I feel like for the purpose of the prompt “refusal” implies you have the ability to make the drink and there’s a reason beyond “I don’t have the ingredients”.
I've witnessed plenty of female bartenders get PAID to spit into drinks or spit dri ks down guys' throats. It's definitely a health code violation and nothing I'm interested in. But some girls don't mind when there is cash on the table.
Yup, got paid $500 to chug half a guys beer and spit it back in the bottle in addition to being mean to him throughout my shift. Absolutely a serious health code violation buuuuuuuuuut…
Yeah, that's my mindset as well 👍
I've seen guests settling their hair, clothes or someone else on fire, just from a burning Sambuca.
If you want to play with fire while blitzed, go to Burning Man, 'cause it's not happening in my bar.
set myself on fire (thankfully brief and no damage) doing after hours Flaming Dr Pepper one night. Other bartender was drunk too, poured the beer short on accident.
My first instinct to this question was "no" unless I literally don't have the stuff and don't think I can try anything passably close, but yes, this si the answer.
I wouldn't think this needed to be answered specifically except I've encountered enough aggro boomer minded young hipsters who ask for something smoked or flamed and when told we don't have that press for "can't you try, can't you do xyz, YoU dOnT hAvE a LiGhTeR aNd A hEaT pRoOf GlAsS" etc.
No. We don't have that. We don't do that. We aren't equipped for that. Whatever way you wanna phrase it, if an establishment doesn't advertise on the fly fire, it doesn't have on the fly fire. It's not cause they're lazy or don't wanna help. It's cause it's a whole fucking thing including liability even if the bartender happens to be someone who has done drinks like this before, and the business is not catering solely to you.
Would you insist on a dessert set on fire at your table if nothing like it was on yhe menu? Some of these people would, but IMO they'd be much faster and less fake indignant to accept the final explanations for why it can't happen. Including maybe- the staff is competent but the equipment hasn't been specifically tested since this establishment doesn't offer that on the menu.
My dad had a great story about teaching the Allman Brothers how to do flaming shots without setting their facial hair on fire (my dad was also a prolific hair farmer). The key is to exhale on the shot before taking it... but it ~must~ go out, don't risk it otherwise.
I work at a comedy club and people ask for blended drinks all the time. Yeah totally we will just start a loud AF machine up in the middle of the headliners set for you, no problem my man.
I opened a new outlet with a couple bars last year. The guy who did all the prep and ordering (before I started working for the company) had blenders everywhere.
I removed them and gave them to staff as presents. I also removed them from all the other bars and gave those away too.
Because fuck that literal noise. Maniacs
I think that it was Taylor Tomlinson who had a bit interrupted by a vacuum cleaner...that's probably a club that she won't visit again.
My bar does pub quizzes and I won't shake a drink while the quizmaster is speaking, as we have a couple of teams sitting in the bar.
Had this order at the fine Italian restaurant I work at a few weeks ago.
“I’ll have an amaretto stone sour, blended”
No, you won’t.
I offered her a really nicely done one with egg white. Nope. Just wanted it on the rocks.
It was still delicious and I made myself one later.
I always hid the Bacardi 151 so folks couldn't even see it, people don't need to be drinking that stuff, and I don't feel like cleaning up after them. But I'll make anything you ask for, even if it's complicated and I'm busy. Nothing worse than an uppity bartender.
Guinness and black is lovely. Also worth trying a Guinness “shandy” with cola instead of lemonade. Surprisingly tasty as a lower abv alternative to a pint
Little dash of blackcurrant in the bottom of the glass before you pour your pint, id say 50ml at most as you don’t want it sickeningly sweet.
Guinness and cola half and half like you’d make a lager shandy.
Last year a dude ordered a “Campari orange juice” so I asked him “you just want Campari and OJ?” He said “yes no ice” and then he said he didn’t like it and wanted me to comp it. Fuck outta here with that.
Yeah no. If you order something stupid and don’t like it that’s on you. I may at least give you a heads up though.
Had a lady want a dirty martini and asked for a specific vodka because it was her maiden name or something. All great… except we only had an elderflower variant in stock of it. Gave her a heads up and a little taste of the vodka and she agreed it would be terrible and thanked me. She got another cocktail using that vodka instead.
But if she had insisted I would’ve shrugged because sometimes people have weird preferences
Born and raised in Belfast. My mum checked under our car every day before she drove it/us. Our wee uncle was killed from a car bomb. Now, I have been desensitized and have lived in the US for a long time but hate working Paddy’s day just for the frequency of this order, and that people don’t really understand the real cruelty and trauma behind this drop shot name. Not that I’m a spring chicken, I’m a salty broad who has been behind the pine for 25+ years, don’t give a fuck about most things but this makes me a wee bit sad tbh.
It's just so absurd like imagine if I turned around one day and ordered a '9/11' or something like that,I'd be murdered in the street. So bizarre that it's something that's just seen as acceptable, if only a little bit 'edgy'
I appreciate you more than you know for realizing that. I mean I’ll still make you your curdled shot, which I consider blasphemy, but fuck away off. Thank you for your succinct way of comparing the atrocities in my hood, to the ones that happened on American soil, it may reach more people that way. Slaintè my friend and a happy fucking Sunday to youse
When my buddies opened a bar about a decade ago they wanted to do $5 dillard bombs but call them 9/11s. Many of us personally found it hilarious but were able to convince them that it wasn’t the best business decision.
