Saturday, April 4, 2009

Do They Even Know What They're Ordering?

Occasionally, I will come across a customer at the bar who will order something and from the way they order it, I can tell they have no idea what it is that they are ordering. Case in point, a couple of nights ago I had a younger gentleman come in and order some food to go. As he was waiting for his food, he wanted to order a drink. I was more than happy to help him. When I asked him what he wanted to drink, he asked for Hennessey. Ah. A cognac drinker. Being the educated bartender I am, I knew that we didn't have Hennessey so I offered the alternative I had, Courvoisier. He gave me the okay that the Courvoisier would work.

Before I poured the drink, I asked my customer if he wanted his cognac served neat. The gentleman looked at me puzzled and asked, "What?" I asked him again if he would like his cognac served NEAT. He still didn't have a clue as to what I was trying to ask him. I explained to him, when you serve cognac neat, that means it is served without ice, room temperature. If he wanted it served on ice, that would mean he would want it over. My customer told me that whenever he was "in da club", they would serve his Henny with ice. I told him no problem as I grabbed a rocks glass and threw some ice in there before pouring the cognac.

Sometimes people don't know exactly what they are ordering. They just see or hear about it on MTV and assume that if the big rappers are drinking it, then it must be good. This is why in situations such as this one, it's up to the bartender to educate their customers.

No comments: