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What’s your go-to drink?
Writer and Imbiber Dan Dunn posted this story on Food Republic today, on the importance of having a “go-to drink.”
He defines go-to drink as “one you order when your brain is on autopilot.” A drink you can order when the bar is busy or when you find yourself in a place that has limited ingredients (or bartenders of a certain skill-set).
This has been an issue on my mind recently. I feel like it’s important to have a standard drink, one that defines who you are as a person. On the other hand, I am also a proponent of the mantra “there’s a time and a place for every drink,” and believe it is important to take into consideration the kind of bar you are in, your company, and the occasion, before you order. You wouldn’t walk into the East Side Show Room and order a Cherry Cosmopolitan any more than you would walk into Maggie Mae’s and order a classic Negroni.
That’s a much larger discussion, but the same principle applies. Having a simple signature drink that you know you will enjoy in any kind of bar is important.
I spent many a maddening moment in my drinking youth standing behind the bar with a look of slight panic, completely incapable of spitting out a drink order that is so simple, as Dunn describes, that “not even a trained monkey or an aspiring D-list actor can screw it up.”
My default used to be whiskey and ginger ale, but so few bars carry ginger ale that it eventually became an issue (the typical workaround of Sprite plus Coke does not even come close to the same flavor as ginger ale, so don’t even bother going there).
So today, my “go-to” is whiskey on the rocks. I love whiskey. On the rocks could be construed as a cop-out, because it’s not exactly a mixed drink. To me, it’s a simple and straightforward, no-bull kind of drink that will fly in practically every situation - from the dirtiest of dives to the cleanest of craft cocktail bars.
What’s your go-to drink?
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By Rusty Ward
May 18, 2011 11:02 AM | Link to this
Two - A Beer and a cocktail !
Cocktail is always Canadian Club and Coke, Im older than my age and its a discovery made in my early twenties in liquor retail, better, cheaper and more unique than the standard Crown Royal. Add that Don Draper cant be wrong and youve got someting.
Beer is Budweiser but I usually ask for a Real Ale even if I know where they dont have it, just to throw the name around, I love everything done by the boys in Blanco.