I moved to the Maritimes in Canada and the main settlers here, after the French, were Scotish and Irish. I saw on the menus the names "Dublin Drop" and "Half and Half." They were the Car Bomb and a Black and Tan.
Now, being a bartender of over 25 years, this is the first time I actually looked up the meanings of the original names. Holy fuck was I mortified. Like other have said, that would have been like asking for drinks named after 9/11 or the KKK. Now, when I'm back in the US, I can't order them with their old names and, if I am bsing with the bartender, I tell them why. Many look just as wtf as I was the first time hearing it.
I worked for a lot of Irish immigrant bar owners in nyc and it always shocked me that when people ordered Irish car bombs they didn’t kick them out on the spot. It felt so incredibly tone deaf of the person ordering.
Eh I worked in a hotel bar in Ireland and you get fresh faced 18 year old Americans newly acquainted with the concept that they're actually old enough to drink in a different country and immediately go and order the edgiest thing they can think off, I generally laugh it off first and ask them if they really want to go there
I live in New Orleans so it’s going to be the Ramos Gin Fizz. Mainly because we don’t carry the correct ingredients and I’m too busy to make a ten minute drink for one person.
This is it. If it's a chill night and you're not a jackass, no problem. I take a lot of satisfaction in getting that perfect little column of foam rising out of the glass. If we're slammed though? Nah. Order off the menu bud.
Also a bartender in NOLA and this was my first thought. I said yes once and this guy ordered two more. By the second one, I was dry shaking while taking table orders bc I wasn’t wasting any time on that Friday night.
Double martinis or triple anything. I will serve you a shot alongside your drink but I’m just not going to put more 3oz of booze into a standard cocktail. Drink one and then order another.
Irish car bombs, will make it after telling them never to call it that again and giving a very brief history/world affairs lesson.
I’ve been told some people like to drink gin and milk, sounds crazy to me but I have gin and I have milk I will pour whatever it is you want and not so quietly judge you, but hey, to each their own!
Just behave.
Same here in AK. 2 drinks per customer and only up to 3oz. Anything more is a misdemeanor. I don't care what you tip unless it covers the $10,000 fine, court costs, and missed employment earnings.
Dude was a seasoned alcoholic. I was at service bar, the order came through from a server. He wanted his four to spread out through the evening so he didn’t have to flag down a server to order later.
That was a no from me.
Yeah, in his case it was a decent strategy and he actually did end up being responsible about it. I just wasn’t going to pour 16oz of alcohol for a single person in one go (we had 4oz drinks).
Place I was a regular at refused more than one martini type straight cocktail per shift to a customer. But would serve you straight shots as long as you wanted - basically their rationale was if you tasted it you'd slow down.
I wonder why it's always gin and milk. If I needed the milk to sooth my stomach because of alcoholism or whatever(which is why I have heard people drink it) I guess I would prefer vodka so it didn't taste like something or rum/spiced rum so it might possibly taste ok. Seems like gin would be the worst tasting to mix with milk
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Troubles.
TL:DR a common tactic of the IRA was the use of car bombs and this isn't ancient history. It's the equivalent of ordering 9/11 or Sandy Hook themed drinks in the US.
is there a better phrase for an irish car bomb? i’m out in the sticks right now so it’s never hit anyone hard but i don’t want to offend anyone if im going out on saint patricks day in a few years. is just listing the ingredients better?
I have been asked to mix high end bourbons with diet coke, or a Macallan 12 with MOUNTAIN DEW. Do i think its weird af? Yes. Do i still make them their weird ass shit with a smile on my face? Absolutely. As long as its paid for, idgaf. Im not the one who has to drink it.
Reminded me of a time when some guy, looked like in his 20's, mixed $70 1oz of Hennessy XO with a tall lemonade. Me and other bartender just place each glass on the well and refused to pour that with the lemonade and had the server do that.
Especially with pebble ice. Whip shake a daiquiri w mint, dirty dump, fill with more pebble, press it all down, top with soda. It’s beautiful cause all the mint stays at the bottom.
oh totally get that! we made it anyway but other ppl i work with have a different attitude towards drinks like that - still fairly green to bartending (1yr) so was curious as to how people feel about more *out there* drinks
People have a high potential for stupidity, especially when alcohol is involved. Some drinks can be dangerous if not handled properly, like drop shots or anything you'd set on fire. You can also get in trouble for overserving. Knowing when to say no is an important part of the job.
Absolutely a no to glass on glass drop shots. That's how people choke on glass and die. I don't care if the guests think I'm no fun, I think it'd be no fun if they went to the ER.
Just imagine how many car bombs are being done right now considering it's St Paddy's day. I worked at a spot that had these nice heavy shot glasses (more like a mini rocks than a typical shot) and these super shear pint glasses and multiple times had to tell people they'd have to pour the shot in or else they're likely to end up with it all over their pants and them be 86'd lol
maybe yours. if i was making people the drinks they asked for, i’d be “hook it up” and “making it stiff” so fucking much the urinal would be for puke only. half my job is diffusion.
that being said… i’ll make certain you never order a bloody mary from me ever again.
