Dictionary

Cachaça A Brazilian spirit similar to rum made fermented sugar cane instead of molasses. It has a distinct funky flavor.
Cognac Cognac is a variety of brandy named after the commune of Cognac, France. It is produced in the surrounding wine-growing region in the departments of Charente and Charente-Maritime.
Demerara Syrup A type of sugar syrup made with demerara sugar. It's used in cocktails to add sweetness, richness, and depth of flavor, particularly with whiskey and aged rum. Made with 2:1 demarara sugar to water.
Dirty A martini with olive brine added. For many customers, it is difficult to add enough.
Double Strain Straining a drink through a fine mesh strainer in addition to a standard Hawthorne strainer. Typically used for drinks containing juice, mint, or to remove ice chips.
Dry Shake Shaking a drink without ice before shaking with ice. Used with egg white cocktails to increase the amount of foam by emulifying the proteins.
Fat Washing Infusing a spirit with liquid fat such as animal fat or coconut oil. The spirit is then chilled and the solidified fat is removed. The technique is used to add flavor and a often silky texture to drinks.
Float Carefully pouring a small amount of liquid (often a spirit such as dark rum) so it sits on top of the drink without fully mixing in.
Fortified Wine A wine with a distilled spirit, often brandy, added to it. Adding before fermentation results in a sweeter, higher abv wine while a later addition usually ends drier with a lower abv.
Grappa Grappa is an alcoholic beverage: a fragrant, grape-based pomace brandy of Italian origin that contains 35 to 60 percent alcohol by volume. Grappa is a protected name in the European Union. Grappa is made by distilling the skins, pulp, seeds and stems left over from winemaking after pressing the grapes.
Madeira Madeira is a fortified wine made on the Portuguese Madeira Islands, off the coast of Africa. Madeira is produced in a variety of styles ranging from dry wines which can be consumed on their own, as an apéritif, to sweet wines usually consumed with dessert.
Mead An alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey mixed with water, and sometimes with fruits, spices, grains, or hops. The ABV about 3.5% to more than 20%. Possibly the most ancient alcoholic drink, the defining characteristic of mead is that the majority of the beverage's fermentable sugar is derived from honey.It may be still, carbonated, or naturally sparkling, and despite a common misconception that mead is exclusively sweet, it can also be dry or semi-sweet.
Muddle Gently crushing an ingredient such a mint or fruit in the tin to release oil and flavor.
Neat A drink served without ice.
Oleo Saccharum A syrup made by coating citrus peels with sugar to draw out the oils.
Orgeat Orgeat syrup is an almond-flavored syrup with rose-water and/or orange flower water. It is commonly used in classic and tropical cocktails.It does not contain alcohol.
Pisco A brandy made in Peru or Chile.
Port Port wine is a Portuguese fortified wine produced in the Douro Valley of northern Portugal. It is typically a sweet red wine, often served with dessert, although it also comes in dry, semi-dry, and white varieties.
Reverse Dry Shake Similar to a dry shake, but the drink is shaken with ice and then the ice is dumped and shaken without. Bartenders will have differing opinions on which method is better.
Rich Simple Like simple syrup, rich simple is sugar dissolved in water but at a ratio of 2 parts sugar to 1 water. This allows for less dilution of a cocktail and a richer mouthfeel.
Sake Sake, 酒, is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name Japanese rice wine, sake, and indeed any East Asian rice wine (such as huangjiu and cheongju), is produced by a brewing process more akin to that of beer, where starch is converted into sugars that ferment into alcohol, whereas in wine, alcohol is produced by fermenting sugar that is naturally present in fruit, typically grapes.
Sherry Sherry is a fortified wine made from white grapes that are grown near the city of Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia, Spain.
Shrub A drink or syrup made from sweetened vinegar often with added fruit, herbs or spices.
Simple Syrup Sugar dissolved in water. Often called just "simple", it simplifies adding sugar to drinks and blends better than granulated sugar. It is made by adding 1 part of sugar to 1 part hot water, stirred and left to cool. Also see Rich Simple.
Up A drink, chilled served in stemmed glassware, typically either a coupe or martini glass without ice. Often used to differ from a Martini, where a customer would like the larger pour of a martini but without vermouth.
Wash / Rinse Adding a small spoon or spray of liquid (often vermouth or absinthe) to coat the inside an empty glass, then dumping the excess before pouring the cocktail in.
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