Bourbon In A Bar

Was out last night at a restaurant where I like to go for the all you can eat mussels, and I always order a good bourbon neat to go with it. So I get my Makers Mark and when I taste it it tastes like some harsh nasty thing that has nothing to do with Makers Mark, sort of like it was heavily cut with cheap Scotch or something! After thinking about it a while I called over the owner and let her know, of course she was embarased and exchanged it for a beer. Not the first time this has happened to me has anyone else had this problem?...or is this just a NYC thing? http://www.straightbourbon.com/forum...emlins/mad.gif

I haven't heard of it happening here for a while (I'm sure it still does), but one of my first jobs in the late '80's was at a pub. For a particular fashion function (one entry price, all you could drink), I was asked to fill all of the empty Jim Beam White bottles with very cheap bourbon.

I'd hope this isn't what happened to you, but as I said, I'm sure it still goes on..

Something like that, it definitely wasn't Makers Mark! The owner was so sincere and apologetic that either she should be on the stage or it's not a policy in this establishment. I was thinking maybe a bartender with a taste for the good stuff or maybe the cleaning crew. Anyway, I am getting to the point where I am real hesitant to order good stuff unless I'm in a really high class place. It's a shame, but I guess you only really know what you're getting if it's your bottle!

Unfortunately, I can recount the story but not on a special event only status. At a certain home town fraternal organization, soon after being recruited for membership I was drafted to tend bar for a period of time, a pretty basic bar with a lot of standard labled bottles of every alcaholic beverage. We had well and call drinks just as any normal bar does, but after the bar was empty and the patrons left for the night, the Smirnoff(call) and Popov (well) bottles were refilled with Popov, the VO (call) and well Canadian filled with the cheap Canadian, and so on and so forth. The fact that the treasurer of this organization had just been jailed for embezzling funds may have had something to do with cutting the corners but I always felt that this had been going on all along. It didn't sit right with me then and I told them so. When someone orders and pays extra for a call liquor, they should get what they pay for. I wasn't with that organization very long to say the least.

I was in Kansis City and visited a bar which served Weller. The bartender complained that "there is something seriously wrong with your whiskey!" He showed me the bottle and the bourban was black! Well..... if you allow iron to come into contact with whiskey, it will become black. The tap water in KC has a very low level of iron in it, as do most municipal water supplies. When I pointed this out, I offered to take the bottle back to our lab and have it tested. The first test I was going to have run was to check the proof. I was told they would just throw the bottle away and buy another one. Bottom line, they were watering down the hooch and got caught with their pants down. @&%# happens!

Ken

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I was in Kansis City and visited a bar which served Weller. The bartender complained that "there is something seriously wrong with your whiskey!" He showed me the bottle and the bourban was black! Well..... if you allow iron to come into contact with whiskey, it will become black. The tap water in KC has a very low level of iron in it, as do most municipal water supplies. When I pointed this out, I offered to take the bottle back to our lab and have it tested. The first test I was going to have run was to check the proof. I was told they would just throw the bottle away and buy another one. Bottom line, they were watering down the hooch and got caught with their pants down. @&%# happens!

Ken

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Ya but damn...give me some watered down booze and I would know it's watered down booze!

Good point, but if you were a casual drinker who ordered a Weller and Coke, it would be a bit difficult to tell you were being shortchanged. If someone wanted the drink neat, they would detect something fishy real fast. If it was ordered with a splash of water, well..... they would already have it premixed!!

Ken

I see your point but I just don't see a "casual" drinker ordering a Weller and Coke...

about half the time i order wild turkey from bars, I become subjected to drinking what tastes like Bourbon-Corona style, as if someone squeezed a lemon or left a peel in it. http://www.straightbourbon.com/forum...mlins/puke.gif

Sometimes I pick up an "off" smell from bourbons served at a bar. I usually ask the bartender to wash the glass with water before pouring the bourbon. This seems to keep those "off" smells and flavors to a minimum.

Randy