Why do we tap our shot glasses on the bar?
Have you ever puzzled why we tap our shot eyeglasses on the bar prior to throwing one back?

Yeah, I questioned, much too.

Is it a Milwaukee point? A Wisconsin thing? Or does this custom grow past point out borders?

The Google presents some suggestions, but they did not definitely incorporate up. Some propose that it is a way to toast the dearly departed, and it’s a lot less wasteful than “pouring a single out” … but does your fantastic good grandpa really want you to wake him up in heaven every time you slam a slot of tequila?

Other individuals speculate it is a way to acknowledge the bartender for his or her company. That kind of helps make sense, but consumers faucet their shots irrespective of whether or not the bartender is participating – or even viewing.

I even observed this not likely clarification: “In Eire, it was considered that liquor contained spirits that could possibly be dangerous if consumed, and tapping the glass dispelled these spirits.”

It all appears a tiny random to me. So I asked a few Milwaukee bartenders, as effectively as ones farther out, why they consider we take part in this ritual at the corner tavern.


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Paul Kennedy, who bartends at The Newport and Creed’s Foggy Dew, says he discovered this tradition about 15 yrs back. He states he requested shoppers why they did it but by no means got a definitive reply.

“The most common answer I have been provided is it is in honor of a good friend/beloved just one who is no more time with us,” he claims. “I’ve also been instructed it is a salute to the bartender. That is sweet but salutes don’t shell out the electric powered bill. I refuse to do it. For all I know it could be a black magic ritual and a way to conjure up evil. That’s how we finished up with Ron Johnson in the Senate.”

“I’ve often thought it was a sign of regard for the bar and/or the bartender,” suggests Nate Tomzcuk, who utilised to bartend at the Safe and sound House and Fanatics Sports Central, but lower his teeth bartending in Manitowoc. “Just like individuals clink their glasses with their cocktails/drinks or pour a tiny on the flooring for their useless peeps.”


Nomad bartender Sammy Mentkowski suggests a unique motive, a person that I am using with a shaker of salt and a lime.

“It all dates back again to the early juke joints, in which sawdust was put on the dance floor for simple cleaning should the necessity occur,” he states. “After specifically raucous wang dang doodles, sawdust particles would fill the air masking every thing in the vicinity such as the glassware. Tapping the glass on the bar was a way to take away sediment prior to taking a gulp of that sweet dancing juice.”

“It is a single tap on the bar for me,” claims Amanda Wisth, who bartended at Joey’s Yardarm in Racine. “When I was driving the bar and throwing them again with patrons, it was one particular tap, a wink, and a elevate of the glass. To thank them for the (lots of) shots. As a patron, irrespective of whether the bartender is joining in or not it is the exact same: one particular faucet, a wink and a increase of the glass to thank them for their company. No matter whether they see it or not, that fantastic energy by no means hurts.” 

Amy Freeze experienced often read even though slinging drinks at bars and supper clubs, it all will come down to gratitude. A shot faucet, a nod of the head, a silent thank you to the bartender. “I do like the strategy of toasting your past, with your foreseeable future. Positive. I’ve poured one out for a homie. We all have, right? The shot tap means so many distinctive matters to distinctive individuals and that’s what genuinely would make it one of a kind and properly-loved by so several.”

Maybe?

Emily Milquet, the owner of Manor on Main, a supper club in Wausaukee about three hours north of Milwaukee, admits she doesn’t know why people today do it, but appreciated the Internet’s clarification of demonstrating respect to the bar.

So, she thought about it a tiny more, and came up with this clarification:

“Well, when I acquire a shot I typically cheers and faucet everyone else’s shot glass as a way of such as and thanking them,” she suggests. “The reasoning would be tapping it on the bar would be the identical as indicating cheers to the establishment.”



Hmm. This continue to appears iffy to me, so I expanded my lookup for responses, and apparently, this isn’t just a Wisconsin tradition.

Diane Dowland, who once owned the Monkey Bar in Milwaukee and now lives in Arizona, sees it out west, too.


“I’ve observed the two: the one particular faucet and the double faucet. I was advised that the double faucet is one particular for the bartender, a person for someone who is no lengthier with us. In Wisconsin, you’re performing shots with the bartender, so there it’s is your ‘cheers to the bartender.’ In states like Arizona where by the bartender is not lawfully authorized to drink guiding the bar, the a person tap is a regular acknowledgment to the a person serving you the shot, considering the fact that they cannot partake with you.”

By the way, Dowland claims a Wisconsin bartender is practically a superstar in Arionza. 

“’You can consume even though you operate? Inconceivable,’ and ‘how are you even able to rely your drawer at the conclude?’ I explain to them how the primary requirement when employing a bartender in Wisconsin is that they can deal with their liquor. Even much more so than how they look in TikTok leggings or no matter whether they have a boob occupation. Weird!”

But the most stoic clarification arrives from previous Seattle bartender Jonny Cragg, who has served drinks around the entire world. Regrettably, he remains stumped.

“Short answer: I have no idea,” he states. “Longer speculative response: It’s a declaration of intent, a motivation to self damage in the title of hedonism.”

So there you have it. Variety of. The reply: no one genuinely knows. Bottoms up!