Talk:Bartending terminology

Straight vs. neat
The section on straight vs. neat needs to be cleaned up. Right now it says basically that in the US the two terms are commonly used interchangeably, but are technically different, while in the UK they are in fact interchangeable, but are sometimes recognized as different. This is incoherent (and uncited). How do we know that the common usage in the US is incorrect, while the same common usage in the UK is correct? Sources are needed to establish what the actual usage and technically correct usages are on each side of the Atlantic. As it stands, I have little confidence that the distinction being made is justified.--Srleffler (talk) 04:48, 10 October 2008 (UTC)
 * The Compact Oxford Dictionary (2008) says (in relation to alcoholic drinks) that straight means "undiluted", and neat means "not diluted or mixed with anything else". Based on those general-usage definitions, the terms seem synonymous. That dictionary, although produced by a British institution, covers English usage in both British and other contexts – it includes notes about regional variations. However, it does not indicate that these definitions vary by region. Similarly, the Collins English Dictionary (2009) says that the terms are synonymous and mean "undiluted". The Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions (2007) is similar. Straight whiskey also has a special legal definition in the U.S. regulations that govern the labeling of whiskey products. —BarrelProof (talk) 19:16, 5 October 2012 (UTC)

VeRHWaHL (talk) 18:58, 30 December 2012 (UTC) In New Brunswick, Canada ordering a "Whiskey served Neat" normally gets you the following:

How to properly serve up a shot of whiskey “Neat”

A shot glass, containing one ounce of your finest rye whiskey poured out of the bottle at room temperature. The drink should then be walked from the bar to the table, suspended in the cleavage of one's beautiful server so as to bring the drink as close to body temperature as possible. The shot glass should then be removed from it's nice warm nesting place by the server and placed before the customer with a smile and a wink. Citation by Dan Ryan — Preceding unsigned comment added by VeRHWaHL (talk • contribs) 18:48, 30 December 2012 (UTC)

Bartenders that I just asked from the NYC area say neat means with a glass of cold water on the side to mix at your discretion. Alexandermoir (talk) 18:39, 23 November 2022 (UTC)

Whiskey, in a shot glass?
If any bartender attempted to serve me whiskey in a shot glass, I would be forced to leave in disgust!

More generally, this article seems unclear and not entirely necessary.

GyroMagician (talk) 21:48, 7 February 2009 (UTC)

Combination Term
The definition attributed to straight up on this page is inaccurate / incomplete. Straight up is a combination of the two seperate bartending terms straight (pure spirit without water, ice, or mixer) and up (shaken with ice and strained into a stemmed glass.) For example it would be inaccurate to refer to a Cosmopolitan as being served straight up as it contains lime juice, cranberry, juice, and Cointreau. To be accurate it should be said that the Cosmopolitan is served up.--Geomedic (talk) 21:08, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Why Straight Up over Neat
Why would "Straight Up" get priority, while Straight and Neat are secondary redirects, when drinks served neat are incredibly common, and don't have a real page dedicated to them. The focus on this page seems to be on doing quick shots, like when it references a "Boilermaker" when normally straight is a high quality bourbon or whiskey served in a glass for slow sipping.

Also, Something tells me, drinks chilled with ice, strained, and served in a martini glass are better covered by martinis. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.129.131.132 (talk) 04:31, 18 March 2010 (UTC)

Neat
Under the subheading 'Definitions and usage' it is stated as being relatively unambiguous that neat means not chilled. Dictionaries would disagree, stating that neat means undiluted or not added to. 203.59.101.101 (talk) 04:27, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

Ice or no Ice?
On this page it says "Straight up" means with ice, yet on the other article page it says it means without ice. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_rocks 195.137.64.249 (talk) 22:33, 20 October 2010 (UTC)


 * Actually, this page says that "straight up" means without ice. Actually, it says it twice. Wahrmund (talk) 22:51, 20 October 2010 (UTC)

Really though, I think you'll find you're a complete idiot with no respect. 195.137.64.249 (talk) 21:09, 18 September 2011 (UTC)

Suggestion to transform into "Bartending terminology"
This article seems to be the main place on Wikipedia that collects several bartending terms - esp. various ways of serving drinks. In fact, much of the article is devoted to terms other than "straight up". I think the right thing to do is generalize the article into an article called "Bartending terms" or "Bartending terminology". Having an entire article devoted to "straight up" seems unnecessary. Notice the Bartend table at the bottom of the article page. The "Terminology" is not a link. I believe it should be (like "Garnishes" is). Any thoughts on that suggestion? —BarrelProof (talk) 19:53, 27 June 2012 (UTC)


 * I support moving the article to "Bartending terminology". Wahrmund (talk) 21:12, 27 June 2012 (UTC)
 * I also support this idea.Carl Wivagg (talk) 10:52, 11 August 2013 (UTC)

OK, I moved it (and linked it to the Bartend table). But the article should be somewhat rewritten to better reflect its intended scope. —BarrelProof (talk) 23:21, 19 August 2013 (UTC)

Old words
It would be helpful to include some terms that, while not common in current usage, are part of the history and literature, especially colourful jargon such as "jigger", "pony", etc. D A Patriarche (talk) 17:34, 27 February 2014 (UTC)

US Bias
This article, or at least parts of it, seems to be written from an exclusively US point of view, without actually saying so. For example the paragraph about drink sizes quotes measures in ounces which would not be legal measures in the UK. 86.20.66.253 (talk) 21:32, 19 December 2015 (UTC)
 * agree, this article seems to focus on US spirit drinking. I will try to make the article more of a worldwide view and also include more general terms relating to bartending 1dragon (talk) 08:23, 26 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Agreed, the misuse of "on the rocks" and re-propagating this "culture" all over the world is just disgusting — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A01:599:744:6D53:45AB:D2B4:1E93:84BD (talk) 09:12, 21 December 2023 (UTC)

Half jigger
I took this out because it makes no sense:


 * A "half-jigger", or 3 USoz, is commonly seen in mixers, especially for mixed shots as the total volume of liquid is small (1.5 to 3 USoz).

How could a half jigger and a double jigger be the same? What is a mixed shot? What does "commonly seen in mixers" mean? What is the "total volume of liquid" and what does that have to do with anything? Kendall-K1 (talk) 23:06, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

Combine sections?
Why do we have both "Drink preparation" and "Definitions and usage" sections with overlapping content? Would anyone mind if I combine these? Kendall-K1 (talk) 15:53, 17 June 2018 (UTC)