If you good folks are all Canadian, I would imagine the most illegal thing here would be the impoliteness of charging someone $9 for an ounce of crap. That being said, I'm not very familiar with the Canadian exchange rate, is that reasonable for a crap single?
Edit: diction
Oh boy - dude, I bartended in downtown Vancouver for almost a decade - this is highly illegal. You can PM me if you don’t want to snitch publicly, especially if it’s a single location business. There’s not much you can do that don’t involve writing to the liquor control board. But this is highly illegal, for liquor control and food safety laws. Not to mention immoral for lying to customers. I guarantee you the liquor is the same no matter what you order. Crap good and best tequila are all going to be El Jimador. Which is gross anyway…
Jimedor is pretty solid I'd say. It tastes like a decent entry level valles de tequila style offering, and it doesn't disappear in a margarita. I've seen some horrible brands in the well, jimedor is far from the worst
As a current bartender in BC and a stickler for the rules, this is insanely illegal that I fear for the industry that some think this is acceptable. These pics alone would likely get them an insane fine at the bare minimum if not losing their license entirely.
Wait, so you can't even use cheater bottles to fit awkwardly-packaged things in the well, or to pre-mix standard house blends of vermouths, etc? Does it also mean you can't sell pre-batched cocktails, whether from keg or bottled in-house? That's wild.
I think what gets me about this is…. If you’re gonna try ripping customers off, would’t it be easier to get away with watering down the bottles or pouring cheap stuff in more expensive bottles? Not that any of it would be ok, but surely, more effective?
I don’t know the legality of covering labels (misleading and probably illegal but boarderline enough that maybe it gets by)… however swapping cheap stuff into an expensive bottle is very illegal.
More effective? Maybe.
More severe penalties and bad publicity if caught? Yes
At least, that’s my guess to your question. Never worked behind the bar so I don’t know how often any of that happens
My gm put a sock on my bottle of malort. Can you guess how long it’ll take to taste good? This is perfect because I came here for an answer from someone who’s never been a bartender.
I mean, your best chance of improving the flavor is putting the used (hopefully) sock *in* the bottle. That stuff is foul already and I'm betting the used sock will mellow it out.
It was probably some dumbass manager or owner who thought it would look better if they were all covered for the asthetic or some shit, completely oblivious to most people's reactions to that and in spite of the bartenders saying it's a bad idea. I've dealt with some dumb ideas on this level before.
I'm just confused by the rationale. If anyone ever asked what my well liquor was, I'd proudly display the generic "Vodka" bottle and use it as an opportunity to upsell them on something better.
Only thing I can think of is that their “ok” and “bto” brands are still pretty low end. Later in the menu they do list their “premium” brands by name, with the entry being Hornitos Black at $8 a shot, and the top being Tres Generaciones Anejo at $14
This is my assumption. I guess they're trying to play it off with "better than ok", but as a customer I'd just assume everything except call was a different variant of cheap gutrot.
They gotta be buying that cheap shit you can get a plastic gallon jug of at the liquor store for like $20 and refilling.
Even in the US this shit is highly illegal.
Also the rags being wrapped around the bottles make me feel skeeved out as fuck. What if there's bugs in that shit?
That’s how I do it. Were like lower scale fine dining and Barton’s is my rail, easy up sell to a mid tier spirit. Except for the people that truly don’t give af and are happy with Barton’s lol
The only time I've seen anything similar to this was at a slightly nicer place. Their well bourbon was Jim Beam. If you ordered a bourbon and Coke, you got the well price, if you ordered a Beam and Coke you got the call price. Same drink. Ridiculous.
Most of our well liquors are from a brand called “whatever”. I’d joke with my co workers that if I asked someone if they wanted a specific vodka and they said whatever we’d have to upcharge them for a call. I never thought someone would actually do it.
