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Hoops posted:That's surprising to me. Internationally, US beer is thought of as being weak and watery, but most of the mass-market draught lager (Carling, Carlsberg, Kronenbourg, Fosters, Stella Artois, Becks) you can buy in a typical pub or supermarket in the UK is 4-5%, while the more common "premium" stuff can go up to maybe 5.5%. There's plenty of brewhouses where you can get stronger specialist stuff, but it's not the norm and from what I can tell they're perfectly common in the US too. The best selling beer in the UK is Carling (poo poo), and that's only 4%. Is the US reputation undeserved then, atleast compared to western Europe? All those light beers like coors light or bud light, are they all about 4.2%? I thought they were like 3.6, 3.8, something like that. It's our mass-market crap (Bud, Coors, etc) that tastes watery, but that's the same stuff as the rest of the international lager crowd (Foster's, Molson, Tsing Tao). Alcohol content does not correlate to quality, however. The US microbreweries are putting out amazing beers right now and I'll put them up against any country's beer in terms of quality. Except for Belgium. They win.
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Sep 11, 2012 17:11
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Coolguye posted:Alcohol question time. I loved Mendocino's Festbeer/Octoberfest/Marzen/Harvest. They changed the name of it a couple times, but check it out on BeerAdvocate. Sort by most recent posts and it'll let you know what's up with this year's naming. It can be a bit hard to find though. And don't let whatever the opinions on that site sway you. It's a good beer. I said so. Last year I went nuts and spent like $200 on these stupid 1L mugs with a 1L can of Paulaner's Festbier inside. I think the first few sips were good-ish, if a little coppery, and then I don't remember much after that. Avery's The Kaiser is a great strong beer. Have a little glass, and let it warm a bit. Great for a finishing beer. I also liked Bell's Octoberfest Beer. Pretty easy drinking and "simple" for a Marzen and I'd advise having several of them ASAP. Also Ayinger's Oktoberfest is really, really good. Higher on the booze content and a little sweeter than standard. Apparently BA agrees with me on that one. I liked Dogfish Head's Punkin Beer this year too. I normally hate pumpkin flavored beer but this one with its slightly more aggressive ABV (like 7%) is really pretty well balanced. I especially liked it after like 20-30 minutes after it had warmed up from cooler temp a bit. AVOID Blue Moon's Pumpkin beer, it's disgusting.
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Sep 11, 2012 19:17
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Like I've said before, I work in a "fancy" restaurant so our uniform is pretty strict But my GM just said it's ok for the bartenders to wear Texans jerseys on Sundays as long as we're all wearing them Fixing to bust out my custom Case Keenum jersey this weekend whattttt uppppp
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Sep 11, 2012 20:15
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Hoops posted:That's surprising to me. Internationally, US beer is thought of as being weak and watery, but most of the mass-market draught lager (Carling, Carlsberg, Kronenbourg, Fosters, Stella Artois, Becks) you can buy in a typical pub or supermarket in the UK is 4-5%, while the more common "premium" stuff can go up to maybe 5.5%. There's plenty of brewhouses where you can get stronger specialist stuff, but it's not the norm and from what I can tell they're perfectly common in the US too. The best selling beer in the UK is Carling (poo poo), and that's only 4%. Is the US reputation undeserved then, atleast compared to western Europe? All those light beers like coors light or bud light, are they all about 4.2%? I thought they were like 3.6, 3.8, something like that. The thing is that, historically, American brewers labeled with percent alcohol by mass. It was never actually weaker, the stupid scale nobody else uses just made the numbers on the bottle lower.
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Sep 11, 2012 20:24
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Der Luftwaffle posted:At least they've moved to a new victim after laying waste to the mojito. Can't wait for the Bud Light CosmoTM
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Sep 11, 2012 20:33
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Finally, a cosmo my mother won't ask for.
