Drink Styles and Categories

Aperitif
A typically dry, bitter, herbal, or lower-proof drink served before a meal to stimulate appetite—such as vermouth, Campari, sherry, or a spritz.
After-dinner drink/digestif
A drink served after a meal, traditionally believed to aid digestion; examples include amaro, brandy, sweet liqueurs, and certain fortified wines.
Buck
A spirit, citrus, and ginger ale or ginger beer drink. A Moscow Mule is a vodka buck.
Cobbler
A 19th-century style of spirit or fortified wine, sugar, and abundant fruit, shaken or built over crushed ice.
Collins​
A tall drink of spirit, lemon juice, sugar, and soda water, classically served over ice.
Cooler​
A refreshing long drink, usually spirit or wine with citrus and a carbonated mixer. During the 1980s, bottled wine coolers exploded in popularity, with Bartles & Jaymes becoming one of America's best-known brands. Today the term is also loosely associated with many ready-to-drink flavored alcoholic beverages.

Daisy
A classic sour-like drink with spirit, citrus, sweetener, and often a liqueur or soda.
Fizz​​
A sour-style cocktail with citrus, sugar, and soda water; may include egg white.
Flip
A rich historical drink combining a spirit or fortified wine, sugar, and whole egg, often finished with grated nutmeg.
Frozen
Blended with ice until slushy, rather than simply shaken and poured over ice.
Gimlet
Traditionally gin and lime; modern versions may use fresh lime juice and simple syrup instead of sweetened lime cordial.
Highball
A spirit plus a larger portion of nonalcoholic mixer, served over ice in a tall glass—e.g., Scotch and soda or gin and tonic.
Julep
A spirit, sugar, and mint drink served over crushed ice; the Mint Julep is the best-known version.
Lowball
A short drink served in a rocks glass; it may be a spirit-forward cocktail or a spirit over ice. It is not simply a “short highball.”
Martini
Traditionally gin and dry vermouth, stirred and served up; in contemporary ordering, it may refer to vodka Martinis or even unrelated “-tini” drinks. Name the base spirit and modifiers.
Mule
A buck associated with ginger beer, lime, and a base spirit; traditionally served in a copper mug, though glassware is not essential.
Nightcap
A final drink of the evening, often rich or spirit-forward.
Old Fashioned
In its classic form: whiskey, sugar, bitters, and water, stirred over ice and expressed with citrus. The name became a way of requesting the older cocktail formula when more elaborate “improved” cocktails became fashionable.

Press

An old-school term. A cocktail made with a 50/50 split of club soda (sparkling water) and lemon-lime soda (like Sprite or 7 Up, and sometimes ginger ale) added to a chosen liquor. It's short for Presbyterian.

Punch
A shared-format drink class built on a balance of strong, weak, sour, sweet, and spice; it can be alcoholic or nonalcoholic.
Rickey
Spirit, lime, and carbonated water, typically unsweetened. The Gin Rickey is the classic example.
Sangaree
A shared-format drink class built on a balance of strong, weak, sour, sweet, and spice; it can be alcoholic or nonalcoholic.
Sazerac
​Spirit, lime, and carbonated water, typically unsweetened. The Gin Rickey is the classic example.
Shrub
Either a drinking vinegar/fruit syrup or a cocktail made with it, typically providing sweet-tart acidity.
Sling
A broad historic category of spirit, sugar, water, and sometimes citrus, spice, or bitters; the Singapore Sling is a complex later descendant.
Smash
A julep-like drink with spirit, citrus, sugar, herbs, and crushed ice.
Sour
A balance of base spirit, citrus juice, and sweetener. Egg white is optional, not universal.
Spritz
A light, sparkling aperitivo drink, commonly a bitter aperitif plus sparkling wine and soda water.
Swizzle
A crushed-ice drink rapidly mixed with a swizzle stick until the outside of the glass frosts.
Toddy
Traditionally spirit, sugar, and hot water; lemon and spices are common additions. A cold toddy also exists historically.
Tiki
A modern category of tropical-inspired cocktails, often rum-based and built around citrus, spice, syrups, liqueurs, crushed ice, and elaborate garnish.

Two-ingredient cocktail
A drink of one spirit plus one mixer, such as rum and Coke, vodka soda, or gin and tonic.
Zero-proof / NA
Contains no alcohol, or is marketed as nonalcoholic. “Mocktail” is common, but some programs prefer zero-proof cocktail or spirit-free cocktail.

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Patron Archetypes
 

Anchor

A lone customer who sits right in the middle of the bar and refuses to move, sometimes blocking new groups from sitting down.

Bar fly
Someone who spends a great deal of time at bars, often a familiar fixture.

Camper

Occupies a prime seat at the bar for hours while ordering very little.
Customers we remember 

People who steal the tiki mugs, copper cups, absinthe glasses & spoons, etc. from bars. 
Those people are known professionally as customers we remember.

There are actually two categories:

Customers we remember fondly.
And customers whose face we could pick out of a police lineup.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The patron who is polite and quiet when sober, but combative or loud after a few drinks.
Regulars
Loyal customers who sit in the same spot, know the staff, and tip well.

Sponge

A customer who mostly drinks on other people's tabs or looks for free pours and comps.

Squatter

Someone who takes seats that belong to another party or sits at a reserved table without asking.
Weekend warrior
Someone who drinks or parties heavily mainly on weekends.

WhaleA high-spending customer who orders top-shelf liquor, runs up a massive tab, and leaves an oversized tip.

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