Why Do We Tap Our Glass on the Bar Before Taking a Shot?

Clinking your glass towards these of your drinking buddies earlier than you all knock again shots appears a bit like high-fiving, fist-bumping, or another movement of camaraderie. And that’s just about what the preferred theory behind the custom boils right down to. In historic occasions, folks simply handed round a single cup—so when that received phased out in favor of separate receptacles, tapping them collectively maintained that very same sense of kinship.

And in case you have any expertise taking pictures in a bar (or actually simply being in a bar), you might have observed one other pattern: After the cheers, folks usually faucet their glasses on the bar or desk earlier than ingesting. As with common toasts, it’s not clear precisely when, the place, or why this tradition started. However as of late, most drinkers will cite considered one of two frequent causes behind it. The primary is barely extra morbid than you might have anticipated.

Courting again to historic occasions, once more, drinkers generally “poured one out”—actually poured a beverage on the bottom—as a tribute to deceased comrades or family members who would in any other case have been there imbibing with them. As Vine Pair explains, many contemplate tapping your glass on the bar a modern-day, much less wasteful manner of doing the identical factor.

In the event you’re not eager on fascinated with loss and demise each time you do a tequila shot, you would possibly choose the second motive for the faucet: It’s merely an indication of respect to the bartender, the waitstaff, and the institution general. For the reason that toast is to your buddies and the drink itself is for you, it is sensible that you just’d add in a bit hat-tip to the place that made all of it potential.

These aren’t the one two explanations connected to the custom. Some say, for instance, it’s rooted in an outdated Irish superstition whereby tapping your glass on the desk rids your drink of evil spirits. Regardless of the case, your bartender will certainly recognize a faucet way more than a full drink dumped on the ground.

[h/t Vine Pair]