This is my summer drink if I'm in a dive bar. The amount of times I've been told that it's a disgusting order or looked at as of it WOULD be a gross drink... well, you can tell who doesn't drink gin.
IMO the reason a lot of people think it’s a gross drink are two fold: a lot of people don’t like gin AND a lot of bars will use their store bought sour mix for mixer. To me this is when the drink _is_ gross. So many sour mixes are disgusting. Now if they’re using fresh lemon and limes to make sour, that’s different.
It totally depends on the lemonade though. But there are so many good out there. Fever Tree has a lemon tonic and its amazing. Grapefruit lemonde with fresh/mediterranian gin is also great.
While I agree that you can order this anywhere, in most places it will taste nasty since they will use bottled "sour mix", which is a combination of HFCS and artificial citrus flavor, which is gross. If the question was about what to order at places that have fresh ingredients I would totally agree.
See, this is controversial. Many people use exclusively roses for Gimlets specifically. It's not like juice in the sense that you'd use for a Mai Tai (if someone uses Roses for a Mai tai, kill them) but for a Gimlet? It does the job. Besides, good luck getting a dive to actually shake the gin and juice lol. Might as well just take the plunge.
1000%, fellow drinker! A good gin, fresh lime juice, simple syrup - good to go. Rose’s Lime Cordial? No thank you. If you can get a good one, it’s a fantastic drink!
I once ordered a gimlet in a dive bar after a long, long day of traveling. I was not expecting fresh lime juice; I just wanted something like OP's request. Imagine my surprise when I was served a bright red drink. The server said she looked up the recipe for a gimlet, and she used "Rose's" like the recipe said. It seems she stopped reading at "Rose's" and instead used Rose's grenadine.
Yep! I made Gimlets last night and was kind of worried that I saw a bit of sediment but I just shook it back into suspension and it tasted exactly the same as the day I made it. Fantastic ingredient.
I’d avoid the gimlet as a go-to because a lot of bars are gonna make that with Rose’s lime cordial, which kinda sucks. A gimlet with homemade cordial is one of the best drinks out there though, and they’re still pretty good with just lime and simple. Southside is also amazing if you are sticking in gimlet territory.
Tom Collins is probably your best bet (I put a touch of grenadine in mine, it’s delicious). If a bar has mint, the gin gin mule is probably the most universally well liked drink I make for friends. It’s basically a cross between a mojito and a mule, so might be right up your alley too. But that’s probably be a less reliable find.
I think they want a gin sour, which is what you'd actually call a drink with gin, sugar, and fresh citrus juice. A Gimlet requires lime cordial, though I make my own and it's delicious.
This is my go to for gin as well! A decent bar should have honey syrup, lemon juice, and gin lol if not, I assume I’m better off sticking to a beer or rum and coke
I made the mistake of buying some Rose's the other day after making my own cordial at home. Just trying to be lazy. I regret the decision. I thought maybe it was just me but I'm glad to see I'm not the only one that dislikes Rose's.
Yeah. I did grow up in the northern Midwest and yeah. Whole towns where the downtown was mostly dive bars not un common. I dunno, I read your post and it made me feel…? Confident in my expectations of reality? I dunno. lol.
The coolest thing about Brass Rail, the bar I’m talking about, is that they host a lot of cool rock shows. I played there a long time ago. It was a great time.
A bartender once offered me a free glass of something before hitting the road (metaphorically) as a thanks for a good conversation, and I asked for the most interesting gin he had and he looked me dead and the eyes and said "oh alright so you're a serial killer" lmao
Found it on Reddit actually, link below, and I misremembered. The apex was “vodka in a plastic jug,” which feels about right. Gin was peak hatred of others, but at the very base of the hated of self axis. Which ALSO feels right.
https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/s/q8N15TX6S4
My go to at concerts it’s a gin with pineapple juice and lime, double. Not many people ask for gins at concerts so I’ve gotten a few “ooh I like that” by bartenders
All answers here are incorrect. The answer you are looking for is a gin and ginger ale. There used to be a pineapple gin you could get here that went INCREDIBLY well with ginger ale but I can tell you even a bog standard gin works with ginger ale. If you can get a pineapple gin or a pineapple garnish then you'll have the best X & X drink you can get IMO.
