The American bar: Overseas

Cocktails are as American as apple pie - and as old as that platitude. On far-off shores, locals have enjoyed distilled spirits, aperitifs, and brews unique to their regions for thousands of years. Unlike microbrewed beers or Napa's cabernets (which are still trying to prove to the English, Germans, and French that Americans can make high-quality potables), cocktails are the accepted American specialty.

On other continents, establishments promoting cocktails proudly display the subtitle "American Bar." Most American tourists expect to find overpriced, sub-par offerings of Jerry Lewis movies and cheeseburgers behind these doors. But I have yet to be disappointed in a European establishment touting American cocktails. Fortunately, these bars manage to shun silliness and instead focus on making quality drinks. Even in Belgrade, during the long-standing war when you couldn't get a Quarter Pounder at the downtown McDonald's, the Sidecars were still surprisingly well chilled and well made at the Piano Bar a few blocks away. I wish the same were true of home. On my nights out in San Francisco, it's nearly impossible to get a properly prepared cocktail - even when I pack my own juicer.

The other night at the DeLuxe Club in Haight-Ashbury, I was surprised to hear an accomplished barman admit after making my drink - the Negroni - that no one had ordered that cocktail in more than a year, though the club caters to the lounge-music crowd. The barman confessed he nearly had to look the recipe up, but fortunately it was printed on the back of a Campari bottle.

The good news about this experience is that the DeLuxe is at least willing - and able - to make good cocktails, even if their clients aren't familiar with them yet. It was far more frustrating to go into one of DeLuxe's cross-town rivals and ask for the bar's recommended scotch cocktail. The bartender merely suggested a scotch-and-soda or a scotch-and-water (gee, thanks, I wouldn't have come up with those combinations in a million years).

Lounge music, like the cocktail, is quintessentially American, so it's not surprising that this latest movement has attached itself to the glamour of the cocktail. But lounge music may be just another trend - cocktails, however, have been around for more than a hundred years, and they've been sipped while listening to all types of music. Yes, they're in a resurgence, but remember, only the baby boomers really missed out and most of them are now making up for lost time. Joseph Lanza, in The Cocktail: The Influence of Spirits on the American Psyche, points out that baby boomers, having been weaned on white bread, endless candy, and constant sensation, went in search of short-lived fads instead of the cocktail.

I'm pleased to see that today's rat pack recognizes the unaffected sophistication of the cocktail, but I fear many in this crowd are more concerned about coordinating drinks with their attire than coordinating cocktails with their mood on a particular evening. But thankfully, these imbibers are beginning to demand quality drinks that are more creative than three-liners from 007 flicks.

As people begin to request different cocktails - drinks that actually fit their particular mindset - professional bartenders will begin to expand their drink-recipe repertoires. I learned this years ago when I was 23, and Dale DeGroff of New York's Rainbow Room was as one of my guests.

Seeing Dale perched atop a leather stool made my knees shake. He knew I was an enthusiastic mixologist, so he placed his order with a grin and as a question, "What have you been working on lately?" I felt my face go flush as I realized that I had simply been content honing my shaking, straining, and hospitality skills. As I stammered my reply, Dale realized I was in a spot and, being a gentleman, he opted for a Martini. From that point on, I made certain I was never at a loss for a libation to satisfy any need, no matter what music was playing in the background.