March 25, 2013
Ever read an article in the newspaper that so infuriated you with overblown asshattery that you wanted to just run out and crack some heads? Well I had that happen the other day. And it’s funny, because while it normally happens to me when I’m reading sports or the weather, this time it was an article that actually deserved it! 
http://nypost.com/p/entertainment/food/take_this_drink_shove_it_9pVROHM7NNiOybQPrKiBiP/0
Berry and her friend came up against the fastest-rising beast in hospitality: the snooty mixologist. Right up there with the overbearing maitre d’, the pushy waiter and the bossy chef, these bar brats act like they know what’s best for their customers.
Ask for vodka, they’ll give you gin. Request a mainstream, top-shelf liquor, and they’ll look down on you and push an artisanal alternative of which you’ve never heard. Want anything frozen or sugary, and they’ll refuse to make it, saying they don’t want to “mask the spirit’s taste.”
First of all – and no apologies to anyone who takes offense – but mixologist? GIMME A FREAKING BREAK. You’re a bartender. And there’s nothing wrong with it. Get over yourselves. And if I asked for vodka and I got gin, there’d be a fun problem for the tender that’s for sure.
“The bartender chastised me for ordering a mainstream gin, and then he sold me something that I had never even heard of,” recalls Weil, adding, “The whole thing was a degrading experience and makes me never want to go back there again.”
How can he have “sold you” something you didn’t want? What ever happened to telling someone “no”? If she went to buy a Toyota, would she let the salesman talk her into a Bentley? But more to the point, the bartender chastised her for ordering mainstream gin? This is the point in the transaction where the barkeep would be learning to cope with a bottle of absinthe shoved up his hindquarters. NOTE TO SNOTTY BARTENDERS: IT’S THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY YOU ASSHATS. IF YOUR CUSTOMER DOESN’T FEEL HAPPY U R DOING IT WRONG.
Now if you think mainstream gin is swill and you have this dandy product you think is superior, there’s certainly ways to do it. “Ma’am, I’m happy to serve you this, but if you’d like to try something that really tastes great, may I recommend …..” I’d have no problem with that. I’d probably even thank them for it. But chastizing someone? Ever watch that lousy movie, The Butterfly Effect? Where big fat Ethan Supplee breaks a pool cue to beat people down? YUP.
Phil Ward, formerly the head bartender at Death + Company, a pioneering craft cocktail den, and now the man behind Mayahuel, a tequila-focused bar in the East Village, is adamant about what — and whom — he won’t serve.
“I don’t carry vodka or light beer because they teach morons to like things that have no taste,” says Ward, his voice growing louder as he goes on. “I don’t carry Coca-Cola either. It ruins palettes. People should know where they are going and what they are doing. When somebody walks into a bar and says that he wants a Long Island iced tea, what he’s basically saying is, ‘Put as much s - - t into a glass as possible, so I can get f - - ked-up.’ They are saying that they don’t care about taste.” 
Phil Ward: I’m putting out a fatwah on you. Hopefully they change the name of your job to Death + Phil Ward. You snotty, overbearing queeb! IT’S EFFING BOOZE. IF SOMEONE WANTS A SLOE GIN FIZZ YOU SHUT UP AND SERVE IT. IF SOMEONE WANTS BUD LIGHT YOU SHUT UP AND SERVE IT. IF SOMEONE WANTS ANYTHING, YOU SHUT UP AND SERVE IT. THEN YOU THANK THEM FOR THEIR BUSINESS. You can be as snotty as you want – one day you’ll be replaced by a machine anyway. Like those computerized dispensers that allow you to mix 100 different types of Coke? I await that day. Oh, and anyone who goes drinking that worries about your palattes? DIE.
Phil Ward makes the case that mixologists have a right to be annoyed when people order uncouth cocktails.
And I have the right to order a bottle of Cristal and crack it across your mouth if you come at me smartwise when all I want is a fun evening out. I DON’T EVEN DRINK AND I’M FURIOUS AT THIS IDIOCY.
It’s a bit of a recession out there. Do these d-bags really not want business? My fondest wish is that bar rags like Phil Ward snottify themselves out of business and he has to make ends meet working the rough trade as rent boy.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go yell at some birds and clouds.
Mr. Blog's Tepid Ride 
FIRST of all – A tequila bar ? Maybe in some parts of TX & likely Mexico.
Second of all. I have yet to meet a snooty bartender, except maybe if I went to the Mexican restaurant down the block & tried to order an Irish coffee for Cinco de Mayo. 😉 Most bartenders are accomodating,even if I tried to order Red Bull, vodka, Jack Daniel’s & Bailey’s Irish creme in some weird ( & most likely disgusting ) combination.
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NYC is a world unto itself.
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So is LA, Chicago, New Orleans, Miami, Atlanta, San Francisco / Berkeley / The entire Bay Area, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Austin, etc.
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True, true.
From that list I’ve only been to Chicago and San Franicsco. Chicago seemed too blue collar for that nonsense and SF too laid back. But LA? I totally believe it puts NYC to shame in asshattery.
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I’ll have to see where it rates on the asshat – o – meter someday. Never been there.
Never been to Detroit proper either, since the predominant preconception is that Motor City is a giant ghetto with a gang war on every corner, or a pimp or drug dealer on every block. Been to the suburbs of Detroit & they seemed pretty decent.
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Keyes and I are in agreement: you cannot pay us to set foot in Detroit.
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What about if the alternative was a mud – & – thatch hut sans plumbing / 24 – hr. electricity in North Korea, right outside Pyongyang ?
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Hmm, that’s a close call.
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At least in Detroit you wouldn’t have to worry about starving to death or being hauled away to a re – education camp by megalomaniac leaders.
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Not so sure about the starving to death aprt, lol. And while you are right about the meglomaniacal leaders, there is plenty of wildlife moving into the deserted parts to contend with.
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I’m not going there anyway, unless it’s the aftermath of a meteor strike, & they rebuild & start over. 😉 Maybe a tad harsh, but…..
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