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Your Airport’s Bartender Problem
The Atlantic ^ | November 17, 2014 | Wayne Curtis

Posted on 11/23/2014 7:21:27 PM PST by PJ-Comix

It’s 4:30 on a weekday afternoon, and you’ve got an hour until boarding starts for your connecting flight home for the holidays. You’re ready for a cocktail. Maybe even two. Which is fine—as long as you’re in the mood to party like it’s 1999. Because, on the whole, airport bars are still running 15 years behind the craft-cocktail movement.

In seemingly every American airport, you can find outposts of what might be called the Status Quo Ante Bar, where the spirits are uninteresting and the drinks indifferently made. While dining choices have been steadily improving, and good wine is easier to find—the commendable Vino Volo now operates at two dozen airport locations—with few exceptions, airports have been slow to offer quality cocktails.

(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: 1percenters; airportbars; firstworldproblems
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No bartender problem when my late Uncle Marty was the head bartender at JFK International Airport. He was considered the bartender's bartender and looked every inch the part. Not only could he effortlessly whip up fantastic drinks (he never drank a drop) but he kept the customers entertained all night with an endless string of jokes and funny stories. He was frequently featured in bartender magazines.

Mob guys liked to hang out at his bar. Whenever he was at home and called in a favor to the Mob guys he identified himself as "Big Mike," not Marty for some reason. Anyway, Uncle Marty was the exact OPPOSITE of the Yuppie type bartender.

1 posted on 11/23/2014 7:21:27 PM PST by PJ-Comix
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To: Charles Henrickson

Uncle Marty probably served great Margaritas but I am sure he never drank them.


2 posted on 11/23/2014 7:22:36 PM PST by PJ-Comix (Coakley/Gruber 2016!!!)
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To: PJ-Comix

Maybe because customers at an airport bar are looking to get tranquilized before the flight and not looking for a “half Granny Smith half McIntosh appletini”.


3 posted on 11/23/2014 7:28:12 PM PST by KarlInOhio (The IRS: either criminally irresponsible in backup procedures or criminally responsible of coverup.)
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To: PJ-Comix

The writer sounds like your typical whiny liberal.


4 posted on 11/23/2014 7:29:38 PM PST by PAR35
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To: PJ-Comix

Great story. :) These hipster ‘mixologists are a frikkin’ joke.

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=9B3Dwmxo4OM


5 posted on 11/23/2014 7:30:08 PM PST by RushIsMyTeddyBear (The White House is now known as "Casa Blanca".)
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To: PJ-Comix
so long as they can pour two shots of Bombay Sapphire into a chilled glass with three olives, no problem...
6 posted on 11/23/2014 7:30:36 PM PST by Chode (Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -w- NO Pity for the LAZY - 86-44)
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To: PJ-Comix

Who has enough time on their hands — or brain cells in their head — to worry about something as trivial as craft-cocktails between flights?

Seriously!?!? This is a person who needs an actual life.


7 posted on 11/23/2014 7:32:11 PM PST by workerbee (The President of the United States is PUBLIC ENEMY #1)
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To: PJ-Comix

I’m glad that there are so few problems in the world that someone has time to worry about the quality of airport bars.


8 posted on 11/23/2014 7:33:33 PM PST by Some Fat Guy in L.A. (Still bitterly clinging to rational thought despite it's unfashionability)
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To: PJ-Comix
No Foster Brooks?

9 posted on 11/23/2014 7:34:39 PM PST by skinkinthegrass ("Bathhouse" E'Bola/0'Boehmer/0'McConnell; all STINK and their best friends are flies... d8^)
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To: Chode

Right, Bombay Sapphire!

Or a Bushmills with ginger ale.

I am a simple drinker, no need for the complicated.


10 posted on 11/23/2014 7:35:29 PM PST by angry elephant (Endangered species in Seattle)
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To: PJ-Comix

Most airport bars are geared towards frequent flyers who aren’t there to relax or experiment with drinks. In the mornings most frequent flyers go for bloody Mary’s and screwdrivers. Late afternoons most are whiskey, scotch, rum, or gin and tonics. Evenings are usually beer and wines.

Those are old faithful drinks for frequent flyers and easily fall into the 20/80 retail rule. 20 percent of the drinks available account for 80 percent of sales.

Airlines and airports know this so they aren’t going to pay for high priced bartenders when all they have to do to stay adequate for airports are just being able to make the above drinks.


11 posted on 11/23/2014 7:35:42 PM PST by barmag25 (There is nothing that a man needs that he can't find in the North Georgia mountains.)
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To: KarlInOhio

Agreed


12 posted on 11/23/2014 7:36:25 PM PST by barmag25 (There is nothing that a man needs that he can't find in the North Georgia mountains.)
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To: PJ-Comix

Hooch, hooch with a water back or hooch and water. What more is there to know.


13 posted on 11/23/2014 7:36:27 PM PST by Lurkina.n.Learnin (It's a shame nobama truly doesn't care about any of this. Our country, our future, he doesn't care)
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To: PJ-Comix

Don’t know what airport this dork hangs out but, if you go to any decent restaurant in the terminal you can get excellent liquors.

Not always my preferred brands but, close enough.


14 posted on 11/23/2014 7:38:37 PM PST by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously-you won't live through it anyway-Enjoy Yourself ala Louis Prima)
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To: PJ-Comix

I came of age in the 50s.

Cocktail lounges and great cocktails all over the place.

.


15 posted on 11/23/2014 7:38:57 PM PST by Mears
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To: PJ-Comix

Jack Daniels and water... it’s real easy to make.


16 posted on 11/23/2014 7:40:16 PM PST by Cementjungle
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To: PJ-Comix

Top shelf bourbon, pour it over ice. Repeat as necessary. Most bartenders seem to be able to manage.


17 posted on 11/23/2014 7:41:41 PM PST by centurion316
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To: PJ-Comix

You go into a bar to drink.. Not get a Shirley Temple!!! Bourbon on the rocks, 7 7 etc!!!


18 posted on 11/23/2014 7:42:47 PM PST by tallyhoe
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To: PAR35

Guy is a wannabe snob, that’s for sure.


19 posted on 11/23/2014 7:42:53 PM PST by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously-you won't live through it anyway-Enjoy Yourself ala Louis Prima)
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To: KarlInOhio

I want to get a good tap beer before my connecting flight.


20 posted on 11/23/2014 7:43:27 PM PST by RushIsMyTeddyBear (The White House is now known as "Casa Blanca".)
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