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Sep 11, 2012 20:58
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Hoops posted:That's surprising to me. Internationally, US beer is thought of as being weak and watery, but most of the mass-market draught lager (Carling, Carlsberg, Kronenbourg, Fosters, Stella Artois, Becks) you can buy in a typical pub or supermarket in the UK is 4-5%, while the more common "premium" stuff can go up to maybe 5.5%. There's plenty of brewhouses where you can get stronger specialist stuff, but it's not the norm and from what I can tell they're perfectly common in the US too. The best selling beer in the UK is Carling (poo poo), and that's only 4%. Is the US reputation undeserved then, atleast compared to western Europe? All those light beers like coors light or bud light, are they all about 4.2%? I thought they were like 3.6, 3.8, something like that. It's a difference in brewing culture. Only Belgian brewing culture (and France and the Netherlands) and the "new wave" of breweries (craft, new markets) go over 5% regularly. Germany does have stronger beers, but most of them are lagers which have been frozen. They're used in binge drinking. Also, the biggest market for beer is for people who want to spend a night drinking the same thing; it's only recently become a luxury product like whiskey or wine, and even that only for a small group. Most of the people I see still want a pint of whatever lager they're most accustomed with. Even in Belgium, the top-selling beers are lagers (Stella, Jupiler, Maes, Cristal, Primus...) and table beers (Piedboeuf). But it's the other, stronger beers that give the country the reputation it has. Because of this, you'd be hard-pressed to find a decent cocktail bar anywhere in the region. And since most pubs are tied to a specific brewery, you're going to see the traditional line-up of that brewery, including a lot of stronger 6-8% beers, going as high as 12% on a pub with an extended selection. It's also a difference in type of drinking. People that come in ordering the stronger beers don't drink as much (traditional servings are 25cl for a lager and other mass-produced beers; 33cl for most beers and 37.5cl for specialty beers like gueuzes), and spend between 30 minutes and an hour with a single beer. The ones coming in for lagers order 2 in the beginning, drink one immediately and drink the second one within 10 minutes. (speaking as a bartender working in a pub that specializes in beer, so ymmv).
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Sep 12, 2012 00:34
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Hoops posted:That's surprising to me. Internationally, US beer is thought of as being weak and watery, but most of the mass-market draught lager (Carling, Carlsberg, Kronenbourg, Fosters, Stella Artois, Becks) you can buy in a typical pub or supermarket in the UK is 4-5%, while the more common "premium" stuff can go up to maybe 5.5%. There's plenty of brewhouses where you can get stronger specialist stuff, but it's not the norm and from what I can tell they're perfectly common in the US too. The best selling beer in the UK is Carling (poo poo), and that's only 4%. Is the US reputation undeserved then, atleast compared to western Europe? All those light beers like coors light or bud light, are they all about 4.2%? I thought they were like 3.6, 3.8, something like that. I always thought that reputation had more to do with taste than actual strength. I mean, our beer tastes weak and watery compared to European beers with some actual flavor. But yeah, almost all of our light beers are around 4.2% while their "heavy" variations are around 5%. But that's only the mass produced American lagers. We have so many smaller craft breweries now that put out delicious beers that range from 5-12% ABV and I wish they were how American beer gets judged. Halloween Jack posted:What kind of people drink Jager at bars, by the way? The loving worst kind. Seriously.
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Sep 12, 2012 00:48
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nrr posted:Can't wait for the Bud Light CosmoTM Can you still get Jim Beam and cola in a can? Because that was actually pretty awesome. Dirnok posted:The loving worst kind. Seriously. Yep. That's why we "run out" of it all the time. Send them off to Sloppy Joe's about a hundred yards down the beach. "Sorry buddy, we can't serve you anymore, try Sloppy's." They must loving hate us over there 
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Sep 12, 2012 01:44
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Dirnok posted:The loving worst kind. Seriously.
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Sep 12, 2012 01:55
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Dirnok posted:The loving worst kind. Seriously. Let me introduce you to the Henny and Cranberry sect.
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Sep 12, 2012 02:24
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Sheep-Goats posted:Let me introduce you to the Henny and Cranberry sect. Oh, touche. We purposely don't stock Hennessy so I've never dealt with them. But I've heard.
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Sep 12, 2012 02:37
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Sheep-Goats posted:Let me introduce you to the Henny and Cranberry sect. That sounds loving horrible. Beer chat: coming from Canada (and the west coast as well), I'm young enough that I don't remember Molson vs. Labatt bars, but I can assure those of you south of the 49th that American beer is unjustly considered weak and pissy; Oregon puts out some of my favorite microbrews (I'm a huge IPA fan) to the point where I started homebrewing just so I could clone those beers rather than having to travel to points south just to get them.
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Sep 12, 2012 02:48
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JawKnee posted:That sounds loving horrible. It is, but the great thing about a Henny and Cran is that if you order one you don't have to tip ever, it's too bad they always make 'em mad weak yo. I CAN'T TASTE DA LIQUOR
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Sep 12, 2012 06:12
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Well this thread's been an interesting read, although it's made me a bit paranoid about being "that guy" in the bar. The cream really hadn't gone bad, had it?
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Sep 12, 2012 07:21
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I understand why Jagerbombs are the drink of assholes ("I can make bad decisions with more energy!") but I have no cultural expectation whatsoever when it come to cognac and juice. What the hell? Are there other based-in-fact stereotypes regarding particular cocktails and liquors? I knew that asking for a Jack Rose marked me out as a hoity-toity rear end in a top hat, but this is intriguing. I was the DJ in the bar tonight. I had drink tickets. I tipped. Rail gimlets are pretty great.