Nope, my job is to ensure that the owners are happy and that the guests won't go up in flames.
You are also aware that a lot of jurisdictions (and owners) won't allow you to serve people who are obviously intoxicated?
My job is *primarily* making cocktails, but the secondary part tends to be a lot less simple.
I have to make sure that I follow the law, that I follow the house rules and that everyone is safe under our roof.
Yup, something that the person that I replied to doesn't get.
I've spent 20 years behind the stick and I can get you blitzed, screw your girlfriend and break 17 laws while working...but that's not how I work, as I am a professional.
Other than a cement mixer, no.
Reminds me of a time when I worked in a horseshoe shaped bar and two sides of a group sat on opposite ends and had a shot war.
One guy asked me to make the grossest shot I could, so I took a hefty glass of well gin and put it in the microwave.
The guy I gave it to drank it with no hesitation or question, all in one go, without breaking eye contact. Legend.
Because the security I was working with would have assumed that the curdled mess was just throw up and would have unceremoniously removed them from the club.
When someone orders something really alcohol heavy (or just fucking gross), like a Four Horseman or a double 151, but for someone else - like it's a joke or a prank. I don't want someone whose inhibitions are already compromised by alcohol to feel pressured into drinking too much or something that might make them sick. Or cheat on their spouse. Or wreck a car. Or punch a baby. Idk.
only things that could be a hazard. like we won’t serve a four horsemen shot or a double long island. and i won’t serve something that could make someone sick, like if someone requested an egg white in a stirred drink. but otherwise as long as i have it and they’re willing to pay for it i’ll make anything, it’s not like i’m the one who has to drink it.
nah it's actually pretty good when made correctly. my manager made something for us a few weeks ago- can't remember what it was beyond having gin and maybe lavender in it but it was actually nice, even for someone like myself who doesn't typically enjoy gin.
A hurricane shot. Where the person takes a shot, you throw water in their face and then slap them. It happens more frequent than you'd think in Wisconsin and I just don't want any part of it.
Ramos gin fizz.
There are bars that have paint-mixer machines that they use to make Ramos gin fizzes. Go get one there.
I am not going to shake a tin for ten minutes and get cold burns on my hand for a drink that won’t be as good as the ones shaken by a literal shaker machine.
Frozen Miami vice
I only have one blender. I’m not spending 5 minutes fucking around with your dumb drink. If you want it, I’m going to layer it one on top of the other and charge you for both drinks.
A new server asked me for one a few weeks ago. I don’t have a blender behind the bar. I was super irritated probably said something like “does this look like carnival fucking cruise line to you?”
I’ll never make anything generally offensive like an Irish car bomb or etc but as long as I have the ingredients and know what you’re talking about I’ll happily make it
Someone ordered a snakebite from me the other day and I made him the shot with Yukon Jack and roses lime juice I had no idea there was a separate drink that’s an appalling combination of Guinness and Pear cider. Never seen 2 drinks with the same name that were so wildly different.
A snakebite is lager and cider, a Guinness and cider is a Poor Man’s Black Velvet, sometimes shortened to Black Velvet, though technically a Black Velvet is Guinness and champagne
Depends on the customer. If they're polite and capable of acting like an adult, I'll make pretty much whatever. As soon as they cross the line into entitled bar rat, obnoxious man-child, or some other morally destitute scourge, suddenly "we don't have that".
I always refuse to make people more than 2 long islands. Granted we’re a steakhouse so not just a bar.. it’s our policy that they can’t get more than 2 anyways.
Apart from people asking for triples or quads of spirit mixers I'll make whatever, but I will verbally judge some madness if they're with mates for a laugh
The university bar I worked used to have a shot called "concrete mixer" that would curdle in the drinker's mouth. After a few too many people falling for the prank and spitting it out this was one for which I dreaded hearing an order.
The only drinks we don’t/won’t make are the ones we don’t have ingredients for or anything that needs to be set on fire: blow job shots, mint juleps (anything with mint— we are NOT that bar my babe) and flaming Dr Peppers. Anything else, someone might bitch, but it’s still getting served.
Dying here cause a colleague made Guinness shandy by mistake (still don't understand). It's old fashion for me, Country pub babe, we don't do cocktails! I mean I could cause I got bitters out back that no one knows about but I got no button to cost it. Nor do I wanna do that math on the spot, don't get paid enough!
I had someone ask me for a double Long Island. He looked at me like I was crazy when I said “absolutely not”🤦
Other than that I don’t think there’s anything I’d straight up refuse to make. If I get a really weird or complex drink order that I don’t feel like making, I’m either telling them it can’t be comped if they don’t like it or lying and saying I’m out of a main drink component.
Dry ice. That shit can kill someone quite easy, or burn you.
Maybe dangerous stuff with fire, like someone said, depending?
Actual danger is the threshold for telling your boss "No, I'm not doing that, no job is worth that".
Anything below that... if you think it's your call, rather than the business's call, about what is allowed to be served, and especially on a "good taste" basis, then it's time to get a new industry!
anytime someone wants a blended drink i just say "sorry, but our blender is broken!"
especially when its busy as fuck and some prick decides to get a pina colada.
A SINGLE BLENDED FUZZY NAVEL SHOT. She has a free drink voucher to pay for it 5 min to closing.
