The Gun Counter

FYI: a bar which serves Hendricks Gin is to be trusted. And, is likely to serve excellent scotch, bourbon, cheese and grapes as well...

A bar that has a 2 page beer list is to be recommended.

A bar that lists Budweiser as "an alledged beer" is to be applauded.


HTRN

If the wine list doesn't have Gallo/Ripple one it, and if they have a wine list.

Chris, the problem with your list is that a bar's stock and bartender will depend on it's clientel... the bar i worked at had most of those things... but since our customers were all early 20's waiters and waitresses, we had no need for some of the things.

no sense in stocking stuff that will only get ordered once every 6 months...

Methinks Chris nailed it.

A couple of things I'd add...

Bars and barmen who are miserly about their portions and measures are to be avoided. I don't know why lots of otherwise well-stocked, well-appointed, attractive bars drive away potential repeat customers and ruin their business by being niggardly. One, it's false economy. Two, any barman worth the title should be able to mix the usual range of drinks and cocktails by eye without having to use a gill-measure (or referring to a book).

A mark of a good bar or pub is that they will tell people who order complex drinks (Irish coffees and hot whiskeys, for example) at peak times to get lost. When the place is packed, and everyone wants a drink, they can't affford to spend valuable minutes on making fancy concoctions for blow-ins (the regulars know enough not to ask).

The bar at Applebees is not a bar.

Being single, I tend to judge a bar on the quality of its female patrons.

The bar at Applebees is not a bar.

Moreover, the food at Applebees isn't food.

I base my judgements on the ability to produce a good Long island Iced Tea. I find few who can make a good one. It's a very simple drink but most seem to go wrong when it comes to the sour mix.

I actually had a bartender tell me they used a commercially bottled Long Island mix that was absolutley disgusting. I haven't been back.

Chris, I thought a martini was supposed to have orange bitters?

I don't do bars. I can make a decent cocktail at home and it doesn't cost me $10 and the odds of wanting a martini and getting a chilled glass of vodka are zero. And the bar tender knows what a Pegu Club is.

I do pubs. Rochester even has two breweries that make "house" beers for the local bars.