to think bars water down their spirits?

[paddleduck]

I don't drink often, but when I do I like to have southern comfort / malibu and coke (if not sharing wine ofc)

Went away recently and had two singles with coke. Felt absoloutely fine, like I'd had nothing at all to drink.

Just poured myself (measuring it properly!) And I'm sat here feeling positively fuzzy and warm.

I'm thinking bars must 'stretch' their spirits for profit? Or aibu?

Yes, definitely.

I was told in a KFC that their drinks are watered down (I asked, they said yes) so I'd assume all soft drinks are too.

UK bars would lose their licence if they did that so - no - I really don't think they'd be so stupid

If you're drinking Malibu, you don't deserve to get drunk.

KFC might do it, but more likely they meant that they buy in the syrup and add the fizzy water themselves, I think. Sometimes these places do get the mix wrong and it seems watery.

For alcohol, no, not if they want to stay in business.

Should say at this point, dc is at grandma's Tonight !

Maybe I'm just tired then!

Gobby, it's my guilty pleasure!

Exclamation overload.

There are all sorts of repercussions if they do - losing a license is the least of it. HMRC come down very hard if an audit comes up with high ullage or overage.

You may be feeling the effects more for purely psychological reasons - you are not in that comparatively pumped up 'going out' mode...

Not worth the risk of the next person you serve being official. There are far more ways of running a 'more profitable' bar than that.

Admit it - you poured yourself a dirty great slug of booze!

Soft drinks on the pump arrive at kfc (and bars) as a cordial - essentially the same the squash that you buy. That's what they mean by watering down.
Bars would lose their licence if they tampered with alcohol. There is a big difference between 2 single Malibu and 2 single Southern Comfort too. What size measure do you pour at home?

If I go back 25 years to my barmaid days, punters ALWAYS used to accuse you of watering down the drinks - usually people who'd just ladled 20 ice cubes into their drinks.

I had this recently, ordered a vodka and tonic and the young guy had messed up another of the group's drink. I was convinced there was no alcohol in mine so i sent it back (having got all my mates to taste it too, they couldn't tell). I was given another and i watched as the barman used the optic - but i still couldn't feel the effects. Thought about reporting them, it is a newish pub, but couldn't be bothered. Just won't go again.

I doubt it. Most mixed drinks in bars come with a shitload of ice and watery coke or lemonade. Whereas at home you normally have generous measures, no ice and "proper" mixers, so it will taste different.

It's illegal for bars/pubs to water down their alcohol.

Admit it! - you poured your self a dirty great slug of booze!

^ haha! Clearly the case after all!

I Used a shot glass, same as bloke behind the bar did last week, which got me thinking!

There's a big difference between the alcohol content of malibu and the alcohol content of Southern Comfort.

So the general consensus is that I'm definitely unreasonable and likely rubbish at measuring my alcohol out!

I work in a restaurant bar, we definately don't water down drinks, even the customers know this as when we open a new bottle of spirits which happens a few times in an evening we have to take off the plastic seals from it.
People have moaned about how much we've put in, those people are pissed already & can't taste the alcohol!

Are your spirits at home bought from the duty free? If so, they will almost certainly be a lot stronger than those bought here (either supermarket or pub). Gin bought in the duty free is usually 47%, whereas if you buy it here it will be either 37.5% or (if you are lucky) 40%. Vodka is the same - don't know about whisky, but I don't suppose it's any different.

I've worked in bars abroad and in some we were told to suck (not actually suck but cover the top then dunk and remove the straw) up spirit in the straw so it tastes stronger, and the rims of glasses were rolled in spirit too.

A bars measuring glass things aren't the shot glasses you get at home,measure how much your shot glass holds, I think pub measures are generally 25ml.
Also the effect of alcohol changes depending where you are in your menstrual cycle.

I've worked in bar management for 15 years. Never known anywhere to water anything down, even the massive 6 bar venues in central London. (Trying to set 6 bars up to open in 2 hours by yourself isn't fun!)

If you're drinking to get drunk, YABU