What are we drinking?

[Duster3]

Years ago I managed a nightclub at the NJ shore that offered three beers: Schlitz, Schmidt's and Ballantine Ale! I'm guessing that there are still a few mutts among us who are drinking Yuengling and Pabst.

But here's the question: You're at the bar of an upscale restaurant waiting for your table - what are you ordering?

My SO wants white wine - no chardonnay - maybe Viognier or Sauvignon Blanc. I'm drinking Johnny Red on the rocks or maybe a glass of Cab or Zin if they have a decent brand.

That's the thread: what are the real men (Ugers) of the metro area drinking today?

 

[stevana]

Where 'ya been for 5+ years Duster? Your recent activity has raised some nice thread topics. For me, vodka/rocks with maybe some olives no matter where I am (upscale place or not) with the olives more likely at an upscale place because the olives are likely of much better quality.

 

[Duckman]

An Old-Fashioned, if the weather is cooler and especially if the bar has Blanton's. During the warmer months -- vodka martini or a perfect manhattan.

 

[Duster3]

Interesting...

For a number of years I drank Tanqueray on the rocks with an occasional Manhattan - sometimes with bourbon and sometimes with brandy.
More often today I hear "Mojito", "Prosecco", "Bay Breeze", and a dozen different "'tini's" being ordered...just doesn't seem right....

 

[justlooking]

Restaurant bars (as opposed to cocktail lounges with bartenders I trust):

Manhattan in the fall and winter

Martini in the spring and summer

(Of course, as I said, in real cocktail lounges with real bartenders it's a whole different thing.)

 

[stevana]

Restaurant bars (as opposed to cocktail lounges with bartenders I trust):

Manhattan in the fall and winter

Martini in the spring and summer

(Of course, as I said, in real cocktail lounges with real bartenders it's a whole different thing.)

Interesting. Care to share why you make this distinction between restaurants and cocktail lounges? Is it something that applies even if you are at the bar in a restaurant (as opposed to a table from which you can't see the bartender)?

 

[Happy Hooker]

That's the thread: what are the real men (Ugers) of the metro area drinking today?

I am not a UG man, but I do drink too so....

Champagne when I am stressed.

French Martini when I am stressed

and Vodka shots( 6-7 max) when I am stressed

 

[stevana]

I am not a UG man, but I do drink too so....

Champagne when I am stressed.

French Martini when I am stressed

and Vodka shots( 6-7 max) when I am stressed

So let me know when you are stressed - I will buy you whatever (all that?) works for you that day.

 

[viking1965]

I'm with Duck..

An Old-Fashioned, if the weather is cooler and especially if the bar has Blanton's. During the warmer months -- vodka martini or a perfect manhattan.

A Makers' Mark or Nob Creek Old-fashioned. A good bar will make it with simple syrup instead of sugar and have a big wooden stick to "muddle" the solid ingredients. Best one I ever had was at NOLA, Emeril Lagasse's more casual place in the French Quarter.

In the summer time, a properly made (they're hard to find) Mint Julep or Mojito.

Skol!

 

[viking1965]

Years ago I managed a nightclub at the NJ shore that offered three beers: Schlitz, Schmidt's and Ballantine Ale! I'm guessing that there are still a few mutts among us who are drinking Yuengling and Pabst.

But here's the question: You're at the bar of an upscale restaurant waiting for your table - what are you ordering?

My SO wants white wine - no chardonnay - maybe Viognier or Sauvignon Blanc. I'm drinking Johnny Red on the rocks or maybe a glass of Cab or Zin if they have a decent brand.

That's the thread: what are the real men (Ugers) of the metro area drinking today?

You might be surprised to learn that Yeungling has actually become pretty trendy.

 

[Mr. Wet Wooly]

You might be surprised to learn that Yeungling has actually become pretty trendy.

Sadly enough, so has Pabst with the boho Williamsburg types.

Yuengling is damn fine beer, man. Proof that brew doesn't have to be expensive to be good.

 

[justlooking]

Interesting. Care to share why you make this distinction between restaurants and cocktail lounges? Is it something that applies even if you are at the bar in a restaurant (as opposed to a table from which you can't see the bartender)?

Let me amend that slightly. There are restaurants with serious bars. E.g., the Bar at Town, the Bar Room at the Modern, WD-50, etc. Now, it's becoming something of a trend. If I'm at a restaurant like that, I look at the house cocktail list and order one of the house cocktails. Pretty much as I would at a serious cocktail lounge like Pegu Club, Little Branch, Death & Co., Milk & Honey, etc.

But lots of restaurants have bars where there's every indication that they aren't really serious. There, either they don't have house cocktails, or if they do there's no reason to think they're going to be any good. And it would folly to order any of the obscure classic cocktails that we cocktail geeks like to drink -- or, for that matter, to trust the bartender to make anything too complicated. In those places, it's safer to fall back on something easy and standard. (Although it pisses me off that a lot of these bars don't even have rye, so you can't have a Manhattan with the correct whiskey.)

 

[blondekelly]

Glass of Champagne (Rose preferably)
Glass of Savignon Blanc

 

[ZapBrannigan]

This thread is making me thirsty

My default starter is Johnny Walker Black on the rocks for the first few and then I'll switch to beer - or wine if I'm eating something.

I used to prefer gin martinis but I got a little sick of dealing with the glass. In my opinion, anything else served in a martini glass isn't gender-appropriate for straight males (although to each their own I suppose).

 

[stevana]

I used to prefer gin martinis but I got a little sick of dealing with the glass.

When I have a martini I ask for it to be served in a rocks glass - I am less likely to knock it over.

 

[justlooking]

The usual martini glasses are like the most sadistice invention of the world.

Note that the new "connisseur's" cockail lounges use old-style martini glasses, which are shaped in such a way that YOU DON'T FUCKING SPILL EVERYTHING.

 

[justlooking]

I used to prefer gin martinis but I got a little sick of dealing with the glass. In my opinion, anything else served in a martini glass isn't gender-appropriate for straight males (although to each their own I suppose).

How can you possibly say a Manhattan isn't "gender-appropriate"? I think that's like the most masculine drink I can imagine.

 

[Ozzy]

James Bond drank martini's


And here's the best recipe for a dry martini....


Pour your vermouth into a shaker with ice... shake it up so the cubes get coated with the vermouth and then pour out all the vermouth and add the gin to the shaker. Shake again and strain the gin into a glass. Perfect "dry" martini.

Or you could make it the way JL probably likes it.... pour some gin in a glass and put the vermouth bottle on the side to look at.

 

[billyS]

Yuengling is damn fine beer, man. Proof that brew doesn't have to be expensive to be good.

I was drinking Yuengling drafts this fall for the first time and I thought they were pretty good.

Answer to main question:
Jack and coke or
A beer..I'll always see what they have on tap first, Heinikens would be first choice,
Bottle beer Corona with a lime, if I'm having a steak then Becks dark.

 

[justlooking]

Actually, I don't like my martinis dry. My fave is a Fitty-Fitty: half gin, half vermouth, with a dash or two of orange bitters.

But even standard Martinis I like 1/3 vermouth.

It's very hard to convince bartenders at "normal" (non-cocktail-geek) bars that I really mean it when I say I don't want my Martini dry.