Why Bartenders Hate When Customers Order 'A Beer'

In Manhattan's East Village neighborhood, there's a famous Irish pub called McSorley's Old Ale House. It's known for its extremely simple drink menu: light or dark. You tell the bartender whether you want a light beer or a dark beer, and you're brought some. Easy stuff. However, most bars do not work that way. Many bartenders have expressed frustration over the years because of a specific bad habit they see: Some folks, when they don't know much about beer, will simply ask for "a beer." Then they wait for the bartender to come back with "a beer."

That sort of vagueness works fine with mixed drinks because the bartender will simply make, for example, a gin and tonic using the bar's well liquor. The problem is there are lots of different types of beer out there, and most bars don't really have a "well beer." Some bartenders might pour you a house beer they have on tap, while others might assume you just want an especially light lager — the sort of cheap beer you should normally avoid buying. In most cases though, you'll have to be more specific. Even specifying light or dark will probably still get you a follow up question of "which one?" If you don't know anything about the beers they have on tap, the bartender should easily be able to explain them to you.

Not only should you ask the bartender what they recommend, but if you're polite and the bar isn't ridiculously busy, they'll often let you sample some beers. Don't ask for too many, as insisting on sampling more than a couple of beers is a brewery mistake that will make everyone judge you. Instead, tell the bartender what you like and they should be able to make suggestions. Bartenders tend to be nice folks, within reason. Even still, there are plenty of things which bartenders hate – like asking for a beer when the bar offers several dozen options to choose from.

If you really do just want "a beer" without any sort of preference for style or flavor, perhaps it's because you're not typically a beer drinker. If you don't like beer, then the beer you should choose depends on what you do like. Light-colored Belgian wheat beers, like Blue Moon or Allagash White, tend to be fairly mild and not so bitter. If you like fruit cocktails or wine, then you might see if the bar has a fruit sour, which typically has less of a hoppy kick and more of the sweetness you'd find in a wine (although it's often tart too, hence the name). You can always start by asking about light lagers and work your way into stronger, hoppier beers from there.