Joke's on me! I have been sustaining a one-man campaign against ubiquitous branding by ordering my drinks generically. Like "Gin and Tonic" instead of "Tanqueray and Tonic" (Soon we'll have to specify the brand of tonic as well).

I know that in my parents' age, you ordered drinks that way. (Or am I imagining it??) Didn't they just say "Scotch and water"??

Anyway, needless to say, the waiter/waitress always asks "which gin" and I say "whatever you like" or "whatever your favorite is" and leave it at that.

Okay, I'll stop I guess. I got hit last weekend with two G&Ts at $20 each and this was at a pan-asian restaurant in Virginia Beach, not the Plaza Hotel. Ouch.

So now I have to specify a brand as I assume everyone else does. Trouble is, I don't really care. If you're drinking straight, you can really tell the difference between good vodka and bad...not so much when it's in a mixed drink.

Anyway, as I said, I'll change. What's a good mid-level gin? All I know is Hendricks. And Bombay Sapphire. I feel like an idiot ordering a drink by brand name though "Bombay Sapphire and Tonic please" Oh. Well. I guess there is Tanqueray..

Just ask for the "Well Gin" (or Vodka, Bourbon, whatever). That should be a signal to the server to charge you at whatever the least expensive price is for the cocktail.

Not that I'm a fan of ordering by brand name, but "Sapphire and tonic" is almost generic and almost rolls off the tongue.

If you are a gin drinker, there is a huge difference between Hendricks (cucumber) and Bombay Sapphire (botanically spicy). Even with a good tonic you can taste a significant difference.

I am a gin & tonic fan - I usually order a Bombay & Tonic, as that is by far my preferred gin, but if they are unlikely to have Bombay, e.g. a basic pub, then I will order a G&T and they will usually just pour the house brand (praying for Gordon's not Beefeater tho!) If the cost is the driver, then 'well brand' or 'bar rail' in N. America or 'house' in the UK will get you the basic gin they have.

Was in the UK last week and asked for my usual vodka martini with olives. It was a very young European making the drink and he said, "We don't have any olives - how about some olive oil instead?" I respectfully declined, thinking that sounds disgusting...

For the sake of Flyertalk research I did later Google it to see if you could make the cocktail that way, and apparently you can. Doesn't sound very appetizing though.

Back to the topic at hand, he did indeed ask me what vodka I wanted. I would have assumed that when you order a generic cocktail you would expect to get the cheapest brand, but now I know better.

"We" don't have to order anything but well drinks, but as "we" grow up, "we" often want a superior tasting beverage, and are willing to pay for it.

That said, I generally think well gin tastes better than Tanqueray, but if I want a gin with flavo(u)r, it won't be either. When I was a poor student, it was "G&T" and I didn't care. My "after finals" treat was a Sapphire, over, with a lemon. I couldn't imagine ruining that with tonic. (In the unlikely event that I'd order a G&T now, it would be with regular Bombay.)

"We" also, as we leave certain ages and enter other ages, decide that some of the alcohols without names we know, and others with names we know, no longer remain friends with various parts of the brain and other body parts. This is probably more true with Tequila than other distillates.

I'm not much of drinker of Whisky and its various types, but if I'm going to drink any of those brown spirits, it is going to have a name I know or is recommended.

And that, my friends, is how you know you're "all grown up."

Well, I'm definitely with you if I'm ordering wine. Unless I'm in Italy I'm not going to be ordering the 'house red'.

I would add Spain to that thesis. Never had a bad cheap wine.

True story. Hotel bar in London.

I ask for a Tanquery and tonic.

Server says "huh?"

I carefully repeat "tanquery and tonic."

Again "huh"?

I say "gin and tonic, please."

Server says "ok, what gin would you like?"

I ask "what do you have?"

First listed? Tanquery.

I say "I'll have that!"

Me, put head on table.

What's your usual at TGI Friday's?

I don't understand the fuss. When you don't care what liquor is in your drink, often because you can't taste the difference, you order "house" or "well" or just order the drink by generic name such as "whiskey sour". If you do care-- because you are ordering a drink for which you can taste the difference between mediocre and fine ingredients-- then you order by brand, such as, "Macallan 12, neat, double."

I think the fuss is the OP felt as if he'd been suckerpunched paying call drink prices when he doesn't give a flying fernet whether he has Barfum's Gin in his tonic, or Fancy � Selection, even though he's been ordering Fancy � Selection.

The drink waiter came and gave you drinks...
Then the food waiter came and gave you food
Then the head waiter came over and....

Aye.


If you don't specify a brand, you get the well.