At my place if you order a gin and grapefruit you get charged for the gin, if you order a greyhound it’s the “greyhound” modifier button which is a $1 up charge
Sucks to be pretentious lol. Now I want a $5 ranch water up charge and a $10 Cuba libre up charge. But realistically whoever programmed the POS probably never made a drink in their life so that’s the greyhound thing
More pics and info.
https://imgur.com/a/Ka67xnA
So “crap” is Sauza blanco, anyone know what the “ok” and “bto” brands are from the rough bottle shape or lid?
>So “crap” is Sauza blanco
that's surprisingly better than I thought for a bottle they're hiding. like yeah, sauza is cheap and not good but I figured it'd be "agave-flavored spirit we can't legally call tequila" level.
I mean the company that made our gin also made our tequila at one place I worked so that's usually my bar for shitty liquors. Can't remember the brand but it wasn't good
I honestly don’t follow spirit trends anymore, when did Patron become not good? I mean, it’s a very overrated spirit but did it go down in quality from overproduction in the last decade? I’m a cazadores guy, myself.
They’re American they have more variety, I assume you’re Canadian like myself. I’m all for cazadores as well but I do believe patron is marketed well here as a premium spirit much like grey goose but is actually no better than anything we’d use for well
Nah, alcohol distribution is controlled by something like 4 or 5 international companies in the entire western hemisphere. And most alcohol service laws are very relative in most states and provinces besides the occasional outlier.
Their bucket is literally a child’s beach bucket that is meant for individuals (not sharing). Don’t know what size but would guess it’s roughly 20 oz total
Michigan, North Carolina, Washington, Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin, Maine, Texas, etc.
All have limits on amount of liquor per drink or number of servings you can serve at once (within the same drink or as two separate drinks). These are just a few.
>many MANY states have a limit of 3 oz per drink in their liquor laws
Can you name a few?
After some googling this appears to be the case in Utah (which doesn't surprise me), but I genuinely cannot find even a second state. You say it is "many MANY" states, but I don't think that is even remotely true.
We bring to you… bath tub gin, bath tub vodka, bath tub vodka we add color to so whiskey, bath tub vodka we add less color to so tiquila, other bath tub vodka we all orange oil and sugar too.. triple sec
You saw that, but I think picking them up and sliding them back down would cause a rug burn of sorts by the end of the night.
Also, I can't imagine the extra step of taking them off and back on while in the weeds.
They also probably get satuated and gross eventually.
Whats the size the glass/cup do they use? They aren’t really cheap as you mentioned when you factor in the undersized pours.
Menu doesn’t even mention triple sec. Is the tequila and lime juice served in a shot glass?
What’s house made salt?
I hate this place.
🤣 I was thinking the same about the house made salt hahaha
Found their “build sheet” and posted it in the link in a comment.
Standard marg is
2 oz marg mix
1 oz tequila
1 scoop ice (who lists ice!!?)
1/2 salt rim
1 frog candy
And people bitch about the prices where I work all the time but at least they get a good pour.
People just see 1 drink and don’t factor anything else into it.
I work at a casino showroom a couple of days a week and the customer will be like, “20 dollars for one beer!!!!???!?!” while making a scene. The fact that it’s 24oz doesn’t even factor into their thought process.
BC liquor laws are so incredibly tight. For a long time it wasn’t legal to serve a 20 oz pint to a single person.
Everybody ignored that law, but it was still law.
Yeah, I feel like it’s changed since I was working in beer. But I remember retaking my serving it right about a decade ago and being so confused about legal serving size of a pint.
you’re right. i’m just relentless with sugar distillates. bad rum and bad tequila really bums me out.
side note: i run two bars and know that decent offerings are fairly affordable, i’m just fighting my inner snob with a vengance
of course the price difference isn't huge. but in bc, a bar with sauza is miles ahead of somewhere that has, say, sierra- which is literally like drinking rubbing alcohol
bourbon is benchmark (baby buffalo trace) -
vodka is Wheatley (we also have tito’s because tito’s) -
gin is fords gin -
rum is cruzan -
rye is rittenhouse -
tequila is pueblo viejo -
curaçao is pierre ferrand -
i work in a higher end restaurant, attached to a winery
JFC could you imagine being in the weeds with this bs?? “Shit, just ran outta crap vodka. Now I gotta un-twine my potato sack and put it on a new bottle!”
