Your favourite alcoholic beverage can speak volumes about who you are. You are what you drink, says Jackson K, a bartender, who has tended bar at various establishments in major cities throughout Canada for over 12 years.
“It’s almost become a formula,” he said. “I can tell before someone even opens their mouth what they will order about 80 per cent of the time.”
As a rule, Jackson said, beer is the tallest order for guys between the ages of 21 and 30, especially those who see life as a ‘beer commercial.' They are young, cool and with it and aren’t concerned about drinking too much or getting a beer gut.
Jackson has even taken his theory a step further.
“I can sometimes predict a guy’s personality from the kind of beer he orders. The more conservative ones tend to stick with the old favourites like Labatt’s 50, Molson’s Canadian, the tried and true brands that have been around for decades. The wild and crazy types, and they really do get that way once they’ve had a few, like to mix up their orders and try all the different kinds on draught. Those are the guys that usually overdo it and are back in again the very next night, for a bit of the ‘hair of the dog.’ These are the ones who really love their brewskies.”
By the time guys get into their late twenties, they tend to tame down a little and go for cocktails like Long Island Iced Tea, a Cosmopolitan or shooters. Jackson says, as soon as guys start to show a little paunch they start being more aware of avoiding that ‘beer gut’ look.
By the time men get into their forties, the most popular drinks are the old standby favourites: scotch, rye, vodka, rum, gin and bourbon. It takes a practiced drinker to be able to handle themselves while drinking the hard stuff and by mid-life, some guys have had a lot of practice. These are men who have not lived a very sheltered or conservative lifestyle and they often think of themselves as having been around the block a few times, and usually they have. Some of them are still single or are on second or third marriages. They usually have very high-pressured, high paying jobs and have had very successful careers.
Women, on the other hand, drink much differently than men.
“For the most part, younger women will go with the mixed cocktails, the kind that are typically served with a little umbrella,” said Jackson. “It sounds cliché but it’s really true. Women in their early thirties and beyond tend to go with champagne or wine, usually white, but red wine is a favourite as well.”
According to Jackson, nine times out of ten a woman will order a glass of wine. It doesn’t matter if she’s single or with a guy, that seems to be the most popular drink for older women. Younger women are a little more adventurous and tend to order two or three different kinds of cocktails over the course of an evening, to get a sampling. Either that or they’ve already decided on a favourite drink and don’t vary much from that, like a White Russian for instance, or a champagne cocktail.
Jackson says women as a rule, don’t usually order beer, unless they’re out for the evening and want to try and pace themselves. It’s hard for some women to put away as many drinks as men, in the beer department, and they usually end up ordering one drink to every two their date is drinking.
“Women are much more conscious, at any age, of the high calories and bloating effect that comes with drinking beer,” said Jackson. “So it is not high up on the favourites list with the ladies.”
Jackson has also seen a trend in drinks that rise and fall in popularity throughout the years. Here is a top-ten list Jackson has compiled of some of the most popular drinks people are ordering in bars today:
And mixed cocktails like:
- Cosmopolitan
- Sex on the Beach
- Blow Job
- Long Island Iced Tea
- Sex on the Beach Shot
- Bloody Mary
- A Slippery Nipple
- Vodka Martini