oooops

            Take a second and try to think how many drinks you know off the top of your head. Think how many different liquors, mixers and combinations. Up, rocks, neat, frozen, shaken and bruised. Its mind boggling, yet the chemistry is as advanced as a pharmacist, with no degree. Constantly new liquors are revealed and names of new drinks are made up daily. Its almost like people want to stump the bartender like the twenty one and a half year old trying to be all that orders a Bubble Up Snot Flinger.Me not knowing that one, would ask"whats in it"he'd get a blank look over their face and replied " I don't know". THEN YOU SHOULDN'T BE DRINKING IT ASSHOLE! But as bartenders we have to remain in control and appear as though we know all and are flawless in our profession. Yes we make mistakes, but its how we cover it up that makes us a pro. Every once in a while, we make a mistake that is detected by all.
             I was bartending in Hilton Head S.C. at a little resort bar called Pappy's Landing. It had a nice size bar with a few tables and an outside deck area to sit and relax. The bar also serviced the restaurant that was down the hall. You couldn't see who is in the restaurant from the bar. All I could see was the little ticket that would pop up that had drinks on it for me to make. On this night, there was a steady amount of business in my bar as well as the restaurant. A ticket popped up that had a perfect Manhattan on the rocks,a dirty martini with three olives up and a Roy Rogers. The perfect Manhattan is bourbon with equal parts sweet and dry vermouth served over ice with a cherry, which I made correctly. The dirty martini is gin, splash of olive juice placed in a tin with ice, shaken, strained into a martini glass with three olives on a pick which I made correctly. a Roy Rogers is simply a Shirley Temple for boys, ginger ale, grenadine served over ice with a cherry, which I made incorrectly. I made a Rob Roy which is just like the Manhattan but instead of bourbon you would use scotch, which I made correctly. I saw the mother walk by carrying a little boy and the father came to the bar with the empty Rob Roy glass and asked what I had server his son. I stumbled for a way out, but didnt have one. I told the man the truth. Thank god he had a sense of humor and said "no wonder he was a perfect angle tonight." In my defence, which there is none,the boy wasn't driving!