Drink orders gone wrong

[lovehockey]

For some odd reason, reading the thread about finding a decent nonalcoholic beverage reminded me of an incident several years ago of a cocktail order that did not end well.

One fateful evening my twin sister and I celebrated our birthday at a new bar in my Canadian hometown, which has a population of around 20,000 and is just outside of the provincial capital. We were sitting at a table with a group of friends and some of her work colleagues.

I placed my order for a whiskey sour and the waitress looked confused. I should have taken that as my first hint to visit the bar, but I didn't. The second unheeded hint to visit the bar was when I noticed her talking earnestly with the bartender. Several minutes later I got my whiskey sour, which was in a shot glass and dark pink in color. It turns out that in my years away from home I hadn't learned about something that had been invading bars in Canada, a raspberry liqueur called Sourpuss. And that's what I got, with perhaps some whiskey thrown in.

I was a nice person and kept it (Canadians are nice people, after all ), although I did tell the waitress and the bartender what exactly it was I had been looking for.

Anyone else have a story about a drink order that went haywire?

[porcupine]

from an old post about a now-defunct restaurant:

Our waiter was a pleasant fellow, and I admire his honesty for asking me what a negroni was, but wouldn't it be better just to scurry off and give the bartender the order? And wouldn't the bartender be better off looking it up on the internet or in a bar guide rather than faking it? I told the waiter "equal parts gin, Campari, and sweet vermouth", but the shocking pink concoction that arrived in a martini glass tasted.... well, heck, I don't know what it tasted like. Mostly like sweet vermouth. Not like a negroni.

[ScotteeM]

This thread prompted me to remember a dinner a few years ago at a prominent restaurant near the White House, where a diner ordered a Sazerac. The server went to the bar and confabbed with the bartender for a while, before returning to inform the diner that the bartender didn't know what a Sazerac was and couldn't find it on Google. Really?

[PappyVanWise]

In my limited cocktail ordering experience, a Sazarec is probably the most varied recipe I get. Got to give credit to a bartender at Green Pig Bistro, who told me he didn't have the right ingredients but would give it a shot. I think I basically got a chilled pernod with a twist, but an A for effort.

[SeanMike]

That's weird, last time I was at Green Pig they had the ingredients...unless they didn't have absinthe and were using Pernod, I guess, but I thought they had it.

[Banco]

A surprisingly frequent foible: I order a cocktail (e.g., a Manhattan) "straight up" and am given the requisite ingredients at room temperature in an old-fashioned glass. No shaking, no stirring, no use of ice at all. The last time this happened was during a cast party at a hotel bar in Foggy Bottom. Sometimes the "bartender" even gets defensive if I try to explain what "straight up" means. Kids these days.

[Tujague]

A surprisingly frequent foible: I order a cocktail (e.g., a Manhattan) "straight up" and am given the requisite ingredients at room temperature in an old-fashioned glass. No shaking, no stirring, no use of ice at all. The last time this happened was during a cast party at a hotel bar in Foggy Bottom. Sometimes the "bartender" even gets defensive if I try to explain what "straight up" means. Kids these days.

Last night at Beuchert's one of the servers in the backroom came up to talk to the bartenders because her customer had ordered a vodka martini "up" and she didn't know what that meant. The same customer had asked for white vermouth, and the bartenders didn't seem to know the difference between that and dry vermouth. (I think they used Dolin Blanc.)

[Banco]

Last night at Beuchert's one of the servers in the backroom came up to talk to the bartenders because her customer had ordered a vodka martini "up" and she didn't know what that meant. The same customer had asked for white vermouth, and the bartenders didn't seem to know the difference between that and dry vermouth. (I think they used Dolin Blanc.)

That's strange coming from Beuchert's, though the confusion about white vermouth is understandable.

[Tujague]

That's strange coming from Beuchert's, though the confusion about white vermouth is understandable.

Yeah, it caught me off-guard, too. The woman who seemed to be in charge of the bar that night was reasonably knowledgable, but at least one of the other bartenders not only seemed like he was new, but that this was the first he had encountered some of the spirits there--tasting the Aperol, Fernet Branca, etc.

[DanielK]

FWIW, the head bartender from Last Exit in Mt. Pleasant, Anthony Rivera, starts at Beuchert's this week.

[SeanMike]

FWIW, the head bartender from Last Exit in Mt. Pleasant, Anthony Rivera, starts at Beuchert's this week.

He's been working there for a while, mostly on Sundays. Last week was his last shift at Last Exit.

(FULL DISCLOSURE: Anthony is one of our partners in Scofflaws Den, LLC.)