<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"  Tristan Stephenson, 29Dach &amp;amp;amp; Sons London What&amp;#039;s the atmosphere been like? We&amp;#039;ve had more international clientele. But most people, when they talk about the Olympics, are either moaning about the special VIP Olympics traffic lanes or moaning about deliveries, which are getting messed with all around the city. An athlete comes in after losing. What drink do you make him? A Boilermaker. It&amp;#039;s that classic consolation drink, perfect for the miserable customer who needs a pick-me-up. If you could share a drink with any Olympic athlete, who would it be? Usain Bolt. He&amp;#039;s the fastest man on the planet. Plus, he&amp;#039;s Jamaican, and I like rum. I&amp;#039;d share a Jamaican rum with Usain Bolt. If drinking were an Olympic event, what countries would medal? Russia. It&amp;#039;d be Russia, Poland, and all the &amp;#039;stans. Russia drinks two billion liters of vodka a year, plus another billion liters that is black-market and probably incredibly dangerous. And the Philippines. There&amp;#039;s a Filipino rum you&amp;#039;ve never heard of that&amp;#039;s the biggest-selling rum in the world, because they all drink it.  What do bartenders know about drinking that the rest of us don&amp;#039;t? We respect and understand ice. A lot of the time, people think they&amp;#039;re being short-changed if they get a glass full of ice, but the truth is, the bartender is doing you a favor by keeping your drink chilled. You&amp;#039;re not going to get more liquor in your glass, regardless of how much ice there is. What&amp;#039;s a cocktail everyone should know how to make? A sour, because it&amp;#039;s the basis of so many drinks. If you&amp;#039;ve got a sugar syrup, and decent lemons or limes, it will always be 4 parts spirit to 2 parts sour juice to 1 part sweet, then maybe something else to flavor the drink. Shake it up and you&amp;#039;ve got a cocktail, whether it be with scotch, bourbon, rum, gin, or tequila. What&amp;#039;s your favorite fictional bar? I would say the Prancing Pony from Lord of the Rings. In the books, it seems like such a homely, Old World pub where you sit down and drink pints and pints of beer. There&amp;#039;s a fire, a little barroom chatter, and the occasional friendly fight. I like Kavanagh&amp;#039;s Irish Pub from The Wire, too. What do you wish people didn&amp;#039;t order? When people mess with classic cocktails, wanting to take out certain ingredients or add some \u2014 like using sugar-free tonic water \u2014 that&amp;#039;s annoying. Also, mojitos. You ask most bartenders, and they&amp;#039;ll tell you how much they hate them, because they&amp;#039;re such a labor-intensive drink. I&amp;#039;m quite sick of making them. What&amp;#039;s the last thing you&amp;#039;d drink in a liquor cabinet? Probably Southern Comfort, or Drambuie, which is the Scottish version of Southern Comfort. I hate whiskey-flavored liqueurs, and they tend to be lurkers in the back of liquor cabinets, anyway. What&amp;#039;s the most underrated drink? The Aviation: gin, maraschino, lemon juice, and cr\u00E8me de violette. It&amp;#039;s a real classic drink, very popular in the &amp;#039;40s and &amp;#039;50s, but it&amp;#039;s died out. It&amp;#039;s not underrated by the bartending community, but customers rarely call for it.  What&amp;#039;s the most ridiculous thing you&amp;#039;ve witnessed a customer do? We just get people stealing things. It&amp;#039;s unbelievable what people will steal. They&amp;#039;ll take anything: pictures, saltshakers, rolls of toilet paper. Hangover cure? I&amp;#039;m a strong believer in a good Bloody Mary. It&amp;#039;s the only time I drink them. If made correctly, they do work. The thing most people miss out is lemon juice, and that&amp;#039;s really important. It makes carton tomato juice taste a little more natural. For Americans watching the Olympics from home: What should we be drinking to get in the London 2012 spirit? Gin and beer are our national drinks, I suppose. Normally, I&amp;#039;d suggest purl. It&amp;#039;s an old English drink with beer, gin, spices, flavored with wormwood and sugar. But it&amp;#039;s a warm drink. So I&amp;#039;d say your pint of English ale would be it. PLUS: Read More Bartender Questions on Eat Like a Man &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/food-drink/bars/interviews/a15052/olympics-bartender-questions-11009895/?src=rss>