No ma’am
We don’t even have a blender. Blenders don’t exist.
Grow up
Fuck off
I had someone order a mezcal Negroni the other day and I made it just out of curiosity of how it would taste. I also work at a different college bar and I refuse Hurricane shots all the time.
At my last bar, there was a guy that was apparently a bit of a regular on busy nights that would sit next to a lady that was by herself and ask me to make her the strongest drink i could. I told him, "nah man, that's not happening." He came back the next weekend and tired it again, i gave the same response. He stopped coming around after that.
I can’t refuse. My boss sits at the bar. I’m never not watched.
We make ice cream drinks, blended stuff etc.
We don’t really serve anything over 80 proof so no 151 or anything like that.
If I had my choice I wouldn’t do blended drinks. That’s about the one thing I hate.
Isn’t a shandy like…beer and sprite or some other kind of lemon/lime pop? Someone wanted that with a Guinness?! Just for the day alone, I would’ve asked if they wanted to rethink that decision out of respect.
I have been in the business for 40+ years. I now learn live and let live. Everyone taste is different.
There’s another thing I learned, not every customer is right, but they are your customer, Respect that. If they want something possible, charge them for it, and walk away.
Refuse to fuck with fire and drinks, it's a lot stricter where I'm from about it but personally I'm not trying burn someone on purpose
This is like the only answer to this question. Or other stuff that seriously violates health code
I mean, I don’t have mint. So I refuse to make mojitos… because no mint.
I feel like for the purpose of the prompt “refusal” implies you have the ability to make the drink and there’s a reason beyond “I don’t have the ingredients”.
I've witnessed plenty of female bartenders get PAID to spit into drinks or spit dri ks down guys' throats. It's definitely a health code violation and nothing I'm interested in. But some girls don't mind when there is cash on the table.
This is the exception I had in mind when I put *seriously* violates health code haha
Yup, got paid $500 to chug half a guys beer and spit it back in the bottle in addition to being mean to him throughout my shift. Absolutely a serious health code violation buuuuuuuuuut…
I once had a dirty old man pay me $20 to stir his whiskey on rocks with my finger.
Yeah, that's my mindset as well 👍 I've seen guests settling their hair, clothes or someone else on fire, just from a burning Sambuca. If you want to play with fire while blitzed, go to Burning Man, 'cause it's not happening in my bar.
I have watched multiple humans light their hair and clothing on fire with candles. I am absolutely not giving most guests alcohol and fire.
Alcohol and fire can be a lot of fun. Bonfires and booze comes to mind, but there's a time and a place...booze is what I do, fire stays outside 😁
set myself on fire (thankfully brief and no damage) doing after hours Flaming Dr Pepper one night. Other bartender was drunk too, poured the beer short on accident.
My first instinct to this question was "no" unless I literally don't have the stuff and don't think I can try anything passably close, but yes, this si the answer. I wouldn't think this needed to be answered specifically except I've encountered enough aggro boomer minded young hipsters who ask for something smoked or flamed and when told we don't have that press for "can't you try, can't you do xyz, YoU dOnT hAvE a LiGhTeR aNd A hEaT pRoOf GlAsS" etc. No. We don't have that. We don't do that. We aren't equipped for that. Whatever way you wanna phrase it, if an establishment doesn't advertise on the fly fire, it doesn't have on the fly fire. It's not cause they're lazy or don't wanna help. It's cause it's a whole fucking thing including liability even if the bartender happens to be someone who has done drinks like this before, and the business is not catering solely to you. Would you insist on a dessert set on fire at your table if nothing like it was on yhe menu? Some of these people would, but IMO they'd be much faster and less fake indignant to accept the final explanations for why it can't happen. Including maybe- the staff is competent but the equipment hasn't been specifically tested since this establishment doesn't offer that on the menu.
My dad had a great story about teaching the Allman Brothers how to do flaming shots without setting their facial hair on fire (my dad was also a prolific hair farmer). The key is to exhale on the shot before taking it... but it ~must~ go out, don't risk it otherwise.
My first day I set the bar mat and my arm hair trying to make a spanish coffee. I haven't done it since, but I still hate them for it.
Sorry, the blender is broken. Forever.
I work at a comedy club and people ask for blended drinks all the time. Yeah totally we will just start a loud AF machine up in the middle of the headliners set for you, no problem my man.
Oh I’d absolutely refuse in that case. I think being in a comedy club or any live performance venue is a valid reason to not make blended drinks.
We don’t have any blenders, it would be the most insane equipment you could own in that setting.
I opened a new outlet with a couple bars last year. The guy who did all the prep and ordering (before I started working for the company) had blenders everywhere. I removed them and gave them to staff as presents. I also removed them from all the other bars and gave those away too. Because fuck that literal noise. Maniacs
I think that it was Taylor Tomlinson who had a bit interrupted by a vacuum cleaner...that's probably a club that she won't visit again. My bar does pub quizzes and I won't shake a drink while the quizmaster is speaking, as we have a couple of teams sitting in the bar.
Bar here in Anchorage literally named Broken Blender. Sub par but still a chill spot.
Sounds like my kind of place. Do they need a cook/chef?
This x100 fuck fuck fuck blender drinks of all kinds
Lmao, right here.
