Aug. 26 is Women’ s Equality Day. But how does that translate for women (and men), both behind the bar these days, and for those seated at it?
In the past, I have committed the social faux pas of running the stemmed, cocktail glass to the woman at the table, while dropping the pint of hoppy IPA in front of the man, only to have her pass off the pink drink to her husband, who likewise shoved the bitter ale toward her with equal disdain.
A whiskey drinker myself, it was not long after that a similar fate would befall me while drinking with a highball-loving male coworker — a fate I had to embrace as a sort of poetic irony. What made his vodka-soda any less masculine than my bourbon-neat? And who’s in charge of attributing gendered constructs to otherwise nonbinary libations anyway? After all, a cocktail is defined by no less than four main ingredients: sugar, water, alcohol and bitters.
I have lived with many a roommate — a lot of them bartenders, most of them male — who have gone on to open bars of their own. Even they will tell you the only reason certain bartenders shy away from vodka is that other spirits give them more to work with; not because one is less acceptably male than the other. Just as the stem of an elegant Burgundy glass has more to do with keeping your properly chilled wine away from your balmy palms than it comments on your manliness, so do the smokiness of a mezcal and the aromatics of a gin lend their nuances to inspire the creative mind. I have always enjoyed the clean, crispness of a good vodka, perhaps with a little caviar. Does that make me more or less feminine? The concept seems more than slightly absurd.
I have had several men scoff as I handed them a lavender aviation cocktail in a dainty, coupe glass, and even more laugh when I explain it is shaped after Marie Antoinette’s breast. Never mind that the average gin packs a bigger wallop ABV-wise (alcohol by volume) than your typical whiskey, as I would explain delicately to an inevitably bruised ego. The response was invariably, “Can you put it in a rocks glass?”
Of course, I could. I was, after all, a lady.
Alicia Yamachika is a bartender and craft mixologist, who currently is the key account manager at Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits on Oahu. Follow her on Instagram (@alicia_yamachika). Her column will appear every second Wednesday in Crave.
