the glass frosts on the outside. The method comes from the Caribbean, where the stick is cut from a tree with a whorl of short branches at the tip.

Expressing

Expressing means squeezing a strip of citrus peel over a finished drink so its oils spray across the surface. It adds aroma without acidity. Hold the peel skin side down a few centimetres above the glass and give it a sharp pinch; in good light you will see a fine mist. A channel knife or a peeler cuts the strip.

Float

A float is an ingredient poured slowly over the back of a bar spoon so it rests on top of the drink instead of mixing in. It gives the first sip a concentrated hit of that ingredient and puts its aroma at the nose. A dark rum float on a long rum drink is the classic example.

Rinse

A rinse is a small amount of spirit or liqueur swirled round the inside of a glass and then poured off, leaving aroma and a trace of flavour. The absinthe rinse in a Sazerac is the best-known example. An atomiser does the same job with a fine spray.

Top (or Top Up)

To top, or top up, is to fill the rest of the glass with a mixer once the spirit and any juice are in. Pour it gently down the inside of the glass to keep the bubbles. The Tom Collins is topped with soda water this way.

Dash

A dash is the small amount that leaves a bottle with a dasher top in one quick shake, a little under a millilitre. Two dashes come to about 1.5ml. A bottle’s own wide top can pour several times that, which is why bitters for measured drinks are worth decanting into a bitters bottle. Angostura is the bitters most recipes mean by a dash.

Splash

A splash is a small, unmeasured pour, more than a dash and less than a measure, usually of soda, juice or brine. It has no fixed size. Where a drink’s balance depends on it, the recipe should give millilitres instead.

Bar Spoon

A bar spoon, as a measure, is one level spoonful from the long-handled spoon used to stir drinks, up to about 5ml. Bowls vary, so the bar spoon is a convenience rather than a precise measure. The Daiquiri takes two bar spoons of caster sugar.

Jigger

A jigger is a double-ended measure, one cone at each end, for pouring spirits accurately. UK jiggers usually measure 25ml and 50ml. A Japanese jigger is taller and slimmer, often 30ml and 45ml or 30ml and 60ml, with lines inside for smaller pours. Measuring every pour is the cheapest way to make a drink taste the same twice.

Single and Double

A single is the standard spirit measure in a UK pub or bar, either 25ml or 35ml, and a double is twice that. The Weights and Measures (Intoxicating Liquor) Order 1988 makes each bar sell gin, rum, vodka and whisky in one listed measure, of which 25ml and 35ml are the metric pair, and display which, so a single at one pub can be 40% larger than at the next. A 25ml single of a 40% spirit is one UK unit, as ABV vs proof works through.

Shot

A shot is a single measure of spirit, often drunk in one go from a shot glass. In the UK it means a single, 25ml or 35ml. In America a shot is usually 1.5 fluid ounces, about 44ml, which matters when following an American recipe written in shots.

Dram

A dram is an informal word for a pour of spirit, most often whisky, with no fixed size. In a Scottish pub it simply means a whisky. Served by the measure in a UK bar, it will be a 25ml or 35ml single, or a double.

Part

A part is whatever unit a recipe’s ratio is counted in, used the same way for every ingredient. In a 2:1:1 sour, two parts spirit to one each of citrus and sugar can be 50ml, 25ml and 25ml, or 40ml, 20ml and 20ml. How to balance a cocktail sets out the common ratios.

Aperitif

An aperitif is a drink served before a meal to sharpen the appetite. Aperitifs are usually dry, bitter or lightly sparkling, and short on sugar, so they wake the palate without filling you up. The Negroni, the Aperol Spritz and a dry Martini are classic aperitifs, and so is a glass of fino sherry. The word comes from the Latin aperire, to open.

Digestif

A digestif is a drink served after a meal, traditionally to settle the stomach. Digestifs tend to be stronger, richer or more bitter than aperitifs: Cognac, a herbal amaro, or port. The digestive claim is tradition rather than medicine.

After-Dinner Drink

An after-dinner drink is anything suited to sipping once the meal is over, whether or not it claims to help digestion. Dessert cocktails, fortified wines, neat spirits and the Espresso Martini all qualify. Every digestif is an after-dinner drink, but plenty of after-dinner drinks are not digestifs.

Aperitivo

Aperitivo is the Italian early-evening drink before dinner, usually taken with snacks and often between 6pm and 8pm. It is as much a social habit as a drink, and the name has become shorthand for bitter, sparkling serves such as the Spritz.

Nightcap

A nightcap is the last drink of the evening, taken shortly before bed. Nightcaps are usually spirit-forward and slow to drink: a small whisky, a brandy, or a stirred drink such as an Old Fashioned. The point is winding down.

