The whole subject of mixed drinks and alcohol has made me pretty tense lately -- a feeling that was further compounded by the excellent post by Paul Clarke on Serious Eats about the start of the absinthe backlash. Backlash... about a drink. This isn't a certain style of jeans, it's a drink. If you like it, you like it. While trends might influence our eating, do any of you say: "Gee, chocolate chip cookies aren't in right now. I'm going to stop eating them"? No. We keep eating them because they're darned tasty. So why do we succumb to the pressures of alcoholic trends?
The years go by and certain mixtures become passe, while others thrive because of something prevalent in media. (Like the inundation of Cosmopolitans from Sex and the City.) When they bite the dust, the old drinks get this "yuck" stigma, as if their lack of popularity is due to their flavor, and not the mindless following of trends. Old drinks become weird and foreign, even if they might be tastier, simpler, and infinitely more rewarding. New generations hit the bars, and they order what they know, and no one ever seems to tell them otherwise.
My first alcoholic drinks were what I was familiar with, and luckily it wasn't entirely youthful trends. I drank straight Southern Comfort because I remembered that my mother would order them Old Fashioned with muddled fruit. I drank Amaretto because I loved the old Hagen Daz ice cream. I drank Sambuca because I loved Black Jack gum and Bazooka Joes for further bubble nostalgia. Since I didn't grow up on the overly rampant Long Island Iced Teas, Blowjobs, B-52s, I quickly slid into a world of my own creation (Slow Comfortable Screws on the Beach in Manhattan), and then into a retro wonderful world of gin gimlets, martinis, and scotch.
And every step of the way -- I marveled at the flavor, and got blank stares at the bar when I tried to go retro. Half the time I order a gimlet, the response is "What's in that?" If I ask for a drink because I can't decide, I get something fruity. (Although that's partially due to bartenders' preoccupations with gender stereotypes, and usually inspires me to order something hard and straight next.)
It's sort of like the trends towards processed foods, where we have no idea how much tastier they are naturally. There are prevalent pushes to go back to natural foods, simple ingredients, and local fare, but where's the push to get back to our cocktail roots? Let's forget that it's trendy to order a mojito and remember that they've been around for a while. Let's not be scared of the foreign gimlet and other drinks of yesteryear. Let's drink and enjoy absinthe because it's a beautiful and delicious tradition, not because it got trendy due to stringent bans. Let's stop being hypnotized and tantalized by the new, the famous, the marketed, and start following our tastebuds ... and remembering to embrace the past.
1-30-2009 @11:34AM John said... It surprises you that drinks succumbs to social influence? Most people *start* drinking for social reasons. How many people took their first sip of beer and thought "mmm, this tastes great?" Most people started drinking because it was the "cool, grown-up" thing to do and all their friends were doing it. This is precisely the type of activity that would be most susceptible to trends and fads. You might as well start lamenting that celebrities are too subject to fads.
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1-30-2009 @11:36AM Barry said... It's not possible for me to care less what other people think of my drink order. If I want a Cosmo, I'll order a damned Cosmo. Just as I would Scotch (neat), beer or a Martini. If someone doesn't like it they can get bent.
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1-30-2009 @1:38PM Katee Kaboom said... Absouletly am in love with this article! I love absinthe and I enjoyed the tast of beer when I first tasted at the age of 12 fishing with my dad. I can't stand naysayers in any form and this article hit so many points on the head. Love it, love it, love it! I am so passing this blog on!
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1-30-2009 @1:50PM Pyrofish said... I've been drinking the traditional Absinthes since I first read about them in Maxim several years ago. You had to order them from Europe, because they were still illegal here. Then I tried one of the legal ones here, and I can completely understand why people think Absinthe is passe. A good Pernod, or Versinthe la Blanche beats the stuff here hands down.
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1-30-2009 @1:51PM Pyrofish said... I must add though, I do only really enjoy it when it's hot out. It's oddly refreshing in summer. Not a winter drink to me.
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1-30-2009 @2:21PM Astin said... @John - me. My first sip of beer was when I was kid and dad let me have a sip. I loved it, much to parents' chagrin, as dad now had to keep an eye on his beer when I was around. Maybe I've been lucky that the circles I drink with are more adventurous, and willing to share drinks and ideas and try new things instead of just ordering whatever's hot at the moment.
Then again, I throw a party and put out more liquor variety than most bars have.
Isn't it annoying when you order something like a Gimlet and a bartender doesn't have a clue? Too often bars cater to the beer-and-popular-drinks crowd, without caring if their bartenders actually have any skill or knowledge. The best bartenders are the one's whose eyes light up when you say "Surprise me."
Apparently, Black Hoof in Toronto, besides being a nice charcuterie, has an excellent bar, where they make their own syrups and bitters and have their own signature cocktails that sound amazing. I suppose they run the risk of being trendy, but probably on its own accord.
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1-30-2009 @2:33PM Monika said... Astin -- There is nothing more disappointing than being asked to be surprised and getting that cold, dead, and vacant look back. Or annoyance.
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1-30-2009 @3:31PM Rio Yeti said... Amen to this article ! I hate beer (except for belgium trappist beer), and always get weird looks when I order a whisky, a gin, or a Martini Dry at a bar with friends... Like I'm showing off pretending to be a man, or James Bond... no, I'm not pretending to be anything, I like the taste of them, period.