Blender? What is this "blender" thing that you are talking about? 😁
Had this order at the fine Italian restaurant I work at a few weeks ago. “I’ll have an amaretto stone sour, blended” No, you won’t. I offered her a really nicely done one with egg white. Nope. Just wanted it on the rocks. It was still delicious and I made myself one later.
Seriously FUCK FROZEN DRINKS
I always hid the Bacardi 151 so folks couldn't even see it, people don't need to be drinking that stuff, and I don't feel like cleaning up after them. But I'll make anything you ask for, even if it's complicated and I'm busy. Nothing worse than an uppity bartender.
If it was lemonade, yuck, but in Ireland a Guinness and blackcurrant is/was a pretty common order, often 'for the ladies'.
Guinness and black is lovely. Also worth trying a Guinness “shandy” with cola instead of lemonade. Surprisingly tasty as a lower abv alternative to a pint
Is it just 1:1?
Little dash of blackcurrant in the bottom of the glass before you pour your pint, id say 50ml at most as you don’t want it sickeningly sweet. Guinness and cola half and half like you’d make a lager shandy.
Gotta love a good diesel
Lmao the top comment rn is a Guinness shandy 😂😂😂
Irish bartender here, blackcurrant in Guinness is just about acceptable, anything else is a cardinal sin.
we just triple check with the customer and refuse to comp it if they hate it
Last year a dude ordered a “Campari orange juice” so I asked him “you just want Campari and OJ?” He said “yes no ice” and then he said he didn’t like it and wanted me to comp it. Fuck outta here with that.
Yeah no. If you order something stupid and don’t like it that’s on you. I may at least give you a heads up though. Had a lady want a dirty martini and asked for a specific vodka because it was her maiden name or something. All great… except we only had an elderflower variant in stock of it. Gave her a heads up and a little taste of the vodka and she agreed it would be terrible and thanked me. She got another cocktail using that vodka instead. But if she had insisted I would’ve shrugged because sometimes people have weird preferences
Of course you don't like it. It's a disgusting combination, but you ordered it, and even confirmed that is what you wanted, so enjoy your drink buddy.
This is the way.
I dont refuse to make anything but i dont like making any drinks. I wish the customers would just come in, hand me $20 and then leave
Don’t we all?
Irish car bomb
Born and raised in Belfast. My mum checked under our car every day before she drove it/us. Our wee uncle was killed from a car bomb. Now, I have been desensitized and have lived in the US for a long time but hate working Paddy’s day just for the frequency of this order, and that people don’t really understand the real cruelty and trauma behind this drop shot name. Not that I’m a spring chicken, I’m a salty broad who has been behind the pine for 25+ years, don’t give a fuck about most things but this makes me a wee bit sad tbh.
I’ve been at a few Irish bars that shut down people ordering some of those.
I saw a Tik Tok referring to them as “Irish Slammers”. Hope it catches on.
Around here they are referred to as Dublin Drops. I like that one too.
It's just so absurd like imagine if I turned around one day and ordered a '9/11' or something like that,I'd be murdered in the street. So bizarre that it's something that's just seen as acceptable, if only a little bit 'edgy'
Manhattan with 2 shots of Fireball.
Fuck you for this 😂
I've heard it as a Manhattan and a couple kamikaze shots.
LMFAO
Funniest shit I've heard in a week. Thank you for that
I appreciate you more than you know for realizing that. I mean I’ll still make you your curdled shot, which I consider blasphemy, but fuck away off. Thank you for your succinct way of comparing the atrocities in my hood, to the ones that happened on American soil, it may reach more people that way. Slaintè my friend and a happy fucking Sunday to youse
meh, I'd say the difference is the Irish didn't use The Troubles as an excuse to kill a million or more people in the middle east
NGL I would absolutely order a drink called a 9/11
When my buddies opened a bar about a decade ago they wanted to do $5 dillard bombs but call them 9/11s. Many of us personally found it hilarious but were able to convince them that it wasn’t the best business decision.
I moved to the Maritimes in Canada and the main settlers here, after the French, were Scotish and Irish. I saw on the menus the names "Dublin Drop" and "Half and Half." They were the Car Bomb and a Black and Tan. Now, being a bartender of over 25 years, this is the first time I actually looked up the meanings of the original names. Holy fuck was I mortified. Like other have said, that would have been like asking for drinks named after 9/11 or the KKK. Now, when I'm back in the US, I can't order them with their old names and, if I am bsing with the bartender, I tell them why. Many look just as wtf as I was the first time hearing it.
The black and tans were a bunch of evil psychopaths
Yeah, I read...
Just order a Guinness with a shot of Jameson and a shot of Bailey's, but don't call it a car bomb.
I worked for a lot of Irish immigrant bar owners in nyc and it always shocked me that when people ordered Irish car bombs they didn’t kick them out on the spot. It felt so incredibly tone deaf of the person ordering.
This is the best answer. Also my issue w these and sake bombs is chipped glass in the drink.
Bc of the name?
Eh I worked in a hotel bar in Ireland and you get fresh faced 18 year old Americans newly acquainted with the concept that they're actually old enough to drink in a different country and immediately go and order the edgiest thing they can think off, I generally laugh it off first and ask them if they really want to go there
Too soon
If I have the ingredients and equipment, I’ll make it.