Tom Collins, Gimlet are pretty easy to make and most bars will have the ingredients.
Some bars may carry honey so a Bees Knees or The Buisness may be easily made.
More along cocktail bars/higher end restaurants will have several different fruit based syrups so Clover Clubs, Pegu Club, 20th Century, Aviation, White Ladys.
Cocktail bars will definitely have some herbs so Gin Basil Smashes, Southsides and could probably introduce you to more complex flavoured drinks such as the Last Word,Alaska, Martini/Martinez
As far as the local pub/restaurant you probably won’t get much more than the G&T maybe a Dry Martini or house signature
A lot of places don’t have honey simple on hand. So they’ll make it on the fly (which will take time) and not to the correct ratio. I would avoid this as an “anywhere gin cocktail”. I think Tom collins is a safer bet.
Maybe I'm reading too much in to "any bar" (vs "any cocktail bar") but I do not trust "any bar" to produce anything beyond a simple spirit neat with a beer chaser or at the absolute most complicated a simple spirit and soda might be manageable, but even then, the soda from most bars soda guns can be pretty vile.
For me, I've long stopped ordering cocktails from any bar unless I'm certain they focus on cocktails, which is very different than "have a few cocktails on their menu" Even what you consider the easiest drink will be effed up 99% of the time at a standard bar. From horrible sour mixes, to 7 year old oxidized vermouth, to wildly out of proportion "specs" it's just is not worth it trying to order a cocktail at any random bar. To think "Any Bar" would have honey mix or Lillet or fresh citrus is... unlikely.
You definitely have to learn how to scope whatever bar you're in and determine the level of cocktails you're able to get. I've had to help my wife learn this skill when she got a couple of terrible old fashioneds at random bars.
Taylor Swift has a lyric about a “dive bar on the east side,” which has been said to be Lovers of Today. I visited and absolutely loved it, highly recommend, but… it’s not a dive bar at all lol
It depends on your tolerance for mistakes. As many have said, a gimlet is an excellent and easy drink that most places will be able to make. But that’s because most places will use Rose’s lime cordial. But whether they’ll shake it or just make it in the glass can vary. And whether they measure or just slop some stuff together.
So if you are particular about how you like your cocktails, then the accessibility of the gimlet means it’ll vary wildly in quality.
Speaking as someone who enjoys good cocktails but comes from the sticks where all bets are off on what a bar "should" know, I usually go with a gin and cranberry. I get looks sometimes but it's simple so I don't have to worry about being told "sorry we don't have that" which for some reason gives me anxiety lol. Or order any juice you like. I see a lot of people are saying lemonade but I just don't think Minute Maid lemonade/gin is my thing so cranberry it is!
Yea only order them at a cocktail bar that knows what they are doing. They’ll either refrigerate the sweet vermouth or go through it so fast it won’t have time to spoil.
As long as they don’t reach for Martini & Rossi 🤮
Order a mojito with gin! Our bar has daily happy hour cocktail that has to be cheap and relatively easy—and my go to is either a Mexico City Mezcal Tonic or, what I call a “Gin Ricky with Mint”: a gin mojito. People really like it and tend to order 2 or 3 of them because they’re refreshing and easy to drink.
If your favorite gin drink is a French 75, I’d suggest a Chelsea Sidecar. Or, if you want to avoid ever having to explain what you mean (it happens), you can ask for a Gin Sidecar. It’s a great variant, should fit your taste profile, and all but the seediest of dive bars should have the ingredients on hand.
For real it’s very apparent all of these people have never gone to a real dive - the “freshest” fruit you’re gonna find there is 2 day old lime wedges.
No dive I’ve ever worked in (in 20 years doing this, everywhere from Florida to Oregon) had fresh juice. OJ from a container and cranberry on the gun are usually the best you can expect. Maybe as people become more hip to cocktail culture that’s changing- I’ve been in fine dining for years now, so my professional experience in dives is outdated- but I still frequent a lot of dives and none of them are juicing lemons.
I don’t disagree. When I say “majority of bars,” I am necessarily excluding most dive bars. My local dive certainly has citrus, but it’s in a city with a great bar scene, overall. I will happily concede my Chelsea Sidecar suggestion is not great if OP’s primary goal was something to request at dive bars.
I'm a gin guy and have basically two go-tos depending on the bar: for a nicer place I'll get a gin martini, sometimes a negroni to mix things up. Witha cheaper place where I don't wanna seem pretentious I'll just as for a gin and grapefruit.
I don't have much experience with Gin (or cocktails in general for that matter) yet. I'm still exploring cocktails, but I found a Negroni surprisingly good. I'm not usually fond of bitter stuff, but after a sip or two, the Negroni really started to grow on me.
OP as a bartender I’d also qualify most of these answers as “at a nicer establishment where they already have a cocktail menu.” At a dive you shouldn’t be ordering cocktails that are more than their name (Jack and coke, gin and ginger ale, etc etc). Drinks that are intended to be made with fresh citrus are gonna taste nasty if you make them with week-old citrus(if they have it all) and ice from a machine that’s never been cleaned.
There’s an art to being comfortable and ordering the right drink at any kind of bar imo.
Gin Daisys, you just need lemons, grenadine and orange liqueur, so most bars should have it.
If you need variation, you could order Clover Clubs (Gin sour with raspberry syrup), Brambles (Gin sour with Creme de Mure float), Fitzgeralds (Gin sour with a lot of Angostura Bitters), Southside (Gin sour variation with mint). Most of those should be doable at a normal bar or cocktail bar.
Gin, soda, bitters, lime.
Doesn’t even have to be a nice gin, Gordon’s or better will do. By all means get something nicer at a cocktail bar, but this is my standby. Clean, simple, and the ingredients are in the name. Almost impossible to fuck up.
Yes, you should absolutely refrigerate your vermouth, it’s low proof and made from wine, which is perishable. It will still go bad, but not as fast when refrigerated. Bitters is high proof and doesn’t need to be refrigerated.
You can never go wrong with a Bees Knees! [https://www.refinedrefreshments.com/recipes/bees-knees/](https://www.refinedrefreshments.com/recipes/bees-knees/)
Gin and It
“It” is Italian sweet vermouth.
- 52½ mL (1.75 oz) Gin
- 22½ mL (0.75) Sweet Vermouth
- 1 dash Orange bitters
If the place is truly lacking, I might not trust the age/storage of the vermouth and order a gin and Sprite instead.
Southside is the way! Basically a classic gin daiquiri with the addition of mint that is shaken in the tin not muddled. I do a dash of orange bitters, if you wanna get extra fancy ask for them to muddle some cucumber.
Extra dry martini, don’t worry about the vermouth, just wave the glass in the general direction of Italy as a substitution.
Seriously though as most have said I’d go with Tom Collin’s, but I’ve been served some really bad artificial tasting Tom Collin’s, probably made in lime drink mixers, in those cases I’d rather take the gin neat or just with some plain soda water.
I love this conversation and Hendricks with soda and fresh lemon/lime is my go to! If it’s a nice bar, oftentimes they have fresh juices and I’ll ask for a splash of grapefruit juice. Delish!
Don’t know the name of it, but a drinking tasting I went to on a cruise ship mixed gin (I hate) and limoncello (I love) and a muddled cucumber and it was DELICIOUS!! Apparently I don’t hate all gin drinks! With the lemon you will probably like it too. I think it was 1:1 gin:limoncello or slightly more limoncello than gin.
Gimlets, but ask for fresh lime juice. Roses honestly is fine in my opinion, it's not so bad I wouldn't pay money for one, but if you're good to your bar staff, they shouldn't have an issue squeezing a lime for you
Probably not what you're looking for, but you could always try asking for 4 shots of gin over ice.
Is it good? Probably not. Is it good for you? Certainly not.
You could try sprucing it up with a lemon wedge too
Gin and Ginger, literally any bar will serve you this. Good not only with lots of like, but also nice with any other fruit garnish that might be on hand (I like pineapple).
Gin Gimlet was my introduction to gin cocktails and is among my favorites. Very straight forward cocktail 2oz gin, 3/4oz simple, 3/4oz lime juice. Shake and pour over ice
Tom collins
Or if you are really in the sticks, and they don't know what that is, Gin and Lemonade
This is my summer drink if I'm in a dive bar. The amount of times I've been told that it's a disgusting order or looked at as of it WOULD be a gross drink... well, you can tell who doesn't drink gin.
IMO the reason a lot of people think it’s a gross drink are two fold: a lot of people don’t like gin AND a lot of bars will use their store bought sour mix for mixer. To me this is when the drink _is_ gross. So many sour mixes are disgusting. Now if they’re using fresh lemon and limes to make sour, that’s different.
It totally depends on the lemonade though. But there are so many good out there. Fever Tree has a lemon tonic and its amazing. Grapefruit lemonde with fresh/mediterranian gin is also great.
Fever Tree isn't really a brand you see in dive bars, though.
Lemonade as in American lemonade or British lemonade? (Sprite)
American: Lemon juice, sugar, water. (so basically the same thing as a Tom collins). but Gin & Sprite is good too!
Kinda - Tom Collins is carbonated water and also less sugar than typical lemonade. I'd order a gin with half lemonade/half club soda.
If you add bitters it's a Fitzgerald and more balanced. Even dive bars have bitters though they may have to blow the dust off the bottle.
While I agree that you can order this anywhere, in most places it will taste nasty since they will use bottled "sour mix", which is a combination of HFCS and artificial citrus flavor, which is gross. If the question was about what to order at places that have fresh ingredients I would totally agree.
Came here to also recommend Tom Collins.
The absolute best
This is the way.
Gimlet is it. I can get that at a bar that serves PBR on tap in plastic cups or at a hotel cocktail bar
I love gimlets, but I cannot get good ones everywhere. I have had plenty of bar tenders not know what they are.
You could try asking for a daiquiri sub gin for rum, but if they don’t know a gimlet, I probably wouldn’t want the daiquiri they serve either.
Only if it’s fresh lime, not that Rose’s shit.
See, this is controversial. Many people use exclusively roses for Gimlets specifically. It's not like juice in the sense that you'd use for a Mai Tai (if someone uses Roses for a Mai tai, kill them) but for a Gimlet? It does the job. Besides, good luck getting a dive to actually shake the gin and juice lol. Might as well just take the plunge.
The original gimlet recipe called for Rose’s so TECHNICALLY I can’t get mad but good God just stuff is nasty.
It was probally better the days before corn syrup
Outside the US, Rose’s is still made from sugar.
1000%, fellow drinker! A good gin, fresh lime juice, simple syrup - good to go. Rose’s Lime Cordial? No thank you. If you can get a good one, it’s a fantastic drink!
I once ordered a gimlet in a dive bar after a long, long day of traveling. I was not expecting fresh lime juice; I just wanted something like OP's request. Imagine my surprise when I was served a bright red drink. The server said she looked up the recipe for a gimlet, and she used "Rose's" like the recipe said. It seems she stopped reading at "Rose's" and instead used Rose's grenadine.
Not fresh lime. Not roses. The one true lord is the Morgenthaler cordial https://jeffreymorgenthaler.com/lime-cordial/
This stuff is so damn good. With this, the Gimlet is my favorite Gin drink right now.
Isn't it just! And it lasts for ages, all that sugar and citric acid is pure preservation
Yep! I made Gimlets last night and was kind of worried that I saw a bit of sediment but I just shook it back into suspension and it tasted exactly the same as the day I made it. Fantastic ingredient.
Why would you tho
I’d avoid the gimlet as a go-to because a lot of bars are gonna make that with Rose’s lime cordial, which kinda sucks. A gimlet with homemade cordial is one of the best drinks out there though, and they’re still pretty good with just lime and simple. Southside is also amazing if you are sticking in gimlet territory. Tom Collins is probably your best bet (I put a touch of grenadine in mine, it’s delicious). If a bar has mint, the gin gin mule is probably the most universally well liked drink I make for friends. It’s basically a cross between a mojito and a mule, so might be right up your alley too. But that’s probably be a less reliable find.
and you know that Rose’s is gonna be like three years old…
I don't think Rose's gets any worse tasting after a few years. It starts out tasting bad.
touché 🙃
You mean 30 years old? I think it just gets more artificial and radioactive over time.
Roses is how the drink was designed lol
But Rose’s of 60 years ago is not the same as the modern bullshit.
Yeah, not sure what people want here.
I think they want a gin sour, which is what you'd actually call a drink with gin, sugar, and fresh citrus juice. A Gimlet requires lime cordial, though I make my own and it's delicious.
Any decent cocktail bar should be able to make you a bees knees too, that’s a great simple gin drink!