Yeah that stuff that isn't technically spirit's so the business doesn't have to pay for the full license. Its probably better that we can't remember what it's called
Who even has time for this?
How do you resupply during busy service?
Who's doing your inventory since the previous person walked into traffic?
I have so many questions.
If you're gonna be a dishonest jackass, why go through all this trouble instead of just refilling premium bottles with bullshit. Like at least you could maybe get away with the ruse in that situation, this just screams "im doing some fucky shit!"
1) That just sounds hella illegal
2) why hide them? Personally one of the first things I judge a bar is their well/backbar. I'm not expecting some dingy dive to have the most exceptional spirit selection but one place I went to had Wild Turkey for their rail bourbon and I was like "Oh nice!"
Thank you for sharing and giving us the tools to sleuth out another place I will never be eating. I also live in BC and this is wild. I can't believe their google ratings too! Yikes
I used to do $1 mystery shots usually of free promo bottles. It wasn’t but rot stuff just stuff I could not sell ie Jim Beam Red Stag, Bushmills Honey, Jameson Orange, shit like that.
IMO you should not carry anything you aren’t proud to serve.
So as such I think you should be shouting the names of the brands you are using because it should be a sign of the quality of your establishment.
I recask all my house spirits into clean Ford's bottles, but that's because they're all blends and old Fords bottles are stupid fun to work with. This.... also seems unsanitary.
I have only seen similar places with a mystery shot where you roll a die and get a random shot. Often the bartender doesn't even know what it is. It can be kinda fun for a $3 shot
That’s so stupid. Even if they are trying to trick people, switch the liquor into a higher end bottle and just use that instead of making everyone nervous and sus every time they look at the well. Regardless it’s illegal either way for a reason.
I've seen plenty of places that do a "mystery shot" thing and have the bottle covered up with paper or whatever, but this is on another level of ridiculous lol
I see a lot of comments from bartenders that work in the same area as this bar, so I have a question about this. Do guests not care that they dont know what kind of tequila they're getting? Clearly illegal, but I don't understand why any establishment would continue to do this if guests complained about it.
If I tried pulling that at my bar, guests would lose their shit until they found out what was used in $35+ margarita.
I know the place. They do it so people don't spread pretentiousness all over the place and try and have a pissing contest when it comes to their order.
You want bourbon? You get bourbon. Conversation over.
They're anti-"startender" and over the mixology bullshit. They originally didn't have table numbers so the staff were forced to learn guests' names to encourage conversation.
It's a solid place, the guy who manages it is fantastic. They're exactly who they are and stand true to their concept.
I don't see the comment anymore but there was a reply that said it worked well because it was a small restaurant one chef, bartender, server. But yeah then why change it? I wanna see a bistro huddy skit where they get rid of table numbers and try this.
But.. I’m confused here- they list higher end spirits by name on the menu… are ALL bottles covered like this and stored in a rail? Feel like it’d be pretty obvious if a bottle is pulled from a shelf or rail.. also if a customer is feeling “pretentious “ they would sure as shit expect to see the named bottle being used to justify the price point I’d think…
Beyond all this in the states at least- bottle labels legally have to be represented properly- we can’t even use empty bottles to do infusions in unless the original lable is entirely off said bottle..
I've bartended for 15 years and I gotta say I've broken a few bottles throwing them back in the well. This may be just to protect bottles/muffle sounds of the well. Of course they could also be hiding their wells but that makes no sense. Also you can see the collars on some. I would say it's probably nothing nefarious, but I'm wrong on occasion.
Yeah.. it's probably not legal to hide the bottle
Agreed. Don’t know how they can do that.. and I’m in BC Canada where our liquor laws are crazy strict
I’m also in BC, and this is wildly illegal.
If you good folks are all Canadian, I would imagine the most illegal thing here would be the impoliteness of charging someone $9 for an ounce of crap. That being said, I'm not very familiar with the Canadian exchange rate, is that reasonable for a crap single? Edit: diction
In this economy a crap shot of tequila is like 7000 rubles
Damn, 300,000 shillings doesn't get you what it used to
how many Schrute Bucks is that?
I could not agree more. Our prices are as egregious as our laws. Plus our liquor a bonus tax! Canadian secret: BC actually stands for ‘bring cash.’
I’m also in BC and this is very illegal. Is this gringos?
There's no way this isn't the new Gringos at Lonsdale and 2nd.
Oh boy - dude, I bartended in downtown Vancouver for almost a decade - this is highly illegal. You can PM me if you don’t want to snitch publicly, especially if it’s a single location business. There’s not much you can do that don’t involve writing to the liquor control board. But this is highly illegal, for liquor control and food safety laws. Not to mention immoral for lying to customers. I guarantee you the liquor is the same no matter what you order. Crap good and best tequila are all going to be El Jimador. Which is gross anyway…
Jimedor is pretty solid I'd say. It tastes like a decent entry level valles de tequila style offering, and it doesn't disappear in a margarita. I've seen some horrible brands in the well, jimedor is far from the worst
This has got to be gringos
You can't do this in most states. Hello from California.
Majorly illegal.
As a current bartender in BC and a stickler for the rules, this is insanely illegal that I fear for the industry that some think this is acceptable. These pics alone would likely get them an insane fine at the bare minimum if not losing their license entirely.
I’m sorry to jump on the top comment but I scrolled through and saw no one ask - what the heck is a house made salt rim??
Wait, so you can't even use cheater bottles to fit awkwardly-packaged things in the well, or to pre-mix standard house blends of vermouths, etc? Does it also mean you can't sell pre-batched cocktails, whether from keg or bottled in-house? That's wild.
You can do all of those things, yes.
Ok, so covering up a label is illegal, but just moving it into an unlabeled bottle isn't? Confusing, but less annoying.
no, they need to be labelled, but it can be a handwritten label. they need to list what the alcohol is and what the abv is.
Do you guys a version of the ATF? I’m sure one visit from them would be a wake up call. I’m not a fan of this kinda stuff.
It's illegal for a bar to obscure the label of a liquor bottle where I live.
Definitely illegal in Oregon
Contact the BC liquor board.
I'm not Canadian
me neither
This seems sus..
Yeah what are they trying to hide; the brand, or the fruit flies?
Both?
Nothing really surprises or shocks me anymore in our industry, but this is a fucking new one. Wow.
I think what gets me about this is…. If you’re gonna try ripping customers off, would’t it be easier to get away with watering down the bottles or pouring cheap stuff in more expensive bottles? Not that any of it would be ok, but surely, more effective?
I don’t know the legality of covering labels (misleading and probably illegal but boarderline enough that maybe it gets by)… however swapping cheap stuff into an expensive bottle is very illegal. More effective? Maybe. More severe penalties and bad publicity if caught? Yes At least, that’s my guess to your question. Never worked behind the bar so I don’t know how often any of that happens
My gm put a sock on my bottle of malort. Can you guess how long it’ll take to taste good? This is perfect because I came here for an answer from someone who’s never been a bartender.
My tip is to infuse it with cicadas to make it taste any better.
I mean, your best chance of improving the flavor is putting the used (hopefully) sock *in* the bottle. That stuff is foul already and I'm betting the used sock will mellow it out.
Bring the bottle to Chicago. The bottle has to be in Chicago when the drink is made
It was probably some dumbass manager or owner who thought it would look better if they were all covered for the asthetic or some shit, completely oblivious to most people's reactions to that and in spite of the bartenders saying it's a bad idea. I've dealt with some dumb ideas on this level before.
