Why You'll Never Receive An Overly Sweet Drink At A Good Cocktail Bar

Whether you imbibed some overly sweet drinks during a bad experience at a neighborhood bar or in your post-college club-scene days, sugary cocktails leave behind the taste of syrupy booze that doesn't necessarily lead to warm, fuzzy memories. Fortunately, when you find yourself in the hands of a capable bartender, you can rest assured that the cocktails that are made for you won't leave you asking for a glass of water to rinse them down.

Good cocktail bars pride themselves on the drinks they serve and hire staff accordingly to ensure that the drinks that are slid across the bar are both Insta-worthy and easy to put back. The goal for cocktails served at these kinds of establishments is a balanced experience, which involves crafting a drink that isn't too sweet or too strong and that one would want to order a second time.

Meaghan Dorman, the bar director of several of the finer watering holes in NYC tells MyRecipes, "We try so hard to make everything perfectly balanced. Even the things that are dessert-y are rich in style."

If you're not feeling confident about the skill of your bartender, keep your drink orders on the drier side. Perfect martinis, Tom Collins, daiquiris, and margaritas are classic drinks that are fairly universal in assembly. For any drink that is poured and served too sweet for your liking, you have a few remedies to save the contents in your glass.

Sometimes a splash of another ingredient can rescue a drink from being left on a table. Depending on the ingredients in your cocktail recipe, bitters, citrus juice, bitter liqueurs, and seltzer or tonic water can help cut the sugary liquid swirling in your cocktail. Don't be afraid to ask your bartender for a slight adjustment in taste. For reliable cocktails establishments, however, trust that you're in good hands, and let the bartenders show off their drinks and ingredients knowledge — then taste the results before making any judgments.