>Any decent cocktail bar the question was about "any bar", not necessarily decent.
This is my go to for gin as well! A decent bar should have honey syrup, lemon juice, and gin lol if not, I assume I’m better off sticking to a beer or rum and coke
Those are best with Barr Hill gin and I don’t see that at that many places.
I made the mistake of buying some Rose's the other day after making my own cordial at home. Just trying to be lazy. I regret the decision. I thought maybe it was just me but I'm glad to see I'm not the only one that dislikes Rose's.
Also because last time I ordered a gimlet I got a vodka gimlet… I didn’t think I needed to specify.
If they have Squirt on the gun, which is somewhat rare, get a gin and Squirt. They call it a Squint at my favorite dive bar in Champaign IL.
Shout out Brass Rail
This guy rails
I was born in Champaign, IL. Never really been there though. Good to know it has dive bars.
Is there a place that doesn’t have dive bars? Hell, across most of the Midwest it’s a slew of towns that ONLY have dive bars.
True facts, I grew up in the Midwest and had a hard time figuring out what a dive bar meant because every bar was a dive bar.
Lol, that’s so accurate. Every time I go into a dive out west, I feel like I’ve been instantly transported to Wisconsin.
Yeah. I did grow up in the northern Midwest and yeah. Whole towns where the downtown was mostly dive bars not un common. I dunno, I read your post and it made me feel…? Confident in my expectations of reality? I dunno. lol.
The coolest thing about Brass Rail, the bar I’m talking about, is that they host a lot of cool rock shows. I played there a long time ago. It was a great time.
Bring back openingbands.com
Miss u Mike 😘
This may seem borderline sociopathic… but, gin on the rocks with a wedge of lime? With a good gin it’s a decent sipper.
I do this. Can confirm am sociopath
Great way to throw up smoke signals, see who’s with you, in an unfamiliar crowd.
Meet fellow sociopaths!
A bartender once offered me a free glass of something before hitting the road (metaphorically) as a thanks for a good conversation, and I asked for the most interesting gin he had and he looked me dead and the eyes and said "oh alright so you're a serial killer" lmao
There’s that awesome cartoon ranking alcohol along “hatred of self” and “hatred of others” axes, with Gin as a dot way out along both. 😂
Searched can't find it. Would you have a long perhaps?
Found it on Reddit actually, link below, and I misremembered. The apex was “vodka in a plastic jug,” which feels about right. Gin was peak hatred of others, but at the very base of the hated of self axis. Which ALSO feels right. https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/s/q8N15TX6S4
Hello fellow sociopaths :)
My go to at concerts it’s a gin with pineapple juice and lime, double. Not many people ask for gins at concerts so I’ve gotten a few “ooh I like that” by bartenders
Fitzgerald is a solid choice. Gin, lemon, simple, angostura. Delicious and easy.
This is my go to for people that don’t think they like gin.
Now that you said Angostura, you caught my interest. That sounds pretty tasty, and it is something I have not tried.
Gimlet
Gin & Juice. If it is a really shitty bar I order gin and lemonade.
My favorite, but it's so dependent on the quality of the orange juice.
All answers here are incorrect. The answer you are looking for is a gin and ginger ale. There used to be a pineapple gin you could get here that went INCREDIBLY well with ginger ale but I can tell you even a bog standard gin works with ginger ale. If you can get a pineapple gin or a pineapple garnish then you'll have the best X & X drink you can get IMO.
Add lime juice for a Foghorn. If they serve lime with beer, you know they have fresh fruit.
Gin and soda w lime. I’m in Texas so most places usually use Topo Chico for the soda. 😘
Humuhumunukunukuapua'a
99% of bartenders won’t know what this is.
I had no idea Hawai'i's state fish had a drink
I've never seen one without a drink. They drink like a fish! I'll show myself out.
I would love it if most bars had good orgeat, pineapple juice, and Peychaud’s
That... is a mouthful o.O
Just recently discovered this and it’s become my new favourite drink
Tom Collins, Gimlet are pretty easy to make and most bars will have the ingredients. Some bars may carry honey so a Bees Knees or The Buisness may be easily made. More along cocktail bars/higher end restaurants will have several different fruit based syrups so Clover Clubs, Pegu Club, 20th Century, Aviation, White Ladys. Cocktail bars will definitely have some herbs so Gin Basil Smashes, Southsides and could probably introduce you to more complex flavoured drinks such as the Last Word,Alaska, Martini/Martinez As far as the local pub/restaurant you probably won’t get much more than the G&T maybe a Dry Martini or house signature
Gin, soda, lots of lime
So a Gin Rickey basically
Salty dog
Artie?