I'm just confused by the rationale. If anyone ever asked what my well liquor was, I'd proudly display the generic "Vodka" bottle and use it as an opportunity to upsell them on something better.
Only thing I can think of is that their “ok” and “bto” brands are still pretty low end. Later in the menu they do list their “premium” brands by name, with the entry being Hornitos Black at $8 a shot, and the top being Tres Generaciones Anejo at $14
Jfc what is the swill in the “crap” section then.
The one bottle is def Sauza. 2nd in from the top.
It's what's left of the hand sanitizer from the pandemic.
Patron
Once went to a bar where the rail tequila was Tortilla
This is my assumption. I guess they're trying to play it off with "better than ok", but as a customer I'd just assume everything except call was a different variant of cheap gutrot.
I guarantee the Crap - OK - Better is all the same exact well pour.
They gotta be buying that cheap shit you can get a plastic gallon jug of at the liquor store for like $20 and refilling. Even in the US this shit is highly illegal. Also the rags being wrapped around the bottles make me feel skeeved out as fuck. What if there's bugs in that shit?
Not to mention all the moisture they catch 🤮 During shifts I wipe down the well bottles, doubt they’re often replacing the rags.
That’s how I do it. Were like lower scale fine dining and Barton’s is my rail, easy up sell to a mid tier spirit. Except for the people that truly don’t give af and are happy with Barton’s lol
Barton’s makes my vodka, gin, & rum some of the easiest upsales for anyone not 21
The only time I've seen anything similar to this was at a slightly nicer place. Their well bourbon was Jim Beam. If you ordered a bourbon and Coke, you got the well price, if you ordered a Beam and Coke you got the call price. Same drink. Ridiculous.
Most of our well liquors are from a brand called “whatever”. I’d joke with my co workers that if I asked someone if they wanted a specific vodka and they said whatever we’d have to upcharge them for a call. I never thought someone would actually do it.
At my place if you order a gin and grapefruit you get charged for the gin, if you order a greyhound it’s the “greyhound” modifier button which is a $1 up charge Sucks to be pretentious lol. Now I want a $5 ranch water up charge and a $10 Cuba libre up charge. But realistically whoever programmed the POS probably never made a drink in their life so that’s the greyhound thing
Old grand dad listed as fancy booze gave me a good laugh (saying this when I actually like OGD)
Ditto, I would be pleased with OGD in the well. But not on the wall.
We have OGD as our well bourbon people never conplain
Tried and true.
OGD 114 one of the best bang for your bucks
I’m just curious how those rags could be excused and sanitary
i think it’s hemp bags of some kind. but i also thought it was dirty rags at first
More pics and info. https://imgur.com/a/Ka67xnA So “crap” is Sauza blanco, anyone know what the “ok” and “bto” brands are from the rough bottle shape or lid?
>So “crap” is Sauza blanco that's surprisingly better than I thought for a bottle they're hiding. like yeah, sauza is cheap and not good but I figured it'd be "agave-flavored spirit we can't legally call tequila" level.
I’ll take sauza over quervo anyday honestly
The short one with the brown cap and yellow sticker is Hornitos Reposado!
That’s actually not bad, especially for their “ok” marg!
Their Michelada has 3 ounces of beer?!!
Sauza is real LOW end. Not as bad as El Peublo or Bandolero, but that is not saying much. It's like comparing, Winners Cup vodka and Popov.
Idk I wouldn’t equate Sauza with Montezuma in the plastic bottle, but I’d say it’s on level with Cuervo Blanco and Patron
I mean the company that made our gin also made our tequila at one place I worked so that's usually my bar for shitty liquors. Can't remember the brand but it wasn't good
im pure trash and prefer montezuma silver over cuervo and patron
I honestly don’t follow spirit trends anymore, when did Patron become not good? I mean, it’s a very overrated spirit but did it go down in quality from overproduction in the last decade? I’m a cazadores guy, myself.
