Message 8822 of 22774 in Behind the Bar

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> Oh brother, you should have seen me get into an arguement with this 
> waiter when I ordered a Maker's Manhattan and he asked if I wanted it 
> Sweet or Dry.  I told him I wanted it in the standard way which is 
> with sweet vermouth, that SV is the default, not something you have 
> to specify.  He disagreed, told me he's been serving and bartending 
> for X years, blah blah blah.  

I realize that in this case the waiter is just simply ignorant and screwed up. 
 That's why he's a waiter and not the bartender ;)  It does strike me though 
that asking the question "Sweet or Dry" is akin to the famous Martini debate 
of "Vodka or Gin".  We all know that a truly correct martini is Gin, but the 
general populous doesn't think that way and we have to ask to compensate for 
that.  Strictly speaking, out of the context of this particular case, the 
question is legitimate and pretty reasonable.  Of course, I wonder if the Dry 
Manhattans don't sell often enough to warrant asking (rather assume that they 
will know to order it dry)...

> Of course the other day I was talking about the cherry juice thing 
> with a fellow tender at work and he said he called that a Dirty 
> Manhattan.  Now I'd never heard of that, yet considering that "Dirty" 
> with regards to a Martini means to add the brine of the olive garnish 
> I like the symmetry of this terminology. 

This is a good terminology for it.  I can see younger bartenders getting 
confused and believing that this may actually mean using Olive brine.  Besides 
that, I could easily see this going into wide usage.

-- 
Cody