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What to Drink After Your Bar Exam: An Expert's Guide

By Casey C. Sullivan, Esq. | Last updated on

Once you're done sitting for the bar, you'll probably want to head to a real bar. You've dedicated years of your life and months of cramming to the bar exam -- going out for a night of celebration is your right and obligation.

But as a soon-to-be-lawyer, you don't want to drink just any swill. Here are seven drinks to help you celebrate finishing the bar exam the right way.

1. Champagne: It's classic. It's classy. It's cliche? Maybe all three, but if there's ever a time for grandiose bottle popping, the end of the bar exam is it. Keep a bottle on hand for when you find out you passed as well.

2. Whiskey: Start practicing for your practice by getting in to whiskey, preferably Scotch whiskey. Sipping on a single malt is a long-standing legal tradition -- as is bloviating about smokiness and peatiness to help disguise your drinking problem. Sample several whiskeys. That way, you'll know which one you'll want to keep in your desk drawer once you start working.

3. "The Student Special:" Your student loan payments will come do sooner than you expect, so start getting frugal with this beer and a shot combo. Also known as a poet's special, the gist of this pairing is simple: "I'm broke and want to get drunk." Sound familiar?

4. Something From the Pico-Brewery: Law may be a conservative profession, but you're young and ready to shake things up. Show the world how in-the-know you are by ordering a beer from the nearest pico-brewery. What's a pico-brewery, you ask? If a nano-brewery is smaller than a microbrewery, a pico-brewery is smaller than both. It's the one-man boutique firm of the brewing world. 

5. Cider: Hold up your nose to the pico-brew swine -- real insiders know that cider is the new hip drink. Ciders are exploding throughout the West Coast (and even NYC!). Plus, cider is gluten-free, maybe?

6. A Bloody Mary: You might want to save this for the morning after, but ordering a Bloody Mary is a great way to remind yourself how you've mastered all the levels of homicide. Strangers at the bar are sure to be impressed.

7. Kava: It's not booze, but it has caused a DUI, so don't take this tea lightly. Kava is a relaxation tea that originated in Polynesia. It's nature's alternative to Xanax -- and you'll need to relax, after the exam you just took.

Of course, whatever celebrating you do, remember your limits and take a cab home.

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