Spirit-Forward

Spirit-forward means a drink in which the base spirit leads, with no juice, little or no mixer, and modifiers such as vermouth or bitters in small amounts. The Manhattan, the Old Fashioned and the Martini are spirit-forward. They are usually stirred, served short and sipped slowly.

High-ABV

High-ABV describes a drink with a lot of alcohol for its size, usually above about 25% ABV once mixed. Spirit-forward drinks fall here: a stirred Martini is still around 30% after dilution. ABV vs proof explains how strength is measured.

Low-ABV

Low-ABV describes a drink well below spirit strength, usually under about 15% ABV. Spritzes, wine-based drinks and long drinks with plenty of juice or soda fall into this group.

Sessionable

Sessionable describes a drink light enough in alcohol and body to drink over a long evening. The word comes from beer, where a session beer is made for exactly that. Sessionable cocktails are usually low-ABV, cold and not too sweet.

Long Drink

A long drink is a spirit lengthened with a large share of mixer and served over ice in a tall glass. Highballs, Collins drinks and the Mojito are long drinks. They carry less alcohol per sip than short drinks.

Short Drink

A short drink is a cocktail served in a small glass with little or no mixer, such as a Martini, a Manhattan or a sour. It is stronger per sip than a long drink. In a British pub the word has a second meaning: a short is a spirit served by the measure, as against a pint or a glass of wine, and shorts are spirits.

Dry

Dry means a drink with little or no sweetness. In a dry Martini the word covers both the style of vermouth and how little of it goes in: the drier the Martini, the less vermouth. Our Martini is 60ml gin to 10ml dry vermouth, and an extra-dry one can be barely a rinse.

Sour

A sour is a drink of spirit, citrus juice and sugar, shaken, and often made with egg white for a foam. The Whiskey Sour and the Daiquiri are sours. The family starts from about two parts spirit to one each of citrus and sugar, and the balance guide works through how the classics move from there.

Highball

A highball is a spirit and a carbonated mixer, built over ice in a tall glass and stirred once. Whisky and soda, gin and tonic and rum and cola are highballs. Our Whiskey Highball is 50ml whiskey to 100 to 125ml soda water.

Mocktail (or Virgin)

A mocktail is a mixed drink with no alcohol, and a virgin drink is the alcohol-free version of a cocktail. The Virgin Mojito is the Mojito without the rum.

Base Spirit

The base spirit is the main alcohol in a cocktail, the one the drink is built around. Gin, vodka, rum, tequila, whisky and brandy are the usual bases. Most classic cocktails have one, supported by modifiers.

Modifier

A modifier is an ingredient that adjusts the base spirit without replacing it: vermouth, a liqueur, a fortified wine or bitters. In the Manhattan the modifier is 20ml of sweet vermouth against 50ml of rye.

Bitters

Bitters are concentrated infusions of bitter roots, barks, spices and peel in strong alcohol, used by the dash. A few drops season a drink the way salt seasons food. Angostura and orange bitters are the two most recipes call for.

Simple Syrup

Simple syrup is sugar dissolved in an equal amount of water, the standard sweetener in cocktails. It mixes into a cold drink where granulated sugar would sit undissolved. Rich syrup is two parts sugar to one of water and about half again as sweet, so use roughly two thirds as much. Simple syrup covers making both.

Fortified Wine

Fortified wine is wine with spirit added, which raises its strength to around 15 to 22% ABV and helps it keep. Vermouth, sherry, port and Madeira are the ones cocktails use, almost always as modifiers.

Amaro

Amaro is an Italian bitter herbal liqueur, drunk after dinner as a digestif or used in cocktails. Amari, the plural, run wide: Averna is sweet and rounded, Fernet-Branca sharp and minty. Campari and Aperol are bitter aperitivo liqueurs, close relatives usually drunk before dinner.

Liqueur

A liqueur is a spirit sweetened and flavoured with fruit, herbs, spices, nuts or coffee. Under UK and EU rules a liqueur must be at least 15% ABV and, with a few exceptions, carry at least 100g of sugar per litre. Orange curaçao, triple sec, coffee liqueur and herbal liqueurs such as Chartreuse work in cocktails as modifiers, adding sweetness and flavour alongside the base spirit.

Split Base

A split base is two spirits sharing the base in place of one. Tiki drinks often split rums of different styles for a depth one bottle cannot give. Splitting also tames a dominant spirit: half gin and half vodka in a Martini, for example.

Overproof

Overproof first meant stronger than 100 degrees on the old British proof scale, above 57.14% ABV, and is now used loosely for any spirit well above standard strength. Jamaican white overproof rum is usually 63%, and the 151s are 75.5%. In cocktails it appears in floats, flamed garnishes and small measures in tiki drinks, as seasoning rather than a base. ABV vs proof explains the scales.