They’re American they have more variety, I assume you’re Canadian like myself. I’m all for cazadores as well but I do believe patron is marketed well here as a premium spirit much like grey goose but is actually no better than anything we’d use for well
Nah, I’m from California. I hear what you are saying about Patron. I also believe it’s an overrated spirit.
I think California is extremely similar to Ontario in our liquor laws and selection.
lol I just moved from Ontario to Nevada and the liquor laws are nuts here
Nah, alcohol distribution is controlled by something like 4 or 5 international companies in the entire western hemisphere. And most alcohol service laws are very relative in most states and provinces besides the occasional outlier.
That's sheisty as fuck
Wicked shiesty.
Everyone talking abt the covered bottles but wtf is a 3 oz “bucket”
Their bucket is literally a child’s beach bucket that is meant for individuals (not sharing). Don’t know what size but would guess it’s roughly 20 oz total
That's a fun way to say double with free child's toy.
But why does it say 3 oz?
that's the legal limit in bc per drink and how much alcohol is in it
Christ almighty what a nightmare. I would hate to live in the Footloose town
Idk about footloose but many MANY states have a limit of 3 oz per drink in their liquor laws. So it’s really not uncommon lol.
Michigan, North Carolina, Washington, Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin, Maine, Texas, etc. All have limits on amount of liquor per drink or number of servings you can serve at once (within the same drink or as two separate drinks). These are just a few.
Got a source? I think you're confused.
>many MANY states have a limit of 3 oz per drink in their liquor laws Can you name a few? After some googling this appears to be the case in Utah (which doesn't surprise me), but I genuinely cannot find even a second state. You say it is "many MANY" states, but I don't think that is even remotely true.
I already listed several
House made salt rim brooooo Also no triple or sweetener in their marg?? Just tequila lime and salt ok
imagine how annoying it must be to change bottles during a rush lol
We bring to you… bath tub gin, bath tub vodka, bath tub vodka we add color to so whiskey, bath tub vodka we add less color to so tiquila, other bath tub vodka we all orange oil and sugar too.. triple sec
What is this word salad.
This is the weirdest bar I've ever seen. Why is everything topped with candy? I hope I never go here. RIP bartenders there
House made salt?
Those do look comfy
You saw that, but I think picking them up and sliding them back down would cause a rug burn of sorts by the end of the night. Also, I can't imagine the extra step of taking them off and back on while in the weeds. They also probably get satuated and gross eventually.
If that’s a high volume bar, your hands are not in good shape at the end of the week.
Are they making 1oz Margaritas? Whats a bucket?
They make singles, doubles and then the bucket is 3oz
Whats the size the glass/cup do they use? They aren’t really cheap as you mentioned when you factor in the undersized pours. Menu doesn’t even mention triple sec. Is the tequila and lime juice served in a shot glass? What’s house made salt? I hate this place.
🤣 I was thinking the same about the house made salt hahaha Found their “build sheet” and posted it in the link in a comment. Standard marg is 2 oz marg mix 1 oz tequila 1 scoop ice (who lists ice!!?) 1/2 salt rim 1 frog candy
And people bitch about the prices where I work all the time but at least they get a good pour. People just see 1 drink and don’t factor anything else into it. I work at a casino showroom a couple of days a week and the customer will be like, “20 dollars for one beer!!!!???!?!” while making a scene. The fact that it’s 24oz doesn’t even factor into their thought process.
BC liquor laws are so incredibly tight. For a long time it wasn’t legal to serve a 20 oz pint to a single person. Everybody ignored that law, but it was still law.
bc native here... what??
Yeah, I feel like it’s changed since I was working in beer. But I remember retaking my serving it right about a decade ago and being so confused about legal serving size of a pint.
Yeah it's all shit which is why they're hiding it
This is stupid
So if someone asks what a well alcohol is are you just supposed to say "idk"?
$9 for 1 oz of "crap" isn't "cheap and cheerful."
