I’ve always thrived in social settings, but more than that, I need them to feel fulfilled. As my friends and I are about to graduate, our social time becomes limited with internships, hefty course loads and the uncertainty of what a full-time job will mean for our daily hangouts.
The weekend offers a relief for me, providing well-needed moments where I can put my week’s rigor behind me and melt into a bar’s booth with a gin and tonic in hand. Nothing fuels my heart more than hearing my friend’s laughter, blending into the roar of strangers filling the space around us — who likely waited for the weekend to do the same.
There’s something electric about the collective experience of being a college student in a bar, surrounded by strangers who you know share similar tastes. Whether grinning ear to ear on the Franky Bradley’s dance floor, playing a round of pool at Buffalo Billiards or putting on your finest outfit for a specialty cocktail at the Ranstead Room, Bar Guide offers a space for everyone.
Temple offers a unique trifecta for students living near campus with Pub Webb and Maxi’s hosting the perfect Thursday night out, along with the newly established Peabody providing a Temple-themed menu and student-centric experience.
In this year’s Bar Guide, The Temple News takes newly 21-year-olds through the nightlife experience of a lifetime. Inside peeks include a guide on how to order from a bar, our 16 must-see bar recommendations and features on some of the most prominent bars in the city.
Get out there, have fun and most importantly, be safe.
Cheers,
Bayleh Alexander
Features Editor
Jump to section
How to order a drink from the bar
A freshly minted 21-year-old faces the excitement of a whole new world of nightlife and social experiences — but stepping up to the bar for the first time can feel a little intimidating.
With so many options and unfamiliar terms — house, well, mixers, sours — it’s normal to feel unsure about what to order and how to phrase it. From choosing the type of liquor to deciding between “house” or a top-shelf brand, figuring out your go-to drink doesn’t have to be overwhelming.
Here’s Features Editor Bayleh Alexander’s guide for first-time bar-goers.
CHOOSE YOUR LIQUOR
Deciding the type of liquor or spirit is the building block to creating your ideal mixed drink or cocktail. Liquors come in various forms and are typically classified as clear or dark.
Popular clear liquors include: vodka, a neutral-tasting spirit typically made from grains, gin, a fresh-tasting liquor that gets its flavor from juniper berries, and tequila, made from the heart of agave plants. These typically have a smoother, cleaner taste and are a versatile base for mixed drinks and cocktails. Ordering vodka drinks is an easy first-time choice due to the variety of mixed drinks it can produce.
Dark liquors like whiskey, bourbon and brandy typically have a richer flavor profile. While doable for more ambitious beginners, they contain more congeners, which are toxic byproducts produced during the fermentation process. Although the aging process causes dark liquor to have a richer flavor than clear liquor, it can also intensify hangovers, making clear liquor a wiser choice for first-time drinkers.
TOP OR BOTTOM SHELF?
Now that you’ve decided on a liquor variety, it’s time to settle on a quality preference between house or top-shelf.
House liquor, also known as well liquor or bottom-shelf, is the bar’s default and cheapest option. When ordering a standard drink, like a gin and tonic, the bartender may ask for a gin preference. If you don’t know your preference, “No, house is fine,” is a suitable response.
Top-shelf, or premium, liquor is better quality and more expensive than bottom-shelf options. These liquors undergo a more refined distillation process, resulting in a smoother and more enjoyable drinking experience. When ordering a drink with a top-shelf preference, it’s simpler to say, “Grey Goose Cosmopolitan,” for example, rather than waiting for the bartender to ask.
SIP OR SHOOT?
Now that you’ve selected your liquor preference, it’s time to choose how you want to drink it — in a cocktail or as a shot.
Popular cocktails for first-time drinkers include Cosmopolitans, lemon drops, mojitos and martinis. All cocktails consist of one or more liquors, along with other ingredients like juice, tonic water, flavored syrup and mixers.
