Why do people say “I hate to be that person”? You don’t hate to be that person. If you did, you wouldn’t have posted it. There is no compelling reason to do it. You’re just doing it because you know that it’s not a socially great thing to do but you want to do it anyways.

Yeah, it’s pretty bad. Also, I don’t understand being picky about what glass you get but not picky about what goes into the glass. I’ll take a highball glass of Lagavulin rather than a lowball glass of crap any day.

I don’t think that’s how Schodinger’s cat worked...

Ok, so it’s only illegal if a wine producer started using the word after 2006? To me that says that there are a ton of legal sparkling whites in the US called champagne which are not from Champagne...

Ok, well, I’m telling you I’ve seen it in multiple wine stores in the US. And a lot of these are wines that are shipped across the country. So, if it isn’t legal that law isn’t really enforced at all, so it is effectively legal...

Oh, I don’t know. But you are missing out. There are some incredible bourbons.

A trained bartender should know that. However, sometimes people fill in or are learning on the job. In which case the first things a bartender should know are how to pour a beer and how to mix certain popular drinks (whatever they are for their place).

In my mind, being incompetent and arrogant is far worse than just plain old incompetence.

I’m not defending the bartender. I’m saying that the customer is way more ignorant than the bartender. It’s really strange how simplistic everyone on this forum is with their possible interpretations. There has to be one hero and one villain. One smart person and one dumb person. In my mind their both idiots. BUT the…

I’m not defending the bartender from the neat thing. I’m defending them on the whiskey thing. In my opinion this is an example of two idiots talking. But, the whiskey thing in my mind is worse because the bartender isn’t being an arrogant ass about not knowing anything.

That’s fine. You can believe whatever you want. You can believe that Mars isn’t a planet or that cars aren’t vehicles. All of those opinions are identical in form to yours...

That’s fine. But you can find things labeled Champagne that aren’t from France. If you’re living in America head over to a liquor store. It’s obviously not the law (or not an enforced one) here...

I can go into my corner liquor store and find things labeled champagne from other areas. In America it is not difficult. And my point was that it is snobby to insist on champagne when there are sparkling whites which are just as good (in that all champagne and sparkling whites are equally horrible and not fit for…

Whiskey is a general type of alcohol for which there are many specific types. Think of it like “mammal.” There are types of mammals like dogs, cats, horses, humans etc. but there is nothing that is just a mammal without a type. The mammals are all connected by shared characteristics. There are types of whiskey like…

Jim Beam isn’t good. But to say it’s not whiskey is wrong. It’s not a legal thing. Bourbons are a type of whiskey and like any other type they have crappy ones and great ones (Ok, some types may not have great ones, but bourbon definitely does). I can see from your other comments you don’t like bourbon which is fine.…

I think in Europe they do. In America you can find all sorts of Champagne that aren’t from France.

I’m not saying the bartender was a good one. I’m just saying that, of the two people, the bartender comes off as far less stupid than the original writer.

I actually frequent bars fairly regularly and drink whiskey at bars frequently. Funny enough, I’ve never had an issue and always specify what I want. The fact of the matter is each of the offerings he gave were whiskeys and no more or less correct than Tennessee or rye.

Mixed drinks are different. They have recipes that call for specific ingredients and you’d only have to specify if you wanted one of those changes. But you'd also still consider drinks made with scotch or bourbon, such as a whiskey sour, to be whiskey drinks.

Nope. There’s no secret. You got it right. If it’s in a cocktail and you don’t want it changed up you shouldn’t have to specify. If you just want whiskey in a glass with or without some form of water you should say what you want.