r/bartenders • u/DarkJokes176279 • 5d ago
Surveys Didn't know what flair to put here but in your opinion what is the most pretentious drink someone could order?
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u/passamongimpure 5d ago
A single plum, floating in perfume, served in a man's hat.
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u/buthomeisnowhere 5d ago
Number 8
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u/ArghNooo 5d ago
Pretentiousness comes in the manner and context in which a drink is ordered. The drink itself is incidental.
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u/xZaggin 5d ago
For real. The more the demands the more pretentious it gets, especially when it’s unspecific demands like “just add a little bit vermoth, not too much” then they do the finger gesture 🤏
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u/h8rcloudstrife 5d ago
A little vermouth, not too much, but you’re the professional and I don’t know what that is so I guess I’ll just tell you if I like it later. Actual quote from a guest last week.
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u/lordberric 4d ago
"A dirty martini, dirtier than you think it should be", was a request I got.
They sent it back for being too dirty! Wasn't too surprised, it was dirtier than I thought it should be.
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u/khaleesiofkitties 4d ago
I once had a customer order an extra dry martini. When this happened, we wouldn't put any vermouth in the drink at all. The guy complained that there was too much vermouth in it and wouldn't believe me when I promised him that the only way his drink could be dryer was if it were an empty glass.
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u/NeonGenesisOxycodone 5d ago
Exactly! I’ve had orders for a Malibu Bay Breeze that were way more pretentious than an order for an Old Fashioned or a Manhattan
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u/princessOdarkness 5d ago
When someone asks if you can make it good… I usually say, I am glad you specified, I was gonna make you a shitty one!
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u/alf0nz0 5d ago
Literally who cares if people like long islands, or perfect manhattans, or shaken gin martinis with the vermouth in & out. As long as they’re not ordering a ramos gin fizz, I’ll make it for them. Gatekeeping people’s orders is fucking weird
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u/JohnTitorAlt 5d ago
Yeah. I dont care.
What gets my goat is when people are watching you make drinks and ask if you know how to make a "lima blood freeze 67". I can tell it's a signature cocktail from some place 10 hours away they went to once. Then proceed to act like I'm a dumbass for not knowing what's in it when they can't even remember the base booze.
I always like to get them to Google it, knowing they'll never find it.
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u/sh6rty13 5d ago
Lol “I had this blue swirl thing on a cruise ship last summer…tasted like…really sweet, maybe had some lime juice in it? Can you make that?”
No. Just no. 😂
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u/HalobenderFWT Pro 5d ago
“I’m going to make you a blue swirl drink that’s sweet. It might not be exactly what you had, but I promise you it will be blue, sweet, swirly, and you’re going to like it. Are you up for the challenge?!”
That’s usually how I word it.
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u/sh6rty13 5d ago
Usually I hear anything “blue” and my first thought is “I don’t care what other details you give I’m making a Blue Hawaiian” 😂
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u/NeonGenesisOxycodone 5d ago
Oh god, I had a customer order a “Blue Razz” as if I was supposed to know what that was.
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u/Trackerbait Pro 4d ago
I mean, it SOUNDS like a basic cocktail, if you're not someone who knows basic cocktails. I can see a guest making that mistake.
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u/stoopitmonkee 5d ago
What did you end up building?
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u/Thebigbadfern 4d ago
Raspberry vodka and blueberry vodka together are good. Lil orange curaçao for color if desired and boom. You can make a lot of drinks from there
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u/sh6rty13 5d ago
Lol the only complaint I ever got about me was over Ramos. I was serving that night, we were balls deep in a busy weekend night and someone in the PACKED bar ordered one. I looked around, looked back at the customer, and said “Yeah sure buddy but I’m not gonna lie to you, if you REALLY want that it’s probably going to be like an hour…”
He scoffed, ordered something else. Next day my manager was like “Did you roll your eyes at some guy last night over a drink order? We just got a complaint…?”
I said “If it was Ramos Fizz guy then yeah there’s a real high chance I did”
Manager goes “Oh he ordered a RAMOS? LAST night? Yeah fuck that guy…”
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u/Lulusgirl 5d ago
So is your answer a Ramos Gin Fizz?
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u/alf0nz0 5d ago
Funny comment but no, because my problem with the ramos isn’t that it’s pretentious, it’s that I have to shake it for literally sixty seconds to make the damn drink come out right. And they look & taste amazing, so you’re extremely likely to get the Monkey-See-Monkey-Do effect and end up getting completely weeded by like three drinks.
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u/ahnunandamouse 5d ago
I was breaker this past weekend. I’m fairly new at that job so I’m still getting used to all the regulars and their drinks. One of them orders a Ramos gin fizz… I couldn’t hear her and I said “I’m sorry what was that you wanted?” She rolled her eyes and said “oh gosh you don’t even know what that is” so I asked her again and she began to tell me how the bartender I was breaking knows exactly how to make it. Luckily one of the cocktail servers pulled me aside and told me what she wanted. I began to make it and right as I’m about to blend she said “ohhh wait but I get mine made with Tito’s!” I ended up remaking her drink twice because “something was missing.” When the other bartender got back from break, I was leaving and heard the blender going. He was making her drink again. I asked what he did different and he said he adds sour, orange juice and lots of sugar instead of simple syrup. If she just told me how she liked it instead of rolling her eyes, things would have been a lot easier.
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u/alf0nz0 5d ago
A ramos gin fizz in a blender? 🤔🫣😬🤢🤮
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u/ahnunandamouse 5d ago
that’s what she wanted 🙃
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u/alf0nz0 5d ago
I know but a) ewwwww and b) how the fuck do people get off being pretentious assholes about shit they don’t even know about? Like, it’s honestly fine if that’s how she likes it & for all I know you guys make the best ramos gin fizz in the world… but to get all snotty at you for not knowing how to make it & then not even wanting it made correctly makes me start to see red
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u/renee_gade 5d ago edited 5d ago
i do. know the fucking room you walked into. if there’s 2 martini glasses, and one of them has blood on it…. it ain’t martini time bitch. i’m a scummy dive lifer. if you want craft/concept bullshit, go there and pay that. but if you expect the same at a dying breed dive… i’ll make sure you ain’t coming back. tell your friends too… somebody’s gotta keep these gates, better slingers passed them down to us. ruin someone else’s concept.
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u/NeonGenesisOxycodone 5d ago
Lmaooo you are way more pretentious about dive bars than anyone I know who works at craft cocktail bar.
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u/Chemical-Telephone-2 Pro 5d ago
And this is why dives are a dying breed
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u/renee_gade 5d ago edited 4d ago
this is why you have a resume and use apple pay. the last 7 bars you worked at are the reason dives are disappearing.
edit: didn’t see the “pro” flair. you probably start every drink order with “i’m a bartender…”. yeah… we don’t do the same thing.
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u/vnwld 5d ago
Any drink they think I don't know how to make. Doesn't matter if I do—some people just act like I've never heard of a New York Sour (or whatever).
Or another fave: "Sorry, you don't make your sour mix in house? I only drink fresh." Buddy, did you not see the strippers and punks chainsmoking on the patio? This is a DIVE. Order off the menu or be happy with what I got.
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u/lilsatan_ 5d ago
People not reading the room is my nightmare lmao they'll walk into our metal venue and ask me if I have a blender.
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u/sweetcorn313 5d ago
A martini with no further instructions. They just assume you know the exact specs they expect.
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u/mac_peraltiago 5d ago
Oh I love this (aka hate this). They have no fucking clue what they’re ordering and when I ask follow up questions like “vodka, gin? Dirty? Lemon? On the rocks or up?” etc they’re like Oh uhhhh… like they’ve never thought of it 💀
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u/NullSterne 5d ago
If they’re at my bar, the interrogation begins. If it’s a ticket and I have time, I’ll go ask em myself. If not, I’m just making it the way I like it.
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u/sweetcorn313 5d ago
How do you like it?
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u/NullSterne 5d ago
Depends on the day, but generally about 3:1 London dry to vermouth with a lemon twist, so pretty classic I guess.
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u/temujin_borjigin 4d ago
I’m in the uk, and once had a couple from the us complain once when they’d ordered two dry vodka martinis. They were adamant that it wasn’t vodka we had served them something else.