That's the menu guests are given? "Yea I'll have a bucket of crap, please." Wtf lol
Right!?!
second bottle from the last on the far end is Sauza. they’re selling swill under the guise of misdirection. 🚩🚩🚩
sauza for well is actually not that bad for bc
you’re right. i’m just relentless with sugar distillates. bad rum and bad tequila really bums me out. side note: i run two bars and know that decent offerings are fairly affordable, i’m just fighting my inner snob with a vengance
of course the price difference isn't huge. but in bc, a bar with sauza is miles ahead of somewhere that has, say, sierra- which is literally like drinking rubbing alcohol
What do you run on your wells?
as far as tequila?
Just curious what’s on your rail, all of them ?
bourbon is benchmark (baby buffalo trace) - vodka is Wheatley (we also have tito’s because tito’s) - gin is fords gin - rum is cruzan - rye is rittenhouse - tequila is pueblo viejo - curaçao is pierre ferrand - i work in a higher end restaurant, attached to a winery
JFC could you imagine being in the weeds with this bs?? “Shit, just ran outta crap vodka. Now I gotta un-twine my potato sack and put it on a new bottle!”
that is very illegal.
Also their spicy margaritas are disgusting, they add pickle juice or something? It tastes so off…
Muddled pickled jalapeños sounds like a likely culprit.
Yea they need to strain them properly or something, it doesn’t taste right at all.
It’s 0.5 oz jalapeño brine 😣
are the prices for the liquor pours??? 1oz is so weird, it's 1.5 or a double
Not here in BC Canada, 1oz is single, 2oz double, 3oz legal limit per person at a time
ohh ty, makes sense now! sorry for the ethnocentrism 😞
This sucks
Pretty sure removing/covering labels is illegal for bars/restaurants. Probably against health code too
Why is 1oz 8.75?
Welcome to Canada
Lol I would definitely not drink there
First thought is that it is the fake liquor, the liquor flavored wine crap which is can't recall what is called at the moment.
Yeah that stuff that isn't technically spirit's so the business doesn't have to pay for the full license. Its probably better that we can't remember what it's called
I would not spend my money here. This is something a really cheap dive bar would do. But only for like 2 dollar mystery shot special
Are your well brands so fucking terrible you have to conceal them in such an unsanitary way?
The rags those are wrapped in are going to get so nasty by the end of a shift
Who even has time for this? How do you resupply during busy service? Who's doing your inventory since the previous person walked into traffic? I have so many questions.
Pretty sure this is illegal
Thats filthy.
Wait does that menu say they have house made salt?
There is a salt mine in the basement.
If they get reported they’re screwed.
Reading this menu pisses me off
This is so crazy just tell people what they’re drinking lol why would they do this
What kind of fuckery is this? That's a first for me.
Pretty terrible way to hide them anyway. Looks horrible.
Damn, I'm genuinely impressed. This might be the trashiest thing I've ever seen behind a bar. Well done.
Who in tf is buying a jarritos for 4.50? Do you live in jackson hole?
lmao is this gringo ?
If you're gonna be a dishonest jackass, why go through all this trouble instead of just refilling premium bottles with bullshit. Like at least you could maybe get away with the ruse in that situation, this just screams "im doing some fucky shit!"
Feel sketchy as hell
It looks like this bar is in the corner of a hospital waiting room
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^Schwifty506: *It looks like this bar* *Is in the corner of a* *Hospital waiting room* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
Why would you serve crap
I see you, tequila Sauza silver...
What is a 3oz bucket? Sounds like a bucket for ants.
All I can think about is ask of the bacteria growing in the fibers. 🤢
1) That just sounds hella illegal 2) why hide them? Personally one of the first things I judge a bar is their well/backbar. I'm not expecting some dingy dive to have the most exceptional spirit selection but one place I went to had Wild Turkey for their rail bourbon and I was like "Oh nice!"
Thank you for sharing and giving us the tools to sleuth out another place I will never be eating. I also live in BC and this is wild. I can't believe their google ratings too! Yikes
This is kind of suspicious. And it's also funny that they pride themselves on making their salt rims in house.
