Around the neck of every bottle from the fledgling spirits outfit the 86 Co. — the gin, the vodka, the tequila, the rum — is a small glass ridge. To the untrained eye, it looks like a packaging flourish. It is not.

The ridge is there to make it easier for a bartender to grab the bottle, upend it and pour. It was the suggestion of the Los Angeles mixologist Eric Alperin, one of many bartenders sounded out by Simon Ford, Dushan Zaric and Jason Kosmos before they and two other partners started the liquor line last year.

The neck is not the only thing designed to please the men and women behind the bar. The mouth is slightly tapered so speed-pouring spouts don’t slip out when they begin to wear thin. The bottle has liter and ounce measurements on the side, so that once empty, it can be used for other juices and syrups. The spirits themselves were concocted to be affordable yet pass the quality test and be eminently mixable. (While developing the Caña Brava rum in Panama, Mr. Zaric got in the habit of making a daiquiri on the spot with each new sample that came off the still.)

“It’s about creating the tools that make our lives better,” he said. By “our” he meant bartenders’ — Mr. Zaric, Mr. Kosmos and Mr. Ford all have backgrounds in bartending.