I don't drink beer, what should I drink at a dive bar?

[kayakjenn]

At the end of the month I'm attending my future SIL's bachelorette party and her request is to spend the night hitting dive bars in NYC. I don't drink beer, margaritas are my poison, but I don't think dive bar margaritas would be a safe bet. What would you order?

At 46 Yrs old I have no intention of getting wasted but don't want to be drinking diet cokes at every stop, either.

[katb]

jack and coke?

vodka and anything? (This would be my choice)

[spellingbea]

Bourbon and ginger.

[cbwm1]

If you like fruity stuff, pineapple and Malibu is always good. Or amaretto stone sours.

[noodle]

Vodka cranberry (or whatever you prefer to mix with vodka)

[Deleted]

Diet coke and rum.

It depends on how divy the bar is--they may have a pretty wide selection.

[Deleted]

For god's sake, if you are going to a true dive bar do. not. order anything with more than 2 ingredients or that has a name (Cosmopolitan, Mojito, etc.). The bartenders will hate you and the regulars will laugh and laugh and laugh. Trust.

[underwaterrhymes]

Vodka Collins

[hippygirl]

vanilla vodka and coke

[luckyval]

Mar 8, 2014 19:40:51 GMT -5 spellingbea said:

Bourbon and ginger.

Good stand by

Otherwise I'd say Seven and Seven

[isabel]

Mar 8, 2014 19:41:59 GMT -5 @stpete said:

Cider if you like it. But I'd suggest if you like margaritas and are just worried theirs will suck, order patron blanco with a little grapefruit and club and a lime. If you are specific they won't fuck it up and it should taste decent.

I second this.

[cville]

Jack and coke or bourbon and ginger.

[RoxMonster]

Amaretto Stone Sours are delicious
Vodka Cranberry
Rum & Coke
Screwdriver

[murdock]

Vodka Cranberry sounds good, it's easy for any bartender.
Dive bars are great, if you're nice and tip well they'll make you anything.

Signed,
Dive bar customer

ETA: yeah, people will probably laugh at an order that's a bit much, but f'em. Attitude for attitude.

[lilac05]

I think some people go to nice dive bars! @stpete, that drink sounds good, but I don't know that many dive bars will have grapefruit (outside of FL, at least).  Around here, most dive bars will have pineapple juice, but I'd be afraid of how long it has been sitting on the shelf!

The small town dive bar in my hometown is full of regulars.  When the door opens, everyone stops, hides their cigarette (which is illegal, but they do it anyway), and looks to see who is coming in.  If they don't know you, they groan and have to put out their cigs.  At places like that, I'd order a rum & coke/diet, vodka & cranberry, gin & tonic, or Amaretto sour.  (What's the stone part?  Same thing, different same or something different?)

However, we went to a "Dive" bar in Hollywood.  That just meant there wasn't a bazillion dollar cover & bottle service and there was nothing swanky about it.  It was just more of a hole in the wall.  I would have felt comfortable ordering anything there.

[karmasabiotch]

I hate beer.

My go to is vodka with cranberry juice.

[BlackCanary]

Jack and coke. 

[Captain Serious]

Cider, or anything that can be consumed directly from the bottle. If not, then anything poured directly from the bottle into a glass with no, or very little, mixing required.

[Captain Serious]

Oh, and no ice.

[bab]

I would get vodka and cranberry juice. It is nearly impossible to mess that up.

[kayakjenn]

Great suggestions! I think vodka and cran will probably be the drink of the night but god, that blanco and grapefruit juice sounds amazing.

I'm going to be careful not to mix too many different types and drink a lot of water!

[SKP82]

If you're going to drink vodka that night and it's not something you normally drink, make sure to get a decent vodka. You don't want to drink the house all night and have a killer hang over the next day!

[lilac05]

Mar 8, 2014 22:16:38 GMT -5 @stpete said:

Mar 8, 2014 21:01:03 GMT -5 lilac05 said:

I think some people go to nice dive bars! @stpete, that drink sounds good, but I don't know that many dive bars will have grapefruit (outside of FL, at least). 

My go to is vodka club, no problems with actual dive bars. I thought everywhere had those shitty mini cans of grapefruit. If the only point is to fit in then the op should order a whisky rocks or a Budweiser. I thought she was looking for a taste she would like at a place that can't mix a good drink.

I've never seen it.  Maybe they have it, but I just never asked.

I've had the expired pineapple juice thing happen once.  They also didn't have cranberry juice!  It took me several tries to order.  Not surprisingly, the bar is under new ownership.  They're attempting (& failing) to re-brand it as a club. 

[gault]

whiskey ginger is a good one, too.

[kristie]

Vanilla vodka and ginger ale. It tastes just like a cream soda

[shell24]

Mar 8, 2014 21:01:03 GMT -5 lilac05 said:

I think some people go to nice dive bars! @stpete, that drink sounds good, but I don't know that many dive bars will have grapefruit (outside of FL, at least).  Around here, most dive bars will have pineapple juice, but I'd be afraid of how long it has been sitting on the shelf!

The small town dive bar in my hometown is full of regulars.  When the door opens, everyone stops, hides their cigarette (which is illegal, but they do it anyway), and looks to see who is coming in.  If they don't know you, they groan and have to put out their cigs.  At places like that, I'd order a rum & coke/diet, vodka & cranberry, gin & tonic, or Amaretto sour.  (What's the stone part?  Same thing, different same or something different?)

However, we went to a "Dive" bar in Hollywood.  That just meant there wasn't a bazillion dollar cover & bottle service and there was nothing swanky about it.  It was just more of a hole in the wall.  I would have felt comfortable ordering anything there.

The stone is orange juice.

[pantsparty]

Mar 8, 2014 19:56:07 GMT -5 @damnation said:

For god's sake, if you are going to a true dive bar do. not. order anything with more than 2 ingredients or that has a name (Cosmopolitan, Mojito, etc.). The bartenders will hate you and the regulars will laugh and laugh and laugh. Trust.

I did this when I was like, 22, and out with friends. Everyone laughed at my apple martini order. It's true. 

[Deleted]

Mar 8, 2014 23:54:04 GMT -5 squirrelymom said:

Jack and coke
Amaretto sour
Vodka and just about anything

Wait -- there are people over the age of 19 who drink amaretto sours?

Generally I agree with @damnation -- keep it simple.  Nothing complicated, because it may not be done well if the bartender isn't all that skilled/used to making complicated stuff.  

But it depends on where you go, really.  There are a lot of dive bars in New York.  At some, just the fact that a bunch of women walk in would turn heads, because that never happens.  At some, the regulars may look at you weird if you have a prissy drink and may want to kill you if you put a Kesha song on the jukebox.  Others will be overrun with tourists and/or youngs so you'd fit right in with a cosmo or an amaretto sour.  Really depends.

Also, some dive bars have fantastic bartenders who make great drinks. It depends.

Also, all of this depends on how much you care about how you are perceived by strangers you'll never see again.  Which, I probably wouldn't.  So I vote if you want a margarita, get a margarita -- and if the first one is terrible, reconsider on the second round.