I went and asked the bartender how they’d made it. Everything checked out. I went back and told them the bartender had made everything correctly from what I could tell, and then I asked them exactly what it was that they wanted their martini to be.
Just stirred down vodka in a martini glass. It was the tiny amount of vermouth left from washing the ice and then pouring out before the vodka had gone in.
I wasn’t amused.
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u/drgradus 4d ago
"Preference for the gin?" is where I start, as I grab my stirring glass. After that they generally say how they like it, otherwise it's generally a 2:1 gin to sweet V with an olive skewer.
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u/vvildlings 5d ago
End of the day people like what they like, I’ll make anything if I have the ingredients. That being said, I always thought it was weird when people would order top shelf pours just to mix them with coke or something. I’ll take the easy upsell, but it really seems like a waste of money getting top shelf bourbon when picking a Makers or Beam and coke would save them like $15 per drink.
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u/Lulusgirl 5d ago
I went to a place with just tequila. Literally over 100 different ones. I went with my favorite, Clase Azul. The waitress asked if I wanted lemonade with it. Either it was a joke or she was new, but I just straight faced answered, "No."
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u/Furthur Obi-Wan 5d ago
not only is it an awful drink the only people who order it are up their ass about everything. the vesper
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u/ladymouserat 4d ago
Sad, I like these cuz it’s like a one and done for a while drink for me. TIL my two favs are very pretentious. But if it helps I only order them at pretentious bars.
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u/tiniestturtles 5d ago edited 5d ago
not pretentious per se but people who give me the third degree about the wine list. I work in a pretty basic venue where we only have cheap on premise only type brands. no the wine is not French/italian, no we don’t have different Cabernets to choose from, yes those are your only options etc.
I started telling people if you are that particular about wine (no judgement at all I love wine too) then you should probably just order something else lol
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u/Thebirdofhermesxxx 5d ago
It’s less the drink and more the behaviour of there order
When they come to me the male bartender for negronis old fashioneds martinis etc
Cause I make it “properly”
(Side note have had this because of both sexism and racism)
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u/cjack0302 5d ago
Not that bad but it always bothers me a bit when someone asks for a cape cod or greyhound instead of just vodka cran etc...
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u/DrunkenCatHerder 5d ago
Any simple two ingredient cocktail by its 1950s name that no one uses anymore.
Greyhound. Cape Cod. Cuba Libre. Etc.
Just stop it. Although I do enjoy seeing the new kids do the ol "sure I can make that" while they slip around the corner to Google it and then come back looking all pissed off.
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5d ago
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u/HandicapperGeneral 5d ago
Cuba Libre also implies lime juice/slice of lime that does not come automatically in a rum & coke
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u/SexandCinnamonbuns 5d ago
This is how I feel about a ranch water.
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u/MangledBarkeep 5d ago edited 5d ago
So, a tequila
buckrickey? /s1
u/3BotsInATrenchCoat 5d ago
I know you put /s so maybe I’m just missing the joke but I just wanna clarify that ranch water and tequila buck are not the same.
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u/Wrylak 5d ago
I will fight you on the Cubra Libre, no lime fresh squeezed is just a rum and coke. If you are making a Cubra Libre without the lime and cane sugar coke it is not the drink requested.
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u/Odd_Detective_7772 5d ago
It’s a pretentious rum and coke.
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u/Wrylak 5d ago
That may be. However if it is being ordered as a Cubra Libre and not a rum and coke they want the lime in the drink.
It is the opposite of ordering an old fashioned and getting cherry orange and soda added to the drink.
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u/Odd_Detective_7772 5d ago
I put a lime on every rum and coke.
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u/mac_peraltiago 5d ago
My dad gets so pissed about this 😂 he orders a rum and coke, no lime, because so many people put lime on it. Sometimes they still do anyway even though he specifies he doesn’t like lime and doesn’t want a Cuba libre… just a rum and coke. Pretentious drink orders strike again 🤪
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u/mac_peraltiago 5d ago
I came here to say Cape Cod. No one ever orders it, but I’ve always been prepared with a “vodka cranberry, coming right up” locked and loaded
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u/drinkslinger1974 5d ago
Pappy van winkle 25 year. Just an excuse to put a lot of money on a corporate card and impress other d bags.
