I will turn this into a ‘ask people who drink’ thread.
I don’t drink often, and I don’t care for strong alcohol. I have discovered a drink I love, to the point where I always have supplies on hand at home. The Dark and Stormy is the perfect drink, but I am getting generally blank stares when I attempt to order it. I assume this is because most bars aren’t stocking ginger beer. Is this an obscure drink? Is there a more common version with ginger ale?
I don’t really want ginger ale, but I love the drink with Barbancourt rum and I would be willing to accept substitutions.
Serious bars and restaurants have started doing stuff like house-made sodas and the like, so just take a look at the drinks list and see if there’s anything nonalcoholic already on there. Alternatively, I sometimes ask for “something nonalcoholic but interesting”.
If all else fails, ask for a glass of tonic water.
Legally, if it’s not made with Goslings, it’s not a Dark & Stormy…
It’s not that common a drink, and it’s only worth ordering if the bar either stocks a good ginger beer/ale or makes their own. Realistically, I’d suggest picking another drink to fall back on if they don’t know what you’re asking for.
This going to sound daft and it probably is, but if you’re out at different places often enough, get some business card stock for home printers (8.5x11 with perforations) and print up a few cards indicating how the drink is made and what your 1st and 2nd choices are for the key ingredients. It will save much agro and you will probably be able to get what you really want more frequently.
Fact is, a real man or woman orders what they want and a pussy worries about what some stranger standing next to him in the bar thinks about “O noes! What if he doesn’t think I’m MACHO enough for him?!” Geez. What kind of wimp actually spends time wondering “Gosh! Did the bartender think my drink was manly enough for me? What about that drunk two seats down. Maybe I should order something else!” You go to a bar to get a drink and hang with friends unless you’re a poseur trying to impress strangers. And really…if you are? Get a life.
Order what tastes good.
In any case if anyone’s seen the movie “Destry Rides Again”? Jimmy Stewart: one of the toughest guys in the movies AND in real life walks into a bar and orders a milk. Why? Because he’s not a fucking sissy who lives in terror of a stranger’s disapproval of him not conforming.
The ironic thing is that if you make a cosmo according to Toby Cecchini’s recipe, it’s actually a pretty hardcore drink. It’s not very sweet, and is aggressively sour.
Back when I was tending bar (25+ years ago), it was anything that didn’t reek of fruity mixer (it was a college town bar - beaucoup strawberry margharitas and banana daquiris - blech) or make me use the blender when I was backed up with drink orders. Also, anything that didn’t involve a bunch of college kids drinking shots and getting really stupid really quickly.
Like MOL, I tend to get instant cred as a woman by ordering a good bourbon, Scotch, rye or Irish whisk(e)y neat with water back, light rocks or in the warmer months, with water. A non-rail gin and tonic gets the same look.
I think that ordering alcohol that has a distinct characteristic, not covered up by mixers that have a stronger flavor, usually does signify that you actually like the liquor itself and not just the effects.
Maybe it works for you, but for me I can’t imagine myself saying “something nonalcoholic but interesting” without sounding like some sort of pretentious fop.
Maybe something totally off the wall like “an unsweetened espresso with Ceylon cinnamon.” When they say they don’t have Ceylon cinnamon (or espresso), roll your eyes and say "never mind, just get me a Vernor’s ginger ale with a slice of Vietnamese persimmon.
A while back, I was sitting at the bar of the Zig Zag when a young woman walked up and ordered a shot of Old Raj gin neat. As she walked away, Murray and I had the interchange:
Luckily, my tastes align towards “manly” drinks, so I don’t have to worry.
Still, if I were one to prefer the more so-called “girly” drinks, I would take great pride in unapologetically ordering them, but in a specific, “manly” sort of way.
