Julia Trotzki
Feb 15, 2025
Feb 15, 2025, 9:00 PM
News
These are the 5 drinks you should avoid in most bars (and why!)
A good cocktail can be a real taste experience – but you can't always find the quality you expect. In many bars, some drinks are prepared with cheap ingredients, ready-made mixes, or without care. The result? Overpriced, unbalanced, or simply bad cocktails.
So that you are not disappointed on your next visit to the bar, we show you 5 drinks that you should better not order in most bars – and which alternatives are worth it!
1. Long Island Iced Tea – a Chaos of Cheap Alcohol
👉 Why Avoid?
A real cocktail should be harmoniously balanced – the Long Island Iced Tea is exactly the opposite. Five different spirits (vodka, gin, tequila, rum, triple sec) in one drink? This often leads to an undefinable mixed taste.
📌 Problem in many bars:
Cheap spirits because the quantities mask the taste.
Cola and lemon juice from the spray gun – often too sweet and artificial.
Not a real cocktail, but rather an alcohol bomb without finesse.
✅ Better to order: A Whiskey Sour or Daiquiri – few ingredients, but made with craftsmanship and quality.
2. Piña Colada – often just a sweet cream bomb
👉 Why avoid?
A good Piña Colada needs fresh pineapple, coconut milk, and high-quality rum. But in most bars, you get instead:
Artificial pineapple mixes full of sugar.
Greasy whipped cream instead of real coconut cream.
Way too sweet, because cheap ingredients need to be masked.
📌 How to recognize it?
If the Piña Colada looks like a milkshake and you feel full after two sips, then quality has been compromised.
✅ Better to order: A Mai Tai
3. Mojito – when made wrong, it is undrinkable
👉 Why avoid?
The Mojito sounds like a simple classic – but many bars make serious mistakes here:
Old, mushy, or dried mint instead of fresh leaves.
Too much crushed ice, so the drink quickly becomes watered down.
Ready-made syrup instead of fresh lime juice – the biggest flavor killer!
📌 Particular problem:
A bad Mojito either tastes of nothing or of sugar water with mint flavor – that has nothing to do with the real drink.
✅ Better to order: A Caipirinha – fewer ingredients, but usually made fresh.
4. Sex on the Beach – the tourist drink without depth
👉 Why avoid?
This cocktail is a classic on every all-inclusive menu – but unfortunately rarely high quality. Why?
Cheap fruit juices, which are often too sweet or from concentrate.
Peach liqueur from the large bottle, which tastes artificial.
No balance – just sweet and fruity, but without depth.
📌 Why is it still often ordered?
Because it is a well-known name – but that doesn’t make it automatically good!
✅ Better to order: A Cosmopolitan – fruity, but with a fine balance of cranberry, lime, and high-quality vodka.
5. Blue Lagoon – artificial, sweet, and lacking flavor
👉 Why avoid?
Yes, the blue color looks cool – but that’s about it. In many bars, this drink is made with:
Cheap Blue Curaçao, which only tastes like sugar.
Poor vodka quality, because the sweetness masks everything.
Too much sugar, which makes the drink cloyingly sweet and sticky.
📌 The biggest mistake?
Many bartenders see the Blue Lagoon as a "show drink" – but not as a quality cocktail. Those who order it usually get a simple sweetwater mix without craftsmanship.
✅ Better to order: An Aviation – also visually impressive, but with fine aromas of violet and citrus.
Conclusion: Quality over Quantity!
Of course, you can drink whatever you like – but if you value real cocktails, you should be careful. In many bars, especially in clubs or large chains, drinks are prepared quickly and with cheap ingredients.
💡 Tip:
Make sure fresh ingredients are used.
Check if the bar uses high-quality spirits or only cheap mass-produced ones.
Avoid cocktails that are almost always made from syrup or pre-mixes.
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