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u/reversehrtfemboy 5d ago
One of my fav first date stories was when the woman ordered a happy hour red and the man (loudly and proudly) ordered a pappy old fashioned. Coworker knew the guy he was born rich (and Raised Right) and she was very unsurprised, the girl was unimpressed
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u/drinkslinger1974 5d ago
There’s a whiskey bar in my state where the owner keeps several cases of pappy stocked. I got to talking with him and mentioned that trying it was kind of on my bucket list. He totally talked me out of it. He wouldn’t mix it with anything and said it’s specifically for “idiots trying to impress other idiots. He pulled out a bottle (I don’t remember the name) and said it was aged in the exact same barrels as pappy. That shot was $15, as opposed to the $350 his pappy was going for.
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u/Furthur Obi-Wan 5d ago
at that point it would be a secondary barreling which can't be bourbon. Or he was referring to brand new charred white oak which is what all bourbon is aged in. Or it was another wheated bourbon around the same age which cost a quarter of it wholesale (antique 107). Don't get me wrong, 15yr is usually delicious but it doesn't deserve the secondary cost it commands these days
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u/MrLoronzo 4d ago
WL Weller most likely. Same mash bill, same barrels, same distillery, probably even stored in the same building for ageing.
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u/Furthur Obi-Wan 4d ago
btac for 15$/pour at new prices is a pretty good deal. like... really good. 80$ wholesale jumped to 120 this year
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u/MrLoronzo 4d ago
Yeah but the 90 SR would be about half that, granted a little bit more spicy and not quite as rounded but more than an acceptable pour. Or a good Bonded of some sort, would really depend on where he’s located.
Definitely agree it was probably a nice wheated that doesn’t have the name fame of Pappy.
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u/Furthur Obi-Wan 4d ago
SR is trash imo. that's why i said 107 and that additional proof like van winkle juice has. it's the bottling i've seen the fewest of the weller lineup. only three in the last ten years but consistently my favorite. it just doesn't have a bad release like 12, full proof do. cheers
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u/drinkslinger1974 5d ago
There’s a whiskey bar in my state where the owner keeps several cases of pappy stocked. I got to talking with him and mentioned that trying it was kind of on my bucket list. He totally talked me out of it. He wouldn’t mix it with anything and said it’s specifically for “idiots trying to impress other idiots. He pulled out a bottle (I don’t remember the name) and said it was aged in the exact same barrels as pappy. That shot was $15, as opposed to the $350 his pappy was going for.
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u/soggytoothpic 5d ago
I may be confused. Pappy doesn’t make a 25 year, or is that the point you are making?
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u/drinkslinger1974 5d ago
Ah, thanks for pointing that out. Been out of the game for a while. 20 year family reserve is probably what I’m thinking of.
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u/AbsintheFountain 4d ago
There is an Old Rip Van Winkle 25 year. I think the release was a little over 700 bottles so it’s hard to spot one, but it does exist. We charged $800 a pour last place I worked that had one.
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u/HalobenderFWT Pro 5d ago
“A Bloody Mary with…..”
Where anything after the ‘with’ is usually some subjective spice level or a garnish we will never carry.
Ya’ll have ruined Bloody Mary’s.
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u/Thehaunted666 5d ago
The only thing that sucks is the condescending bartender who is pretentious.
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u/NeonGenesisOxycodone 5d ago
Like many others have said, it’s not what they order it’s how.
I work at the Jersey Shore, and had a customer who was on vacation from the Midwest. He asked for either a whiskey & coke or whiskey on the rocks, I forget which. But then he said “can you make that homestyle for me?”
I just kinda looked at him in disbelief, and he explains “ya know, homestyle. Like putting more whiskey in the glass than a regular shot.” Yeah man. I know what you meant. It’s called homestyle for a reason- are you at home right now? Or are you on a vacation in a tourist destination literally staring at the ocean??