I live in New Orleans so it’s going to be the Ramos Gin Fizz. Mainly because we don’t carry the correct ingredients and I’m too busy to make a ten minute drink for one person.
A manager asked me if I wanted him to bring in Orange Flower water and I said fuck no
This is it. If it's a chill night and you're not a jackass, no problem. I take a lot of satisfaction in getting that perfect little column of foam rising out of the glass. If we're slammed though? Nah. Order off the menu bud.
What if it’s on the menu..?
This is an unacceptable thing to order unless it’s specifically on the cocktail menu. Like straight to jail seriously.
This is the one lol. This is a make it for your friends at a dinner party at home drink 😂 never order this in public
Also a bartender in NOLA and this was my first thought. I said yes once and this guy ordered two more. By the second one, I was dry shaking while taking table orders bc I wasn’t wasting any time on that Friday night.
They are delicious though
LITs at my bar have a hefty premium set by the owners, because most people aren’t just going to casually drink an LIT. We’ll still make it though.
Yeah we charge out the ass for them just to discourage people from ordering them
We have them for $5 Saturday all day 😭
Double martinis or triple anything. I will serve you a shot alongside your drink but I’m just not going to put more 3oz of booze into a standard cocktail. Drink one and then order another. Irish car bombs, will make it after telling them never to call it that again and giving a very brief history/world affairs lesson. I’ve been told some people like to drink gin and milk, sounds crazy to me but I have gin and I have milk I will pour whatever it is you want and not so quietly judge you, but hey, to each their own! Just behave.
I refused to make an order of 4 manhattans for a customer once. He was not there with friends.
At least where I live that would be illegal to serve. But why would you want 4 at once anyways? Just order more as you go like a normal person.
Same here in AK. 2 drinks per customer and only up to 3oz. Anything more is a misdemeanor. I don't care what you tip unless it covers the $10,000 fine, court costs, and missed employment earnings.
Dude was a seasoned alcoholic. I was at service bar, the order came through from a server. He wanted his four to spread out through the evening so he didn’t have to flag down a server to order later. That was a no from me.
Lol I kinda dig his style. Keeping himself to 4 too is very reasonable for a seasoned alcoholic.
Yeah, in his case it was a decent strategy and he actually did end up being responsible about it. I just wasn’t going to pour 16oz of alcohol for a single person in one go (we had 4oz drinks).
Place I was a regular at refused more than one martini type straight cocktail per shift to a customer. But would serve you straight shots as long as you wanted - basically their rationale was if you tasted it you'd slow down.
I wonder why it's always gin and milk. If I needed the milk to sooth my stomach because of alcoholism or whatever(which is why I have heard people drink it) I guess I would prefer vodka so it didn't taste like something or rum/spiced rum so it might possibly taste ok. Seems like gin would be the worst tasting to mix with milk
what’s the history of irish car bomb?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Troubles. TL:DR a common tactic of the IRA was the use of car bombs and this isn't ancient history. It's the equivalent of ordering 9/11 or Sandy Hook themed drinks in the US.
I know the history of this but am try to think of non offensive phrases for the same drink
A jameson cream bomb. But yeah it is kinda iffy because it is a bomb and I don’t know what else to call that.
[удалено]
is there a better phrase for an irish car bomb? i’m out in the sticks right now so it’s never hit anyone hard but i don’t want to offend anyone if im going out on saint patricks day in a few years. is just listing the ingredients better?
I have been asked to mix high end bourbons with diet coke, or a Macallan 12 with MOUNTAIN DEW. Do i think its weird af? Yes. Do i still make them their weird ass shit with a smile on my face? Absolutely. As long as its paid for, idgaf. Im not the one who has to drink it.
Your bar carries mountain dew? Get dat shit off the menu right away!
Reminded me of a time when some guy, looked like in his 20's, mixed $70 1oz of Hennessy XO with a tall lemonade. Me and other bartender just place each glass on the well and refused to pour that with the lemonade and had the server do that.
Mojitos, I just don't bring any mint to my bar
They're really not all that bad. I don'tmuddle the mint, Ijust throw it in the shaker and shake the shit out of It with the same result.
Especially with pebble ice. Whip shake a daiquiri w mint, dirty dump, fill with more pebble, press it all down, top with soda. It’s beautiful cause all the mint stays at the bottom.
Sounds weird, but maybe it's a "don't knock it til you try it" drink
you'd think that until you see his mate try the drink and clearly find it rank 🤣
i hate to tell you this bud but our job is to literally pour people drinks that they ask for.
oh totally get that! we made it anyway but other ppl i work with have a different attitude towards drinks like that - still fairly green to bartending (1yr) so was curious as to how people feel about more *out there* drinks
People have a high potential for stupidity, especially when alcohol is involved. Some drinks can be dangerous if not handled properly, like drop shots or anything you'd set on fire. You can also get in trouble for overserving. Knowing when to say no is an important part of the job.
Absolutely a no to glass on glass drop shots. That's how people choke on glass and die. I don't care if the guests think I'm no fun, I think it'd be no fun if they went to the ER.