Mixer

A mixer is the non-alcoholic part of a long drink: soda water, tonic, ginger ale, cola or juice. It sets the drink’s length, sweetness and fizz, so a flat or overly sweet mixer shows at once. What to mix with spiced rum gives mixers and ratios for one spirit.

Garnish

A garnish is the finishing touch added to a drink: a citrus twist, an olive, a mint sprig or a cherry. It should add aroma or flavour as well as looks. If it sits in the drink it changes the drink, so give it the same care as the rest.

Wheel

A wheel is a thin round slice cut across a citrus fruit, rested on the rim or floated on the drink. A lime wheel finishes the Daiquiri and the Margarita. It adds colour and a little aroma, and almost no juice.

Wedge

A wedge is a segment cut lengthways from a citrus fruit, set on the rim for the drinker to squeeze in. A lime wedge on a rum and cola hands the last adjustment of sourness to the person drinking.

Sprig

A sprig is a small stem of a herb with its leaves on, usually mint, standing at the rim of a drink. It is there for the nose: give it a light slap between your palms to wake the oils, and set it beside the straw. The mint sprig on a Mojito is the usual one.

Rim

A rim is salt, sugar or spice stuck to the outside edge of the glass, so each sip picks some up. The Margarita takes a salt rim on half the glass, which leaves the drinker the choice. A glass rimmer holds the salt or sugar.

Coupe

A coupe is a shallow, wide-bowled stemmed glass for drinks served up, usually holding 160 to 210ml. It spills less than a Martini glass and has replaced it on many bars. The story that its shape was modelled on Marie Antoinette is a myth. The Daiquiri and the Margarita are served in a coupe.

Martini Glass

A Martini glass is a stemmed glass with a wide, conical bowl. The shape releases aroma and spills easily, and many are far bigger than the drink: a sensible Martini glass holds 150 to 200ml. Chill it well first, because the thin bowl warms quickly in the hand.

Rocks Glass (Old Fashioned Glass)

A rocks glass, or Old Fashioned glass, is a short, heavy tumbler for drinks served over ice, usually holding 200 to 300ml. Its weighted base takes muddling, and its wide mouth takes a large cube. The rocks glass holds the Negroni and the Old Fashioned.

Highball Glass

A highball glass is a tall, straight-sided glass for a spirit and a carbonated mixer over ice, usually 34 to 42cl in UK catalogues. Fill it to the top with ice, so the drink stays cold and the ice melts more slowly. The highball glass page covers sizes.

Nick and Nora

A Nick and Nora is a small stemmed glass with a deep, rounded bowl that curves slightly inward at the rim, holding about 140 to 180ml. It suits small stirred drinks served up, and it spills least of the stemmed glasses. VinePair records that Dale DeGroff named it after Nick and Nora Charles, the couple in The Thin Man. The Vesper is served in a Nick and Nora.

Collins Glass

A Collins glass is a tall, narrow glass for a Collins: spirit, citrus and sugar topped with soda. It usually holds 30 to 42cl, and it is taller and slimmer than a highball of the same capacity, which keeps the soda lively. The Tom Collins is served in a Collins glass; in most home bars one set of tall glasses covers both jobs.

Well Drink

A well drink is made with the bar’s house spirits, kept in the well, the rack of bottles within the bartender’s reach. Ordering a gin and tonic without naming a gin gets you a well drink. The term is American; British bars more often say house pour.

Call Drink

A call drink is one where you name the brand of spirit, such as a Margarita made with a particular tequila. It usually costs more than the well version.

Backbar

The backbar is the shelving of bottles displayed behind the bar. It holds the call bottles and specialist spirits, while the everyday pours sit in the well below the counter. A backbar shows what a bar takes seriously.

Party

A party drink is one that is easy to make in quantity, easy to like and quick to serve. Party drinks are often batchable: a punch, or a jug of Margaritas.

Celebratory

A celebratory drink marks an occasion, usually with something sparkling or a ceremony to the serve: a Champagne cocktail, a Martini, or anything poured with a flourish.

Late Night

A late-night drink suits the hours after dinner, and is usually richer, stronger or made with coffee. The Espresso Martini, the White Russian and stirred spirit-forward drinks are the usual choices once the evening is settling down.

Batchable

Batchable describes a drink that can be mixed in quantity ahead of time and stay good. Stirred drinks with no citrus, such as the Negroni, keep best; drinks with fresh citrus can be batched without the juice, which is squeezed on the day. A batch needs the water the ice would have added, and how to batch cocktails gives the amounts.