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Sep 12, 2012 07:26
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Some motherfuckers drink scotch mixed with milk. On the rocks. As for the henny and cran thing there's no rhyme or reason to those things being together. It was explained to me as so: "Henny the best liquor, cranberry the best thing to mix with liquor." And then an angry stare to make sure I understood. Oh by the way henny is the best liquor because "it gets you real hosed up." raton fucked around with this message at 07:44 on Sep 12, 2012 |
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Sep 12, 2012 07:34
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Sad lonely night of fueling alkies. Closed later than ever before, and not a single dollar in tips. 
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Sep 12, 2012 07:40
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I did a party last week where sidecars were ordered as henny margaritas. For $12, you can call it whatever you want. I blame the hip hops.
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Sep 12, 2012 07:58
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Halloween Jack posted:I understand why Jagerbombs are the drink of assholes ("I can make bad decisions with more energy!") but I have no cultural expectation whatsoever when it come to cognac and juice. What the hell? Are there other based-in-fact stereotypes regarding particular cocktails and liquors? I knew that asking for a Jack Rose marked me out as a hoity-toity rear end in a top hat, but this is intriguing. Like everything else, it comes down to marketing. Hennessey is marketed pretty broadly to urban black people, particularly in hiphop culture, and is seen as a status symbol/symbol of affluence. Not the best article I was thinking of, but it sort of touches on it here. Also, IIRC, the rep interviewed there talks about how they don't market to youth, but I'm 99.99999% sure that they've done a ton of paid product placement for rap lyrics. I might be thinking of Dom or another brand, though. http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/1229058--how-hennessy-cognac-became-linked-to-the-danzig-st-shooting Jagermeister, on the other hand, markets really hard to the mid 20s contingent and has thus gained a foothold as a party drink. They tend to attach themselves to concerts and other special events, much like Red Bull has with extreme sporting events and other things. Sort of makes sense how they're bed partners... My club usually has 1-2 Jager events a year. They usually hand out calendars, which features 'tour dates' of the Jagerettes and what festivals/etc they'll be appearing at across Canada. So, I wouldn't say that they're 'based in fact' stereotypes, but stereotypes that came up after the fact.
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Sep 12, 2012 08:24
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In my experience, Henny and some mixer started off as rich kids trying to look cool. Hennessy is the most expensive thing in a lot of bars, and I've got more of daddys money than anyone else in here, so I'm going to show off by drinking that poo poo with coke or cran or whatever I can mix with it to get it down. From there it snowballed and pretty quickly became the obnoxious drink of choice for any douchebag who wanted to look cool, show off how privileged they were and use their lovely drink as some sort of status symbol. Using what you're drinking as a status symbol is the dumbest thing in the entire universe, but bars sure make a shitload of money off of it, so keep throwing money at us I guess. The whole bottle service phenomenon still cracks me up to no end. $500+ for a $50 bottle of booze on my table? WHERE DO I SIGN?!!?! Also, American beer has a reputation for being poo poo because the only beer that's drunk all over America is poo poo. It's a real shame that no decent regional beers have the backing to go national, but really that's the only way that you're going to change anyone's perception of it. Your only hope is to try and stop everyone from drinking coors light and bud and hahaha yeah right good luck with that.
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Sep 12, 2012 08:27
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Sheep-Goats posted:Some motherfuckers drink scotch mixed with milk. On the rocks. Those people are in fact aliens from Larry Niven sci-fi novels. Don't anger them.
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Sep 12, 2012 09:57
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We purposely stopped stocking Hennessy and Alize at the last place I worked at, until the owners decided to put on two urban nights every week. They all switched to Tokyo iced teas after that though, which was slightly amusing. There was a great night when some dude asked me for a double of our most expensive brandy (to mix with Red Bull  ) Martell XO, which was £26 a shot. You should have seen his face.
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Sep 12, 2012 11:00
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Sheep-Goats posted:Some motherfuckers drink scotch mixed with milk. On the rocks. So if you just charge too much for something and pay a musician to carry it around a bit, idiots will buy it? Alize? Seriously? Halloween Jack fucked around with this message at 14:35 on Sep 12, 2012 |
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Sep 12, 2012 14:29
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Can someone explain to me where the "beergarita" came from? It looks and sounds terrible, and I cant imagine ordering one but I have seen it popping up everywhere, and I am kind of curious. For those that dont know, a beergarita is exactly what it sounds like, a beer put neck down into a margarita. 
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Sep 12, 2012 14:35
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Yeah, that's a Bulldog Margarita (at least where I work) and I loving hate them. Hope you like cleaning up messes! We had them on special. All. Summer. Long.
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Sep 12, 2012 15:26
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Old Man Pants posted:Can someone explain to me where the "beergarita" came from? It looks and sounds terrible, and I cant imagine ordering one but I have seen it popping up everywhere, and I am kind of curious. It's actually fairly tasty, despite the fact that it makes an rear end in a top hat out of everybody who sees it.
