Booze You Can Use

Memo to Cocktail Snobs: Bartenders Are Not Impressed With Your Shenanigans

Photo: iStock Photo

We’re getting to the point in haute bar culture, at least in the country’s more cocktail-obsessed regions, where nearly every customer can navigate a small-batch whiskey menu and knows there are better things to order than vodka sodas. But the trend toward more sophisticated imbibing has created monster customers, says spirits writer Camper English. Monsters who know so darn much about drinks they can no longer help themselves from ordering customized Aviations and getting real picky about their ice. So, Camper takes the opportunity to detail a few rules everyone can follow to make sure they don’t look like a jerk on their next trip to the local watering hole.

In the Don’t column: Don’t order a drink from the Pegu Club in New York if you’re sitting at The Alembic in San Francisco; don’t order a super-obscure drink from some out-of-print cocktail book; don’t bring your own homemade bitters; and don’t try to chat up the damn bartender about his technique if the bar is slammed.

In other words, don’t be such an asshole about the whole thing. They’re just drinks.

Has the Mixology Movement Created a Monster? [7x7]
Earlier: Barrel-Aged Cocktails: These Are A Thing Now [Grub Street]
Bartenders Debate Whether Vodka Deserves Their Hate [Grub Street]
GQ Names Best Cocktail Bars, Shafts Sasha Petraske [Grub Street]

Memo to Cocktail Snobs: Bartenders Are Not Impressed With Your Shenanigans