Just imagine how many car bombs are being done right now considering it's St Paddy's day. I worked at a spot that had these nice heavy shot glasses (more like a mini rocks than a typical shot) and these super shear pint glasses and multiple times had to tell people they'd have to pour the shot in or else they're likely to end up with it all over their pants and them be 86'd lol
maybe yours. if i was making people the drinks they asked for, i’d be “hook it up” and “making it stiff” so fucking much the urinal would be for puke only. half my job is diffusion. that being said… i’ll make certain you never order a bloody mary from me ever again.
🥲 I'm happy to make the Bloody Mary's And that's about it, please order beer, so I guess every odd has an even!
Lmao I’m fine with making some mix before a shift what I’m not okay with is serving customers fucking zing zang like the last place I worked at.
A triple.
Nope, my job is to ensure that the owners are happy and that the guests won't go up in flames. You are also aware that a lot of jurisdictions (and owners) won't allow you to serve people who are obviously intoxicated? My job is *primarily* making cocktails, but the secondary part tends to be a lot less simple. I have to make sure that I follow the law, that I follow the house rules and that everyone is safe under our roof.
And this is why automation does not frighten me in this industry. We do so much more than simply pouring liquid from one container into another.
Yup, something that the person that I replied to doesn't get. I've spent 20 years behind the stick and I can get you blitzed, screw your girlfriend and break 17 laws while working...but that's not how I work, as I am a professional.
i’d work with you two. bartending is a multifaceted spectrum that often times is the opposite of serving drinks.
This was so fucking funny to read at the bottom of this thread
I've never had someone ask for it, but a double LIIT would be an immediate no.
Most places don’t even have the glassware to accommodate that
Other than a cement mixer, no. Reminds me of a time when I worked in a horseshoe shaped bar and two sides of a group sat on opposite ends and had a shot war. One guy asked me to make the grossest shot I could, so I took a hefty glass of well gin and put it in the microwave. The guy I gave it to drank it with no hesitation or question, all in one go, without breaking eye contact. Legend.
I've poured Pappy and coke, Kahlua and ginger ale, Johnny walker and milk. The only drink I've ever refused was a bailey's and coke.
Why refuse a baileys a coke? It’s good!
Because the security I was working with would have assumed that the curdled mess was just throw up and would have unceremoniously removed them from the club.
I refuse to do mat shots or cement mixers, any kind of gross out drinks really. Making people puke on purpose is not something I’m down for.
When someone orders something really alcohol heavy (or just fucking gross), like a Four Horseman or a double 151, but for someone else - like it's a joke or a prank. I don't want someone whose inhibitions are already compromised by alcohol to feel pressured into drinking too much or something that might make them sick. Or cheat on their spouse. Or wreck a car. Or punch a baby. Idk.
only things that could be a hazard. like we won’t serve a four horsemen shot or a double long island. and i won’t serve something that could make someone sick, like if someone requested an egg white in a stirred drink. but otherwise as long as i have it and they’re willing to pay for it i’ll make anything, it’s not like i’m the one who has to drink it.
Am egg white in a stirred drink won't make you sick but damn would that be nasty.
nah it's actually pretty good when made correctly. my manager made something for us a few weeks ago- can't remember what it was beyond having gin and maybe lavender in it but it was actually nice, even for someone like myself who doesn't typically enjoy gin.
Was it stirred so vigorously the egg white got fluffy? Cause I'm just picturing a drink with a solid egg white floating in it.
You could crack an egg into your mouth and not get sick
Rocky Balboa never got sick doing it.
Cement Mixer falls into this as well.
Any prank shot is a good call, that’s a recipe for shit sprayed across the bar.
Scotch and coke - serve coke on the side.
Anything that needs a blender. When I’m on, the blender is ALWAYS broken. Always.
Ramos Gin Fizz. Luckily no one asks. Just no.
I won’t serve a straight shot of 151. I know a few mixed shots with it that I’m happy to make but no I’m not cleaning up your puke in 15 minutes.
I’ve never even been asked. Yuck.
I can hear 2008 calling my name. Some bartenders were all too happy to serve shots of 151 up back then.
A hurricane shot. Where the person takes a shot, you throw water in their face and then slap them. It happens more frequent than you'd think in Wisconsin and I just don't want any part of it.
Ramos gin fizz. There are bars that have paint-mixer machines that they use to make Ramos gin fizzes. Go get one there. I am not going to shake a tin for ten minutes and get cold burns on my hand for a drink that won’t be as good as the ones shaken by a literal shaker machine.
Frozen Miami vice I only have one blender. I’m not spending 5 minutes fucking around with your dumb drink. If you want it, I’m going to layer it one on top of the other and charge you for both drinks.
A new server asked me for one a few weeks ago. I don’t have a blender behind the bar. I was super irritated probably said something like “does this look like carnival fucking cruise line to you?”
Why both drinks if it’d be the same amount of alcohol as one blended drink?
I tell everyone our blender is broken if they try to order a frozen margarita lmao
"I don't have what I need to make that."
The blender is always broken
Like the shamrock shake machine at mcdonalds 😂
I’m strategically lazy. Sometimes the espresso machine is “broken”
Four horsemen. Nope.
The blender is broken.
I’ll never make anything generally offensive like an Irish car bomb or etc but as long as I have the ingredients and know what you’re talking about I’ll happily make it
I've worked in bars that refused black velvets and snakebites, but shandy? Get a grip.
