Ignorance fought - thank you.
Seconded. Be careful, though. Unlike swill such as vodka, there is a huge difference between the bottom shelf and top shelf gins.
If you order a G&T: specify which gin. Otherwise, you could end up with one made from Aristocrat Gin, which will take like pine needles, and not the nice ones you get at garden stores, either.
In my G&Ts, I recommend Beefeater’s, Bombay, or Citadelle. Tanqueray is okay in a pinch, as is Gilbey’s, but go for one of the first three. You will be rewarded.
Your post got me thinking more about gin and how often I stay in my comfort zone, sticking with my Hendricks/Plymouth/Saphire/Beefeater rotation of staple brands and not wandering outside too much. I will have to give Citadelle a try. I should also probably try regular Bombay sometime. It’s gin weather now after all.
To keep on topic, I found a recipe for what looks to be a great classic cocktail that I haven’t tried before.
Gin, maraschino liqueur, and lemon juice served martini cold up in a martini glass. The recipe is roughly 2:1:1 though it looks like some people serve it 2:1/2:1. Seems like a nice martini alternative. Anyone ever have one? They sound good, but rare.
As long as they have the maraschino on hand, any bartender worth their salt should be able to make one from the recipe.
Can be, but the bar standard is lemon twist, lime wedge for most drinks, with the exception of a long island tea, which gets a lemon slice.
Also, it was bad form for the waitress to express surprise. Everyone knows you mock customers in private after the bar is closed if you want a tip. 
It’s always better to pretend they ordered correctly even while you internally roll your eyes after they asked for a white ‘zifadel.’
Do bars typically stock maraschino liqueur these days? I can’t say that I have ever seen it, though I haven’t really looked.
I’ll ask around while I’m out tonight.
I’m not really a drinker and only end up at a bar once a year or so, so I never know what to order. Usually it’s a rum and coke (that seems safe). However, when I was younger (early 20’s) I was introduced to whiskey sour at a wedding and I liked it. Would my manhood be questioned if I ordered that at a bar? And should I be more specific (i.e. specific type of whiskey)?
Maraschino is one of the more common “ingredient” liqueurs for mixed drinks, along with Cointreau or triple sec, crèmes de cacao and menthe, and Curaçao. A serious bar should have all of these, as well as the liqueurs that might be commonly ordered as drinks in themselves (like Amaretto) that could also be ingredients.
Or a Raging Bull, which is a Bloody Mary and Tila Tequila - this will make you quite ill, I’ve heard.
Also these from Coach McGuirk:
Yeast Infection: Rum and milk.
Dirty Frenchmen: Wine with olive juice.
I’m not a fan of the standard Aviation recipe, but if you add a dash of creme de violette it turns really excellent.
I’d swear I posted a thread with a bunch of “good cocktails for beginners” recipes and instructions, but I can’t seem to find it. I know I posted a similar thread on the GiraffeBoards, so if you go there and look around you should find it. (I can’t post a direct link at the moment.)
We’ve had a bottle of Bombay Sapphire gin in the house since our wedding eight years ago, so I just went and had a bit of a snort with some tonic water - yum! Bombay sapphire doesn’t taste like the gin I got drunk on so many years ago and swore off gin because of - it tastes like something that humans can drink.
So my vote is go for a gin and tonic. It is the universal drink, after all.
Mixed drink. Mixed drink, hm…
Scotch and a drop of water.
A lime twist is not the easiest thing to create, as the rinds on most limes are paper thin; it is not something that you will find in many establishments.
See? There is a huge difference between the top and bottom shelves on Gin. If you pay a little more, you will be rewarded.
Amaze your friends with the wonderment of the Pousse-Cafe
Some of drinking is situational. Scotch straight is a pretty serious drink, but it isn’t too common for women to drink it out with guys they work with. Men do. G&Ts to me are summertime drinks, I haven’t seen a lot of people drink them out professionally - when its either “go out for happy hour for beer” or “go out to dinner with wine.” Sometimes its “go out for happy hour with margaritas.”
Old fashioned drinks (like the old fashioned) seem to have come back into fashion.
And professional situations vary…sales is a whole different ball of wax than IT. Advertising is different yet. A young hip marketing firm may all go out and drink appletini’s together, a woman working with a bunch of plumbers might want to stay away from the appletini.
Huh. I drink whisky (Scotch included, but any kind really) when I go out with coworkers.
Yeah, but clearly you are cool enough to pull that off.
Going out with my co-workers (accountants) I drink beer or a soft drink depending on who is in the group. Going out with my wife’s co-workers (bankers who are way more fun to party with than you would expect) I will usually do a mixed drink of some sort followed by beer or water depending on the situation. Going out with friends, my order is usually Bourbon neat with a beer back.
I can’t imagine that most people don’t have similar guidelines for what they order depending on the company they are in and the type of shindig they are at. It’s all situational and has to be taken on a case by case basis.
Another good one is a Purple Rain, which is a Long Island with Chambord instead of Coke. Mmmm.