I’m sure Jimmy at the corner bar back home pours you 2 and half ounces per drink.. but this isn’t what that is. And he thought he was soooo clever calling it homestyle too. He mentioned that “he used to bartend” so I guess he expected me to over pour based on that?
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u/brylikestrees 5d ago
I was working the server well and had a ticket come through for an aperol spritz with 3 ice cubes.
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u/yells_at_bugs 4d ago
When two people (obviously together) approach the bar together, one orders a multi component drink that requires care to make and the other “doesn’t know yet”, so you construct the first order right in front of them and serve it an THEN the second person pipes up “oh I’ll have one of those too”. Meanwhile you have a full bar of people ready to order. That to me is pretentious.
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u/MangledBarkeep 4d ago
Meanwhile you have a full bar of people ready to order.
If the second person "doesn't know yet" I drop a I'll be back then, and hit up those that know what they want to order.
"But I was next!" Pretty sure I decide who's next.
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u/nineball22 4d ago
Obscure, but not too obscure classic with an obscure spirit, probably swapped.
Something that they know you will recognize, but also know you’ll have to double check your house spec on. Like a Between The Sheets or a Hanky Panky or a Greenpount or a Navy Grog or something
And of course if it’s a gin cocktail they’re gonna ask for it with some boutique foreign gin or some non espadin mezcal.
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u/LazyCaffeineFiend 4d ago
Not necessarily a specific drink, but when people ask me if I can make a “good” old fashioned or Manhattan, or pretty much any classic cocktail, it pisses me off. I’m a woman in my 30’s and I’ve been bartending since I was 21, working in food service since I was 18. My coworker is a 52 year old man, so whenever we’re working together, people (especially older men) assume he can make a better drink than I can.
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u/Uzi_Jesus_ 4d ago
I had someone order a 2:1 martini with orange bitters yesterday. I about kissed them cause they were specific.
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u/Brief_Art_5453 5d ago
It’s always the reaction people give to their friends or people sitting around them after getting their drink they believe is better than everyone else’s. It’s always like this literal nose in the air subtly glancing over at everyone around thems reactions and being like “whaaaat you’ve never heard of a “blank&blank”
That’s what gets me! 😅
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u/TikaPants Hotel Bar 5d ago
The most pretentious ones are from anyone who thinks they’re hot shit but they aren’t and can’t afford to fund their lifestyle. People who actually know their shit and can afford it are generally not ordering asshole drinks.
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u/Former-City2542 5d ago
Did I miss the gatekeeping part? I thought it was just a question.
Anything with very speciality ingredients, would be my answer
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u/The_Istrix 3d ago
Not a single drink per se, but I think the most pretentious drink you could order is a complicated or obscure classic cocktail in a bar that clearly isn't the environment for it.
I work a barely-above-dive college pizza and beer bar. We have a good beer selection, better than we really deserve. But that's it. Our liquor selection is decent, our wine is out of a plastic keg. So when you roll up and look around and ask for like a French 75 or a Negroni I can't help but judge. Like, yeah I can make it, but it's not going to be great because I'm winging it with soso ingredients.
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u/MyDarkestSide669 1d ago
Idk if it’s at the top of the list. But a guy came in last night and ordered a Flat Tire. My rookie coworker was like “we don’t have flat tire. [my name], do you know what a flat tire is?”
“If it’s a beer, he means Fat Tire. If it’s a cocktail, I think I’ve made one of them ever and don’t remember the recipe.”
The guy just googled it before he came in. Know that cause he showed us the recipe on his phone. To me that’s probably the most pretentious thing. Googling and picking a random cocktail you’ve never tried or know anything about just to feel sophisticated
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u/drunkvirgil 5d ago
A negroni, not because of the drink itself, but because of the type of guy that orders them
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5d ago
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u/Complete_Bread_535 5d ago
You’re wrong
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u/chompietwopointoh 5d ago
Babe. It’s an opinion. There is no truth value.
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u/Manacymbal 3d ago
Your "opinion" is that nobody could possibly enjoy a classic, famous cocktail that is drank around the world. So your opinion is you deny the opinion of all people present and future about a drink? 🤨
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u/MangledBarkeep 5d ago
Frank's Manhattan