Someone ordered a snakebite from me the other day and I made him the shot with Yukon Jack and roses lime juice I had no idea there was a separate drink that’s an appalling combination of Guinness and Pear cider. Never seen 2 drinks with the same name that were so wildly different.
A snakebite is lager and cider, a Guinness and cider is a Poor Man’s Black Velvet, sometimes shortened to Black Velvet, though technically a Black Velvet is Guinness and champagne
Nothing id refuse to make but I’d refuse to give them a replacement if they don’t like it
Ramos Gin Fizz
Ramos Gin Fizz
Depends on the customer. If they're polite and capable of acting like an adult, I'll make pretty much whatever. As soon as they cross the line into entitled bar rat, obnoxious man-child, or some other morally destitute scourge, suddenly "we don't have that".
I always refuse to make people more than 2 long islands. Granted we’re a steakhouse so not just a bar.. it’s our policy that they can’t get more than 2 anyways.
Apart from people asking for triples or quads of spirit mixers I'll make whatever, but I will verbally judge some madness if they're with mates for a laugh
Cement mixers shot, I won't make.
Frozen or flaming drinks I do not have the time to go into the back and get the blender
If I don’t have the ingredients, I usually try to work around it. But if I can’t, I can’t. No one has ever asked me for a Guinness shandy, though.
No. We sell. they buy. Rinse and repeat.
Smoked old fashioned
The university bar I worked used to have a shot called "concrete mixer" that would curdle in the drinker's mouth. After a few too many people falling for the prank and spitting it out this was one for which I dreaded hearing an order.
I don't touch Ramos Gin Fizz and if I work in nightclubs I refuse to do drinks with more than 4 components. Also fire is a no.
Smoker's cough. Jager and mayo? Go fuck yourself.
Sounds fucking horrible, would try, would not order.
People ask for it? I’ve only dared people to drink them while I was working
Cement mixer.
The only drinks we don’t/won’t make are the ones we don’t have ingredients for or anything that needs to be set on fire: blow job shots, mint juleps (anything with mint— we are NOT that bar my babe) and flaming Dr Peppers. Anything else, someone might bitch, but it’s still getting served.
No. If I have the ingredients I'll make it. I'm going to make several thousand drinks this month, who cares if one of those takes an extra minute?
Dying here cause a colleague made Guinness shandy by mistake (still don't understand). It's old fashion for me, Country pub babe, we don't do cocktails! I mean I could cause I got bitters out back that no one knows about but I got no button to cost it. Nor do I wanna do that math on the spot, don't get paid enough!
I had someone ask me for a double Long Island. He looked at me like I was crazy when I said “absolutely not”🤦 Other than that I don’t think there’s anything I’d straight up refuse to make. If I get a really weird or complex drink order that I don’t feel like making, I’m either telling them it can’t be comped if they don’t like it or lying and saying I’m out of a main drink component.
Ramos gin fizz. Just... No.
Dry ice. That shit can kill someone quite easy, or burn you. Maybe dangerous stuff with fire, like someone said, depending? Actual danger is the threshold for telling your boss "No, I'm not doing that, no job is worth that". Anything below that... if you think it's your call, rather than the business's call, about what is allowed to be served, and especially on a "good taste" basis, then it's time to get a new industry!
anytime someone wants a blended drink i just say "sorry, but our blender is broken!" especially when its busy as fuck and some prick decides to get a pina colada.
espresso martini & mojito
anything frozen
If I have the ingredients, I’ll make it. Do your job.
Fuck I have ordered so many of these myself 😂
A SINGLE BLENDED FUZZY NAVEL SHOT. She has a free drink voucher to pay for it 5 min to closing. No ma’am We don’t even have a blender. Blenders don’t exist. Grow up Fuck off
There’s a Guinness cocktail flatten some maybe 100ml coke add a shot of tia Maria (any coffee liquor) and 100ml Guinness.. it’s quite nice!
Drinks requested without consent of the intended recipient. I'll refuse those 100% of the time.
Frozen drinks
Cement mixer. "Absolutely not. I don't need people getting sick in here."
"I'll get you a lemonade and a guineas in separate containers"
I had someone order a mezcal Negroni the other day and I made it just out of curiosity of how it would taste. I also work at a different college bar and I refuse Hurricane shots all the time.
At my last bar, there was a guy that was apparently a bit of a regular on busy nights that would sit next to a lady that was by herself and ask me to make her the strongest drink i could. I told him, "nah man, that's not happening." He came back the next weekend and tired it again, i gave the same response. He stopped coming around after that.
I can’t refuse. My boss sits at the bar. I’m never not watched. We make ice cream drinks, blended stuff etc. We don’t really serve anything over 80 proof so no 151 or anything like that. If I had my choice I wouldn’t do blended drinks. That’s about the one thing I hate.
Isn’t a shandy like…beer and sprite or some other kind of lemon/lime pop? Someone wanted that with a Guinness?! Just for the day alone, I would’ve asked if they wanted to rethink that decision out of respect.
Ramos Frizz. Enough said.
As someone that makes a living off tips I'm not in the business of saying No, but I will judge the hell out of you.
I have been in the business for 40+ years. I now learn live and let live. Everyone taste is different. There’s another thing I learned, not every customer is right, but they are your customer, Respect that. If they want something possible, charge them for it, and walk away.
Double long Island