Always Sit at the Bar

Last weekend was my friend Eadie's 21st birthday. I took it upon myself to arrange a proper American 21st - complete with 21 drinks. The night was fantastic, a combination of Dutch, American, and British 20 somethings drinking and dancing their shoes off. I say shoes because one of the British girls actually did make the conscience, yet intoxicated, decision to leave her shoes at the club. Go Team.

I stayed on in England for a few days to sightsee and spend more time with Eadie and our Dutch friend, Joanna. On Monday night Eadie took us to a cider house, the CorieTap, with promises of an excellent night, drunk off hard cider. The night, and the bar, did not disappoint.

As I sometimes do on this blog, I am going to impart more of my 25 year old wisdom and share one of my personal rules with you: Always sit at the bar. This is a shortened version of a longer lesson that I learned from my college orientation guide: Always sit at the bar, befriend the bartender, and tip well. Doing these three things will automatically take your night, and any subsequent visits, to the next level....and I'll tell you why:

1. Always sit at the bar - The takeaway lesson here. If you sit at the bar you will always meet new people and be in the barender's view without seeming pushy. Yes, sometimes you meet weirdos, but usually you meet awesome people like yourself. 


2. Befriend the bartender - This is best accomplished on a slow night or early evening on a busy one. Being friends with a bartender is like dating; only after putting in the time and effort can you reap the rewards. In this case the rewards are the occasional free drink and not having to wait to order drinks on a busy night. In the meantime, you've also become friends with a fun individual, who is usually up for a good time, anytime. Bartenders make the bar what it is, and they are some of my favorite people in the world. I've lived with bartenders, dated bartenders, and even traveled to Asia with one. 


3. Tip well - In the U.S., people in the service industry depend on tips - so tip them! and tip them well! I always say a dollar a drink is a good starting point. Remember, this is different than a dollar a round. Tipping does not mean leaving your spare change. Yes, you can leave the 25 cents you got back from the cheap beer you just ordered, but add something. Everyone and their mom wants to go to 25c draft night, except the bartender. Why? Because they don't make any money. Remember what I said about befriending the bartender? Tipping well is a fast way into their hearts, but being awesome is the only way to earn their respect. 


So sitting at the bar was how we met Matt and Ben. Matt and Ben are fun, and Matt and Ben are incredibly nice. They are the kind of guys my friends and I would, and should, date. They have a fatal flaw though - they live in England. Figures. We had a great night though, drinking hard cider and taking far too many photos. The guys then led us to a classy bar where we had to ring a doorbell to get in.....there was a second where I thought perhaps we would end up in the club Leighton Meester busts in the "Good Girls Go Bad" video. No such luck, but a fun place nonetheless. It was a bar reminiscent of Natt Spil, my all time favorite bar in the states, although they did not have any ginger infused vodka cocktails. You can't win them all!

Overall, my trip to Bristol was a lot of fun and quite exhausting. Between walking more than any Americans do in their own cities, and drinking until all hours of the morning, I need a few days to catch up on life. Sitting at the bar has its perks, but there is a reason most bartenders sleep until 2 in the afternoon. Good thing I have the latest episodes of How I Met Your Mother queued up and some leftover fried rice in the fridge. I know what I'm doing this lazy afternoon!