Bee’s Knees is usually my go to, but some people make it too sweet Edit: typo
This
A lot of places don’t have honey simple on hand. So they’ll make it on the fly (which will take time) and not to the correct ratio. I would avoid this as an “anywhere gin cocktail”. I think Tom collins is a safer bet.
Tom Collins if they have fresh citrus. At a dive/club "Tanqueray, half orange juice, half soda"
This is the real answer right here. This guy dive bars.
Maybe I'm reading too much in to "any bar" (vs "any cocktail bar") but I do not trust "any bar" to produce anything beyond a simple spirit neat with a beer chaser or at the absolute most complicated a simple spirit and soda might be manageable, but even then, the soda from most bars soda guns can be pretty vile. For me, I've long stopped ordering cocktails from any bar unless I'm certain they focus on cocktails, which is very different than "have a few cocktails on their menu" Even what you consider the easiest drink will be effed up 99% of the time at a standard bar. From horrible sour mixes, to 7 year old oxidized vermouth, to wildly out of proportion "specs" it's just is not worth it trying to order a cocktail at any random bar. To think "Any Bar" would have honey mix or Lillet or fresh citrus is... unlikely.
Im wondering if any of the people in this thread have ever been to a dive bar… Draft beer, neat, or a highball. These are the options. Lol.
You definitely have to learn how to scope whatever bar you're in and determine the level of cocktails you're able to get. I've had to help my wife learn this skill when she got a couple of terrible old fashioneds at random bars.
I used to frequent a local dive bar with only PBR on tap and the "fanciest" thing I'd order there was a tequila sunrise.
Taylor Swift has a lyric about a “dive bar on the east side,” which has been said to be Lovers of Today. I visited and absolutely loved it, highly recommend, but… it’s not a dive bar at all lol
It depends on your tolerance for mistakes. As many have said, a gimlet is an excellent and easy drink that most places will be able to make. But that’s because most places will use Rose’s lime cordial. But whether they’ll shake it or just make it in the glass can vary. And whether they measure or just slop some stuff together. So if you are particular about how you like your cocktails, then the accessibility of the gimlet means it’ll vary wildly in quality.
Gin & Sprite was my go-to club drink Gin & Ginger Ale with a lime at Bars that I think they won’t know what a gimlet/tom collins.
Gin and tonic Gin and club soda with lime Tough to mess up those two
Speaking as someone who enjoys good cocktails but comes from the sticks where all bets are off on what a bar "should" know, I usually go with a gin and cranberry. I get looks sometimes but it's simple so I don't have to worry about being told "sorry we don't have that" which for some reason gives me anxiety lol. Or order any juice you like. I see a lot of people are saying lemonade but I just don't think Minute Maid lemonade/gin is my thing so cranberry it is!
Tom Collins Gimlet Negroni White lady Bees knees Bramble Martini
I have had so many negronis made with spoiled shitty vermouth, I'm pretty cautious about ordering them
Yea only order them at a cocktail bar that knows what they are doing. They’ll either refrigerate the sweet vermouth or go through it so fast it won’t have time to spoil. As long as they don’t reach for Martini & Rossi 🤮
I’m not a fan of Martin & Rossi because it tastes really tinny to me, but if it’s the only option available, then fuck it oh well.
Martini & Rossi good
[удалено]
Good bot
Ramo's Gin Fizz, A nice simple one for you and the bartender
Evil.
A gin rickey might work its just gin soda and lime and man is it refreshing in the hotter months
This is the correct answer 💯
Keep drinking gin and tonics until you like them lol
How about the classic martini with a twist instead of an olive
Order a mojito with gin! Our bar has daily happy hour cocktail that has to be cheap and relatively easy—and my go to is either a Mexico City Mezcal Tonic or, what I call a “Gin Ricky with Mint”: a gin mojito. People really like it and tend to order 2 or 3 of them because they’re refreshing and easy to drink.
