Being asked if you want your cocktail straight up or on the rocks is like being asked if you'd like your bordeaux with one or two straws. Drinks have specific recipes and presentations, and a good bartender will know this. If you want to sip your bordeaux through a straw, go ahead, we won't laugh.

Straight up means shaken or stirred in a mixer and strained into a cocktail glass. The only débris permissible in a straight up cocktail, such as a daiquiri, are tiny slivers and flecks of ice.

A drink on the rocks is served with ice. And this means filled to the rim with sparkling peaks of ice. If our drink has a few sorry cubes floating in a lukewarm sea, we send it back.

A cocktail straight up will not surprise you; it will never change color or strength. It is reliable. A cocktail on the rocks will remain colder longer, but changes color and strength as the ice melts.

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