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At the bar: understanding and ordering drinks

At the bar — a B2 English lesson. Practise comparative and superlative forms and expand your vocabulary for ordering drinks and cocktails.

At the bar: understanding and ordering drinks

Summary

This ESL lesson for B2 English students explores Bar and drink vocabulary. Using a real video as the basis for discussion, students develop reading and listening comprehension, vocabulary, and grammar skills across a 90-minute class.

The grammar focus is Comparatives and Superlatives. Key vocabulary includes aperitif (noun), digestive (noun), counterpart (noun) and more, all drawn directly from the source material. The practical English section gives students useful phrases for real-life situations: You are at a bar with friends and want to order a drink, but you're not sure what to get. Use these phrases to interact with the bartender..

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Activities

00:00 Alcohol is everywhere in today's culture. And while it's easy to stick with the stuff that you know, it could be helpful to expand your vocabulary at the bar.
00:08 Here are five drinking terms you should know.
00:11 An aperitif is a drink meant to be had before eating a meal like vermouth, gin or a martini.
00:19 These drinks are designed to whet the palate and wake up the digestive system. However, its sweeter counterpart, a digestif, is intended to be consumed afterwards.
00:30 These are generally fortified wines like sherry or brandy that offer a richer and more relaxing profile.
00:36 Well drinks are often advertised as part of happy hours, and if you go to a lot of bars, you probably know what they are. In case you don't, well drinks are just made with the most basic inexpensive liquor that the bar has.
00:49 Plenty of people hold their nose, literally, and go with the cheapest liquor available. But if you want nicer liquor in your drink, you'll have to specify when you order.
00:58 Sour drinks are usually served in short glasses. They have liquor, lemon or lime juice and sugar. Some places will have their sour mixture pre-made and ready to go.
01:08 I have been drinking vodka sours for one third of my life and only learned three months ago that they sometimes include egg whites, which horrified me in the same way as when I learned Caesar salad dressing uses anchovies.
01:21 Thankfully, you can avoid this horror by making your own sour, which is surprisingly easy.
01:25 A dry martini has less vermouth than normal, and a dry drink of another kind has less of a mixer than normal, meaning you'll taste the alcohol more.
01:35 On the other hand, ordering a wet drink means you'll get extra vermouth in your martini or extra mixer in your drink.
01:41 A stirred drink is just what it sounds like. It's one that's been stirred, not shaken, before being strained.
01:47 Generally, cocktails and mixed drinks are shaken if they have some special ingredients like cream or egg whites.
01:54 Shaking helps the drink get colder faster and also aids the drink to make it lighter feeling.
01:59 What's your go-to cocktail? Be sure to drop a comment below and stay tuned to Lifehacker for more tips and tricks on how to do everything better.

Vocabulary focus

The vocabulary section introduces B2-level words and phrases related to Bar and drink vocabulary. Key terms include aperitif (noun), digestive (noun), counterpart (noun), well drinks (noun phrase), specify (verb). Students practise using these terms in context through exercises drawn from the source material.

Grammar focus

This lesson focuses on Comparatives and Superlatives. We use comparative adjectives (-er or more) to compare two things. We use superlative adjectives (-est or most) to compare one thing to all others in a group.

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How to order: Bar and dining vocabulary
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