Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Other stories

A double shot of advice

Send a woman a drink? The best sipping whiskey? These New York bartenders have the answers, and more, in their book and on their Web site.

By TOM VALEO
Published October 19, 2005

As veteran bartenders, they know that a drink says a lot about the person who orders it. That's why Leanne Shear and Tracey Toomey order whiskey.

"When an attractive woman orders whiskey, that's really hot," Shear said proudly. "We're whiskey drinkers."

So when they set out to invent a name for their Web site, they settled quickly on the Whiskey Chicks although they call the site www.whiskychicks.com because the other spelling was taken. At first they used the Web site to promote their novel, The Perfect Manhattan, which they based on their experiences as bartenders in New York and on Long Island. They were in the Tampa Bay area recently to promote the book.

In Manhattan they worked at Onieal's Grand Street, an upscale bar and restaurant in the SoHo neighborhood. The tips were so good that the two college graduates ended up spending years behind the bar.

During summers in the Hamptons, they worked various places serving people who had BIG money. "There's old money and new money," said Toomey. "We'd meet people who could trace their lineage back to the Mayflower."

Sometimes the people with big money would share it with them, which is how they discovered big tips.

They once split a $500 tip. Not all customers were so generous, of course, and some were not even nice, but the two women learned a lot about bar behavior by serving the good, bad and ugly. That knowledge has crept onto their Web site, where they answer questions put to them primarily by men. For example: "Is it a good idea to send a drink over to a woman at a bar via the bartender?"

Their answer? Definitely!

"It's a win/win situation and a chance for both people to feel each other out," they write. "The girl can decide if she wants to talk to the guy in person and thank him for the drink. If she doesn't approach him, the guy knows she is a dud not worth wasting his time on, and all it cost him was the price of the drink."

They learned to size people up by the drink they ordered. Whiskey's hot, ditzy drinks, such as the pina colada, are not (especially when ordered by men). Beer drinkers tend to be laid back and unpretentious, but Guinness is definitely more elegant that Bud Lite.

Most of all, they learned this: "You can tell a lot about a person by how they treat waiters and bartenders," Toomey said.

"The worst ones are pretentious and pompous," Shear added.

To celebrate their book, which they wrote by meeting every morning at Starbucks, hangover or no hangover, Toomey and Shear decided to invent their own variation on the perfect manhattan. "The manhattan had died out, but we loved the name," Toomey said. "It's like a valentine to our city."

First they specified Maker's Mark Kentucky bourbon, "because of it's modern flavor and smooth finish." Then they got rid of the dry vermouth and the bitters. Finally, by adding a splash of maraschino cherry juice, or by muddling an actual cherry, they gave their drink its distinctive color - sort of a dark pink. The result, in their opinion, is a cocktail that is fun but not ditzy like a certain drink made popular by the TV series Sex and the City.

"We see it as a foil to the cosmopolitan," Toomey said.

- Tom Valeo is a freelance writer based in St. Petersburg.

3 ounces Maker's Mark

Splash of sweet vermouth

Spoonful of maraschino cherry juice (or muddled maraschino cherries)

Serve up or on the rocks, garnish with a maraschino cherry. Serves 1.

Source: Leanne Shear and Tracey Toomey

3 ounces Jean-Marc XO vodka or any premium vodka

Splash of Liquor 43 (Cuarenta y Tres)

Splash of pineapple juice

Blue curacao

Shake with ice and serve straight up. Garnish with one drop of blue curacao. Serves 1.

Source: Leanne Shear and Tracey Toomey

[Last modified October 18, 2005, 09:05:05]