I take you out at night, buy you cigarettes and whiskey drinks...

[e_juliana]

Cool article in 7x7 (SF mag) - Diary Of A Mixologist. Mixology is certainly the Hot Thing in the world of drinking right now, and San Francisco likes to fancy itself on the cutting edge. (This is also the kind of bartending that Jeffrey Morgenthaler up in Eugene does. His East Of Eden is a triumph of gin.)

The article's interesting and fun, but my favorite are the two sidebars. First, how to behave in a bar:

Get The Most Out Of Your Bartender

DO have your entire order ready, for yourself and your friends. No bartender has the time to meet each member of your posse. And when we finish making your margarita, please don't say, "Oh, and two more of those."
DON'T whine, "My drink's too sweet." Politely say that you like it a little more tart, and we'll be happy to fix it for you.
DO be patient.
DON'T ask to have your drink made extra strong. Would you ask a chef to put an extra steak on your plate for no charge?
DO have your money or credit card ready. The moment to dig through your purse is not when there are 50 people behind you.
DON'T whistle or wave to get the bartender's attention. It just makes it easier for us to identify whom to serve last.
DO tip well. A buck is fine on a beer or two, but not for two or more labor-intensive cocktails.
DON'T assume Corona, Red Bull or Malibu is available. Or that the bartender should be willing to make some nasty, obscure shot you once had in Cabo.
DO refrain from calling out our names if we haven't introduced ourselves first. It's creepy.
DO smile. And we'll probably smile back.

Second - what do you like to drink? (And yeah, #2's pretty accurate.)

What Your Drink Says About You

1. Shot of Patrón. You think you know, but you have no idea.
2. Pacifico and a shot of anything. Fine-dining restaurant employee.
3. Sommelier Sidecar. Your knowledge of wine is not as good as you think it is.
4. Vodka Soda. Marina chick (even if you're a guy).
5. Jack and Diet. Ex–frat boy who spends too much time at the gym.
6. Dark and Stormy. Seasoned drinker who's "on the wagon."
7. Milk of Millennia. You're likely from L.A.
8. Mojito. European tourist who will later ask whether we know of a good disco in the area.
9. Vodka Red Bull. Show us your ID.
10. Pisco Sour. Young woman from a South American country, or a dyed-in-the-wool cocktail geek.

Randomly, Bars, cheap sex, and boozy anthropology. (I found this while trying to find something that describes the soulless yuppiedom of the Marina.)

edit: The above article really does read like "I read something like this in a fic once."

Comments

[cass404.livejournal.com]

His East Of Eden is a triumph of gin.

*nods*

Great, now I want to listen to hair-ish metal and drink cocktails.

[e-juliana.livejournal.com]

HAR. You are so susceptible!

[serrana.livejournal.com]

Eugene? Eugene? *follows links* Hey. That's practically within walking distance. I didn't even know they had a bar in there. I thought it was more of a sandwich place.

[e-juliana.livejournal.com]

I don't know about the timeline, but Jeff & Scott moved in there in January. It's pretty nice, and I think they do jazz on Saturdays? J&S are really good guys, though. Awesome bartenders, as well.

(Some of my family lives up in Eugene - near Amazon Parkway, actually - so I go up to visit every once in a while.)

[serrana.livejournal.com]

Now that the kids are getting older, we have these recurrent fantasies where we hire a sitter and, I dunno, go on a date or something. It has been quite a while.

We live in southwest Eugene, and go to church up near the top of Amazon Parkway. It is a nice place to visit; we used to come here on vacation (from the Bay Area) and after becoming parents we realized that hey, this is a place where actual people actually live, we could live here, too! And now it's really hard to pry us out. *GRIN*

[e-juliana.livejournal.com]

A date?? Surely you jest! Parents don't do such things!!

It is a nice place - a little small for me (she says, having grown up in Alaska), but very nice and apropos for my family.

If you do visit Jeff & Scott, please tell them Juliana says hi. And I'll let you know when I'm coming to town next - maybe we could have coffee!

[serrana.livejournal.com]

We are currently gearing up for our first protracted trip (six nights) away from the babies (who are five and almost-two) in...er...well, ever. It is a tossup who's more nervous, us or my baby-minding parents.

I liked the big city a lot pre-kids, but...there are a lot fewer crazy people with guns, up here, and these things start to matter when you have children.

Holler, I'm here. And I will tell them. That sounds like kind of a good date-thing, actually, going out for cocktails.

[mearagrrl.livejournal.com]

So I'm not allowed to drink vodka soda? Huh. No one here (or in DC) ever drinks it. Maybe it's just the gays?

[e-juliana.livejournal.com]

Actually, Martin drinks it, too, when he's drinking booze. I have no personal issues with it, but I have noticed the soulless hacks of the Marina often drink vodka sodas, as well.

[zmayhem.livejournal.com]

OMG, the Marina. Soulless yuppiedom describes it perfectly. Every time I go there (mostly to Fort Mason, but visiting the neighborhood proper is sometimes unavoidable) it all feels so nearly familiar yet so completely alien from anything I've ever thought of as properly San Franciscan. It's a civic uncanny valley.

And the weekend bar and restaurant crowd? Depresses me and seriously causes me to question the existence of God. I avoid the whole area (aside from Fort Mason) for my own sanity.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

I *love* Aviations; is this a character defect?

[e-juliana.livejournal.com]

Absolutely not! (Has your DH found that Aviation gin yet?)

[stephl.livejournal.com]

DON'T assume Corona, Red Bull or Malibu is available. Or that the bartender should be willing to make some nasty, obscure shot you once had in Cabo.

I agree with the second sentence, but -- okay, I don't drink anything made with Malibu, and I loathe Red Bull and all of its works, but Corona always seemed like a fairly standard beer for a bar to have. Is this a Midwest vs. California thing?

[e-juliana.livejournal.com]

Actually, no. It's very common for beers to have Corona - it's the most popular Mexican beer in the U.S., I think. However, some bars do not, and I've seen people get very thrown by it, and the offer of Dos Equis/Tecate/Pacifico confuses the fuck out of them.

Of course, I've seen people get upset when bars don't have Bud Light and refuse to drink Miller Lite or something to that effect. Peoplez iz strange.