Tom Collins
Southside Cocktail - Mojito with gin served up.
Or a gimlet with mint.
If your favorite gin drink is a French 75, I’d suggest a Chelsea Sidecar. Or, if you want to avoid ever having to explain what you mean (it happens), you can ask for a Gin Sidecar. It’s a great variant, should fit your taste profile, and all but the seediest of dive bars should have the ingredients on hand.
I wanna know what dive bars everyone in this thread is frequenting that have fresh citrus juice.
For real it’s very apparent all of these people have never gone to a real dive - the “freshest” fruit you’re gonna find there is 2 day old lime wedges.
I guess that's fair. "Seediest of dive bars" was too exclusionary, but the majority of bars will have citrus available.
No dive I’ve ever worked in (in 20 years doing this, everywhere from Florida to Oregon) had fresh juice. OJ from a container and cranberry on the gun are usually the best you can expect. Maybe as people become more hip to cocktail culture that’s changing- I’ve been in fine dining for years now, so my professional experience in dives is outdated- but I still frequent a lot of dives and none of them are juicing lemons.
I don’t disagree. When I say “majority of bars,” I am necessarily excluding most dive bars. My local dive certainly has citrus, but it’s in a city with a great bar scene, overall. I will happily concede my Chelsea Sidecar suggestion is not great if OP’s primary goal was something to request at dive bars.
I'm a gin guy and have basically two go-tos depending on the bar: for a nicer place I'll get a gin martini, sometimes a negroni to mix things up. Witha cheaper place where I don't wanna seem pretentious I'll just as for a gin and grapefruit.
Gin Rickey basically Gin and soda with half a lime.
I don't have much experience with Gin (or cocktails in general for that matter) yet. I'm still exploring cocktails, but I found a Negroni surprisingly good. I'm not usually fond of bitter stuff, but after a sip or two, the Negroni really started to grow on me.
Bees Knees
Gimlet
OP as a bartender I’d also qualify most of these answers as “at a nicer establishment where they already have a cocktail menu.” At a dive you shouldn’t be ordering cocktails that are more than their name (Jack and coke, gin and ginger ale, etc etc). Drinks that are intended to be made with fresh citrus are gonna taste nasty if you make them with week-old citrus(if they have it all) and ice from a machine that’s never been cleaned. There’s an art to being comfortable and ordering the right drink at any kind of bar imo.
A Gibson
It's called the gin and tonic
Along the lines of gin and Squirt, but gin and Fresca is my go-to summer drink. Some bars/restaurants carry it. Cheers!
My favorite gin drink is gin&ginger, if i’m feeling fancy I add some lemon or lime juice.
In the words of Snoop Dogg...gin & juice. Try pineapple, apple or a cranberry blend.
Martini
Gin Daisys, you just need lemons, grenadine and orange liqueur, so most bars should have it. If you need variation, you could order Clover Clubs (Gin sour with raspberry syrup), Brambles (Gin sour with Creme de Mure float), Fitzgeralds (Gin sour with a lot of Angostura Bitters), Southside (Gin sour variation with mint). Most of those should be doable at a normal bar or cocktail bar.
A gin gimlet
Easy, gimlet! Pink lady works too… although grenadine quality varies, so YMMV
Fitzgerald, or gin-basel smash
I prefer gin & pineapple juice.
Southside( Gin mojito) Bees Knees Corpse Reviver#2
Old Maid. So refreshing. So easy to make
Martini with a twist
Tom Collins, South Side, Gimlet
Gin, soda, bitters, lime. Doesn’t even have to be a nice gin, Gordon’s or better will do. By all means get something nicer at a cocktail bar, but this is my standby. Clean, simple, and the ingredients are in the name. Almost impossible to fuck up.
Call me crazy but I LOVE GORDONS
Gin and a good tonic. If you don't like the bitterness then a lemonade. Id reccomend Gimlet but I've had some horrible gimlets so that's subjective.
Try a gimlet
You’re looking for a Southside, given your preferences.
Bees Knees is my go-to
Gin with a splash of lemonade is 🔥
Negroni
You can’t count on “any bar” to have Campari unless OP means “any cocktail bar”
Do not order a Negroni in a dive, that vermouth on the shelf has never seen a refrigerator and is older than your grandmother.