And Astin, you're lucky... here in France if you ask a bartender to surprise you, you will get a mojito 99% of the time... and only once did the guy actually make a good one (in my personal experience).
Oh, and I have to add that I also am an absinthe enthusiast, and have around ten bottles of it (living in Paris helps). And at first I was the cool kid knowing everything about the drink, and teaching everyone at parties... but after hearing so many people not believing me that it is legal, or that it is not just a drink to get wasted etc... I decided to stop being the cool kid, and I'm enjoying my absinthes with close friends only, at home.
The best way to teach your palate is to drink and eat whatever you like, trying everything, and stop focusing on what everyone else thinks !
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1-30-2009 @3:52PM BoozeFox said... Amen. It still bugs me (though I'm beginning to feel like I'm preaching a revival...) when I order a Sidecar in a restaurant and get "Uh, Ok..." from the wait(er/ress) and then "Uhm, the bartender said to ask what's in that?" Come on, guys. It SHOULD be in your bar book. It's only been around since 1922 and is a three-ingredient classic.
Still, everytime I order something traditional (Sidecar; Manhattan with the ingredients and proportions specified; real, non-frozen daiquiri; Gin Fizz) in a restaurant or bar and explain the creation thereof to a bartender and see a little light of "Oh, cool!" come on behind their eyes, it brings me a little joy and a little hope for America's bars.
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1-30-2009 @6:26PM Karen said... Maybe I have been out drinking for way to long, but Cosmopolitans were popular 25 years ago, went out of favor and came back with Sex and the City. I've noticed that with a lot of drinks.
I think it is just cyclical. Also, some of the old fashioned drinks are todays drinks by a trendier name. Add sex to the name and it sells, even if it really is something else.
I almost always order my drinks by instruction rather than name. I name the liquor by quantity and mixer the same. I always get what I want and so far, nobody seems offended.
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1-30-2009 @7:18PM Jason said... If you compare "retro" drinks to newer more popular ones, there is a big difference, and that's in the flavor. Most of your older style cocktails have a strong alcohol taste and tend towards bitter flavors. Take a traditional Martini with gin and vermouth. You average younger folk tends to want something that goes down a bit easier and not a bitter burning alcoholic potion to shoot down.
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1-30-2009 @11:07PM GL said... Nothing is wrong with asking to be "surprised" but if a server is busy and/or doesn't know your tastes, you shouldn't be completely annoyed by their not wanting to guess what you might want.
@Karen: it is very cyclical. Often new drinks are just something very traditional with a new brand or a new name.
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1-30-2009 @11:27PM Kate said... Oh I loved sidecars until I found out that I loved them when I went to bars that had real bartenders. Then I learned to ask - do you use a sweet and sour mix and if so, do you make it yourself.
Some people drink for the alcohol, some people drink to be social... I drink because I like the way it tastes. Sidecars, Aviations, Moscow Mules... or just straight scotch, whiskey or bourbon.
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1-31-2009 @12:40PM David puffer said... What a great article. I drink what I want because I want to, not because some mongoloid on tv says that "this" drink is in. I have yet to find a bar here, IN Boston, that can make a "BOSTON Sidecar". I once asked for a Black Martini, for giggles, just to try something new and the bartender had no clue. I had to look it up on my phone, on Google and give the order. I might have as well hopped behind the bar and made it myself. Don't get me wrong, I'll have a Harpoon IPA or BlueMoon with the best of them, but is it too much to ask for a person that work in an establishment, who's only job is to make drinks, know how? (Pardon the rant, but it nerves me to no end.)
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1-31-2009 @10:46PM Nicole said... I ordered a side car and was told that, get this, they had no brandy. I then ordered a Manhattan, and it was very credible, so the place isn't totally without merit.
I once ordered a daiquiri and was told by the waitress "I don't have a daiquiri". They DO in fact have one, but they called it something else, so after consulting the drinks menu, I ordered it by their name and got the right drink.
That place has a big drinks menu with many classics, but the staff generally have no idea what the canonical name of the drink is. At least the cocktails are good.
Usually, I just order a premium bourbon neat out of fear that I will overpay for a lousy Manhattan containing no bitters and too much vermouth.
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2-01-2009 @10:39AM shawn S. said... My brother was on a retro kick for while and would TOTALLY confuse bartenders when he would go in and order a Singapore Sling. So many would look at him very funny, and go.."ummm just what is that"
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2-21-2009 @11:32PM Alex said... This post annoys me. "This isn't a certain style of jeans, it's a drink. If you like it, you like it." Why aren't drinks supposed to come and go just like trends in fashion? Or better yet, why can't I wear my bell bottom jeans without getting laughed at? Seems to me that this is simply the society we live in. It's time to just accept that and move on.
The sad fact is, people don't drink cosmos or mojitos (which are SO over btw) merely because they taste good... people drink them because that's what their friends are drinking, and because that's what SJP was drinking with Big on that episode, which one was it? Who cares. Either way, people are going to want to drink what's in and that's what bartenders are going to learn how to make.
Furthermore, I should add: it's simply ridiculous to expect your local bartender at [insert name of lame local bar] to know the exact ingredients to whatever your grandma and grandpa used to drink. If you want a REAL drink by a REAL mixologist then go to a REAL bar. Don't expect Joe Schmoe to know what the hell you're talking about because he's just being paid to tend bar - more likely than not, he hasn't hasn't been formally trained, and you should know that.
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