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A cocktail made with the bar's well spirits — the default, lowest-cost brands stocked in the speed rack, used when a guest doesn't specify a brand. Well drinks carry a lower menu price but their high volume makes their margin contribution significant.
Well drinks are often the most ordered category in a full-service bar — 'vodka soda,' 'rum and coke,' 'gin tonic' — and because they don't specify a brand, they get whatever's in the well. This makes well spirit selection one of the highest-leverage cost decisions a bar makes.
The math: a well spirit at $15/bottle with a 1.5oz standard pour yields approximately 17 pours per bottle. At a $9 menu price, that's $153 revenue per bottle. At a $7 menu price (which many bars price well drinks at to compete), it's $119. The difference between $15/bottle and $20/bottle well spirits at that volume can mean $2-3 of margin per pour.
Well drink specs are frequently underdocumented because they're seen as the simple end of the menu. But they require the same spec discipline as signature cocktails — exact spirit, exact pour volume, standard garnish, build method — to ensure consistency and cost control.
methodus treats well drink specs with the same rigor as signature cocktails — documented, costed, and trainable so your highest-volume pours are as consistent as your showcase drinks.
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