When ordering a cocktail, it helps to have an idea of what flavor and liquor to choose. They typically fall under a variety of flavor categories, including sweet, sour, fruity and bitter.
For first-time drinkers, ordering sweet or fruity drinks is an easy introduction to enjoying liquor. Some sweet varieties include a Cosmopolitan and a gimlet. The fruity cocktail variety includes tequila sunrise and daiquiris.
Once you master sweet drinks, you may enjoy graduating to sour or bitter cocktails. Examples of sour cocktails include whiskey sours, amaretto sours and tequila sours. These are all made with lemon or lime juice and a sweetener. Popular bitter drinks are Negronis, Aperol Spritzes and Manhattans.
Choosing flavoring and liquor is a personal choice and everyone has their own preferences. It’s easy to feel self-conscious about a drink choice, especially when surrounded by more experienced bar-goers. Remember: there’s no right or wrong drink order.
Braver bar-goers may opt for a shot in lieu of a mixed drink. Shots are a small portion of straight liquor that you drink in one gulp. Shots like green tea, white tea and Kamikaze shots also contain mixers.
Due to their high alcohol content, shots may be difficult to swallow for beginners. It is recommended to use a chaser – a non-alcoholic beverage that follows the shot immediately after you take it to help swallow it down.
Be careful here — you don’t want to take too many shots. Everyone has a different alcohol threshold, but you may not feel the effects instantly and be inclined to take more. Listen to your body and space out time between shots to make sure you’re not overdoing it.
BEER AND WINE
Choosing beer or wine is a suitable decision if you want to enjoy a drink but don’t want to get too intoxicated from liquor’s higher alcohol content. For beer, start by choosing options on tap, also known as draft, or bottled and canned.
Draft beers are typically fresher, smoother and more carbonated and are served through a tap system from a keg. Canned beers are served in aluminum and better protect the drink from light and oxygen than bottles, and are comparable to a draft when chilled. Bottled beers are portable and served in a glass, but the flavor can taste different than draft and canned due to higher element exposure.
For wine, decide between red, white or rosé, then choose sweet or dry based on personal taste. Red wines are fermented grapes with the skin, which gives it its dark color and tannins. White wine is also fermented grapes, but without the skin, resulting in a lighter color and smoother texture.
Red wine is a darker, bolder flavor and is typically served at room temperature. White wine is lighter and fresher and is typically served chilled.
When unsure, asking the bartender for a beer or wine recommendation is always a safe choice.
ORDERING
Now that you’re familiar with all the necessary terms, let’s run through the process of ordering. It’s a good rule of thumb to already know what type of drink you’re in the mood for before approaching the bar, especially when bartenders are busy.
Make eye contact with the bartender to indicate you’re ready to order and have payment out and ready — being direct and confident will help smooth the process.
Be mindful of the space around you and don’t shove people out of your way to make it to the front, but assert yourself and don’t let fellow bar-goers push you to the back.
An unspoken bar rule includes saying the name of the liquor before the mixer. For example, ordering a gin and tonic instead of a tonic and gin.
Once ordered, the bartender will ask if you’d like to close out or start a tab. If this is your only drink of the night, you’ll close out, meaning they run your card and hand you the receipt right after. But if you’re planning on having multiple drinks, you can open a tab, meaning the bartender runs your card but holds off on payment until the end of the night.
Some bars keep the card and some hand it back to you immediately, but the tab is still running regardless. To close your tab, you’ll let the bartender know you’d like to close out and they’ll hand the receipt back to you with all your drinks from the night on it.
Make sure you leave at least a 20% tip!
STORIES
The 16: Must-visit bars in Philadelphia for Temple students
A look inside The Peabody’s three year delay
The bars that keep Temple’s campus buzzing
DJ’s, drag queens and drinks at Franky Bradleys
Delving into Philadelphia’s underground scene
Community and cue balls at an Old City pool hall
A closer look inside Milkboy’s music and evolution
Be the first to comment