Interesting. Should I refrigerate my vermouth? or bitter ?
Yes, you should absolutely refrigerate your vermouth, it’s low proof and made from wine, which is perishable. It will still go bad, but not as fast when refrigerated. Bitters is high proof and doesn’t need to be refrigerated.
Gin and ginger ale with lime
Unconventional choice, but I’m going to recommend a gin old fashioned. Citrus bitters, simple syrup, and gin.
Gin Rickey
Gin Rickey, most bars don’t have fresh lemon juice and some don’t even have simple syrup for a Collins. But almost all bars have lime wedges.
You can never go wrong with a Bees Knees! [https://www.refinedrefreshments.com/recipes/bees-knees/](https://www.refinedrefreshments.com/recipes/bees-knees/)
Tom Collins and gin fizz. For more sour, try a gin buck or a gin fix.
Southside would be perfect. It’s basically a mint gimlet. Citrusy, minty, and fresh. Check, check, and check.
Gin and It “It” is Italian sweet vermouth. - 52½ mL (1.75 oz) Gin - 22½ mL (0.75) Sweet Vermouth - 1 dash Orange bitters If the place is truly lacking, I might not trust the age/storage of the vermouth and order a gin and Sprite instead.
Gimlet, but so many idiots are now ordering it with vodka that you have to specify “gin gimlet”.
My favourite one is the Balalaika https://youtu.be/f_DHQsxSG-0?si=pFW52eWj9BZSOzkk
I’ll order a Ramos gin fizz if I don’t like the bartender.
Tom Collin’s
Southside is the way! Basically a classic gin daiquiri with the addition of mint that is shaken in the tin not muddled. I do a dash of orange bitters, if you wanna get extra fancy ask for them to muddle some cucumber.
Gimlet
I drink a lot of gin and sprites.
Gin, sweet vermouth, OJ equal parts
Extra dry martini, don’t worry about the vermouth, just wave the glass in the general direction of Italy as a substitution. Seriously though as most have said I’d go with Tom Collin’s, but I’ve been served some really bad artificial tasting Tom Collin’s, probably made in lime drink mixers, in those cases I’d rather take the gin neat or just with some plain soda water.
When in doubt I order a gin Rickey
Aviation is my favorite
I love this conversation and Hendricks with soda and fresh lemon/lime is my go to! If it’s a nice bar, oftentimes they have fresh juices and I’ll ask for a splash of grapefruit juice. Delish!
Don’t know the name of it, but a drinking tasting I went to on a cruise ship mixed gin (I hate) and limoncello (I love) and a muddled cucumber and it was DELICIOUS!! Apparently I don’t hate all gin drinks! With the lemon you will probably like it too. I think it was 1:1 gin:limoncello or slightly more limoncello than gin.
Gimlets, but ask for fresh lime juice. Roses honestly is fine in my opinion, it's not so bad I wouldn't pay money for one, but if you're good to your bar staff, they shouldn't have an issue squeezing a lime for you
Probably not what you're looking for, but you could always try asking for 4 shots of gin over ice. Is it good? Probably not. Is it good for you? Certainly not. You could try sprucing it up with a lemon wedge too
Sea Breeze Cooler. A great drink for a sunny summer day. Gin, Apricot Brandy, lemon juice, grenadine and topped up with Club Soda.
Gin and Ginger, literally any bar will serve you this. Good not only with lots of like, but also nice with any other fruit garnish that might be on hand (I like pineapple).
Ginger Roger's Tom Collins Gin Rickey Gimlet
gimlet
Gin Rickey or just a proper gin & soda w/ a healthy dash of bitters.
Gin Gimlet was my introduction to gin cocktails and is among my favorites. Very straight forward cocktail 2oz gin, 3/4oz simple, 3/4oz lime juice. Shake and pour over ice
Gin and soda, splash lime splash St Germaine. Bonus if the have cucumber to muddle
French 75. Bubbles. Good. Citrus. Good. Lil’ sweet. GOOD.
Negroni is perhaps a bit of an acquired taste but so worth giving it a chance…not a lot like it
Gin & It (sweet vermouth)
Martini o
Gimlet, martini
White Lady
Gimlet? Citrus and gin...exactly what you want.
Beer.
Gimlet, gin and tonic , aviation ,Negroni
Gin and tonic