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Sep 12, 2012 16:28
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I know parts of this thread allude to it, but what tips/tricks do you guys have for getting a job as a bartender? My experience and understanding is that most places hire people they know already and applying for a bartending job straight up and without contacts is a long shot. Is that wrong? Any thoughts would be appreciated.
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Sep 12, 2012 16:31
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Pantsmaster Bill posted:There was a great night when some dude asked me for a double of our most expensive brandy (to mix with Red Bull Sweet Jebus, I thought we marked it up a buttload at AU$28.50 a shot! Reminds me of a wedding I worked where the father of the groom bought his son a bottle of Glenfiddich 21yr, and for the first time ever we allowed someone to BYO so long as I was pouring it for them (just so we could regulate how fast they were drinking). It wasn't until I was pouring the last shots for the groomsmen that the father realised they'd been drinking the entire bottle with pepsi all night. With me protesting of course, but they insisted because none of them actually really liked Scotch. Mixing cognac with anything sounds gross to me. Mixing it with Red Bull sounds like blasphemy, but doing it to Martell XO should see someone hang!
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Sep 12, 2012 17:04
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Hi guys I worked at a club with a cognac we sold for $650.00 for two ounces, and we sold it, too. IMO the only reason to pay that much is to be an rear end in a top hat, and therefore you probably should mix it with genadine and Rose's lime and drink it like a shot. And then jam the snifter into an orphan girls face (brunette 450, blonde 500). That wasn't our most expensive item either. Before I started working there we had one of two bottles worldwide of Remy Diamond (this was before it went into general release), which we sold out on at 1500 a shot. Ahh the pre recession days... raton fucked around with this message at 17:55 on Sep 12, 2012 |
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Sep 12, 2012 17:46
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$650 for a shot is loving unbelievable. Do you tell the guy the price beforehand because if not that would just be the best.
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Sep 12, 2012 18:38
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eriddy posted:$650 for a shot is loving unbelievable. Do you tell the guy the price beforehand because if not that would just be the best. People who pay 650 for a single drink aren't doing it because they want the best, they're doing it because they're demonstrating that money is nothing to them (the people who try to do this actually care a lot about their money, the people who don't actually care would never be in a nightclub, though their children might). You could double the price and they would pay it, and, on the other hand, if they don't know there's a 650 dollar drink available they won't order it. You sell it by the price / presenting a possible insult to his ego, especially if his male peers are in ear shot. Insecure bankers, athletes with their crew, that kind of thing. raton fucked around with this message at 19:15 on Sep 12, 2012 |
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Sep 12, 2012 18:44
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Sheep-Goats posted:Hi guys I worked at a club with a cognac we sold for $650.00 for two ounces, and we sold it, too. Was it Louis XIII? Having finally tried some from a bottle my friend bought years ago and finally cracked, I can say it was indeed excellent cognac, but not my favorite and nowhere near worth the price, a large part of which comes from the crystal decanter that it comes in. I'd totally pay $150 for a bottle, but not 10 times that (which is what my friend paid at a duty-free in St. Maarten).
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Sep 12, 2012 20:00
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PT6A posted:Was it Louis XIII? Having finally tried some from a bottle my friend bought years ago and finally cracked, I can say it was indeed excellent cognac, but not my favorite and nowhere near worth the price, a large part of which comes from the crystal decanter that it comes in. I'd totally pay $150 for a bottle, but not 10 times that (which is what my friend paid at a duty-free in St. Maarten). Louis XIII was 150 a shot, not 1500. Remy Diamond was basically an upsell on that same product though, the bottle was very similar but faceted instead of smooth and there was a little diamond set in there (in our bottle, I don't think the commercial version has those). You can buy it in in-flight magazines and stuff now for like 1500 a bottle (the Diamond one), which I think is less than a bottle of regular Louis so, like everything else in that part of the nightlife industry, we were selling smoke and mirrors. 
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Sep 12, 2012 23:45
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A employee meeting that all our bartenders thought was going to be management chewing us out for over-pouring turned out to be a swanky beer and wine tasting with the Anheuser-Busch reps and some wine dude. Anyone here tried Abita Strawberry? I fell in love, hopefully our local supermarket carries it.
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Sep 13, 2012 01:27
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Wish I still worked in a club so I could put "Smoke and Mirrors" on the special board for $150
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Sep 13, 2012 01:39
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You could get away with that in a cocktail bar that's a little too close to the financial district.
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Sep 13, 2012 05:07
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Smoke and Mirrors: 1oz Absinthe dropped into 3oz Liquid Nitrogen Garnished with a slap to the face
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Sep 13, 2012 06:16
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"I'll take 5, hook it up man! I'll be tipping well, for real, but can I run a tab?"
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Sep 13, 2012 06:21
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nrr posted:Smoke and Mirrors: Did I already post about the tequilasicle experiment?
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Sep 13, 2012 06:43
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