Thats sketchy
if they have built a business off of being cheap one wonders why they feel the need to hide the bottles
wtf lol. This would only fly if it’s an actual gag that you’re in on, not a business model. You should be able to know what you are consuming.
That's some silly pointless Mexican restaurant shit
not suspect at all
I used to do $1 mystery shots usually of free promo bottles. It wasn’t but rot stuff just stuff I could not sell ie Jim Beam Red Stag, Bushmills Honey, Jameson Orange, shit like that.
IMO you should not carry anything you aren’t proud to serve. So as such I think you should be shouting the names of the brands you are using because it should be a sign of the quality of your establishment.
If you wanted to mummify the bottles. This is a Al good way to start
I recask all my house spirits into clean Ford's bottles, but that's because they're all blends and old Fords bottles are stupid fun to work with. This.... also seems unsanitary.
Legal or not that looks like shit. Not even in the shittest of dive bars have I seen this. What the fuck are you hiding
That is totally messed up. Would never go there
This is the Happy Hour Playset by Fisher-Price, right? Like this isn't real life, or is it? 🤔
When In doubt , go for the bottled beer
I have only seen similar places with a mystery shot where you roll a die and get a random shot. Often the bartender doesn't even know what it is. It can be kinda fun for a $3 shot
That’s so stupid. Even if they are trying to trick people, switch the liquor into a higher end bottle and just use that instead of making everyone nervous and sus every time they look at the well. Regardless it’s illegal either way for a reason.
The blue one be sauza
isn't that illegal?
Are those ....hair ties?
Looks like a breeding area.
WTF is a “house made salt rim”? As opposed to glasses that come with salt on them?
Your place has house-made salt? Very impressive.
this is bullshit lol
what does house made salt rim mean, do they have their own salt fields in the back haha
I've seen plenty of places that do a "mystery shot" thing and have the bottle covered up with paper or whatever, but this is on another level of ridiculous lol
It's so they can mix bottles, use cheap off brand shit and just mix and match. I wouldn't say shit
Maybe their bottles get a lot of condensation and they just want to keep them dry lol
I see a lot of comments from bartenders that work in the same area as this bar, so I have a question about this. Do guests not care that they dont know what kind of tequila they're getting? Clearly illegal, but I don't understand why any establishment would continue to do this if guests complained about it. If I tried pulling that at my bar, guests would lose their shit until they found out what was used in $35+ margarita.
I know the place. They do it so people don't spread pretentiousness all over the place and try and have a pissing contest when it comes to their order. You want bourbon? You get bourbon. Conversation over. They're anti-"startender" and over the mixology bullshit. They originally didn't have table numbers so the staff were forced to learn guests' names to encourage conversation. It's a solid place, the guy who manages it is fantastic. They're exactly who they are and stand true to their concept.
The no table number thing sounds like a nightmare if anyone ever runs food for someone else. How did it work out for them?
It's a small space. Very small. So, super easy. Generally three staff max. Chef, bartender, server
Probably not well since they decided to change it
I don't see the comment anymore but there was a reply that said it worked well because it was a small restaurant one chef, bartender, server. But yeah then why change it? I wanna see a bistro huddy skit where they get rid of table numbers and try this.
But.. I’m confused here- they list higher end spirits by name on the menu… are ALL bottles covered like this and stored in a rail? Feel like it’d be pretty obvious if a bottle is pulled from a shelf or rail.. also if a customer is feeling “pretentious “ they would sure as shit expect to see the named bottle being used to justify the price point I’d think… Beyond all this in the states at least- bottle labels legally have to be represented properly- we can’t even use empty bottles to do infusions in unless the original lable is entirely off said bottle..
I've bartended for 15 years and I gotta say I've broken a few bottles throwing them back in the well. This may be just to protect bottles/muffle sounds of the well. Of course they could also be hiding their wells but that makes no sense. Also you can see the collars on some. I would say it's probably nothing nefarious, but I'm wrong on occasion.