Boilermakers and such

As I was entering drinking age (OK, maybe I wasn't quite 21, but Staten Island was only 18 anyway) growing up in central New Jersey, a common, maybe most common, way to order a drink was "whiskey, beer back" or "scotch, water back." The "beer back" was much more prevalent than all others combined. More particular drinkers might ask for a "VO, beer back" or when I wanted to show my chops, "Beefeater, beer back."
The "beer back" was always a small, 7 oz. glass of draft beer, whatever was on tap.
As far as I can tell this must have been a regional procedure, as all other places would have that ordered as two separate drinks.
Anybody familiar with this terminology or anyplace the still practices it?

Sure, I know that when I worked at a downtown bar many customers would ask for a beer or water back. They claimed that I was the only bartender who served the water right - sans ice, in a small glass. We didn't have a set price for a beer back, but I would either charge them on their second round for a full beer or not charge if the liquor they purchased was pricey.

I don't think it's an East Coast thing because I'm from Michigan and have only lived there and in Chicago. Maybe I'm just well versed in bar lingo

Many bars in Chicago offer a beer back with there Bloody Mary for brunch.
I have had this at Fireside, Stanley's and O'Donovan's that I can rememeber. I personaly usualy drink Tequilla with a beer back(ok it's realy just a neat glass of tequilla and a beer). Come to think of it, when I drink any "hard stuff" I usualy keep it company with a beer. I am from the west coast and I know this is a custom there as well.

Interestingly enough, beer backs are illegal in Vermont. No doubt some tortured holdover from the temperance movement, but the bartender cannot serve beer and hard alcohol at the same time and is supposed to wait until you finish the one before serving t'other. I had a friendly but wary bartender in Burlington break this rule for me a few years back while he told the story and subtly probed to make sure I wasn't a narc...

- Fillay

a boilermaker(tequila, and a Budweiser draft) is my standard drink order.

Some places in the suburbs resist serving a shot and a beer at the same time, so I have to sip & finish my tequila, and then be handed my beer at some spots in Bolingbrook, and other suburban towns allegedly due to local liquor laws. Never had this happen in Chicago, or out at the country bras where I live.

I'm not a lawyer but it looks like boilermakers would be illegal in IL under the prohibition of happy hour law (235 ILCS 5/6-28(b)(1)).

(b) No retail licensee or employee or agent of such licensee shall:
(1) serve 2 or more drinks of alcoholic liquor at one time to one person for consumption by that one person, except conducting product sampling pursuant to Section 6‑31 or selling or delivering wine by the bottle or carafe;

That being said, I've seen cases - both in Chicago and the burbs - where people would receive their next beverage when the first was anywhere from full to under half-full. Then there are some places that wouldn't put the next one down until the first was completely gone.

I'm also not a lawyer, but if that's the full law, couldn't it be argued that a Boilermaker, by definition, is a single drink that has to be served in two separate glasses? And, if that law, as written, were enforced, wouldn't that mean that flights of three or four small glasses of wine, commonly served at wine bars, are illegal?

This is news to me-I've never had trouble ordering a shot and beer in Illinois.
In Milwaukee, maybe all of Wisconsin, the short beer served with the bloody marys is sometimes called "a wash".

jpreiser wrote:That being said, I've seen cases - both in Chicago and the burbs - where people would receive their next beverage when the first was anywhere from full to under half-full. Then there are some places that wouldn't put the next one down until the first was completely gone.

I've had the experience in some bars in Naperville where they won't bring you another beer until you've completely finished your previous one. A bartender once told me that the only exception was for a boilermaker. He also said that if you ordered a shot and a beer separately, they would have to wait for you to finish one drink before giving you the other. But if you ordered a boilermaker, they could bring you both at the same time, since that was the definition of a boilermaker.

Once at Naperville restaurant, I ordered a second beer which the inexperienced server brought right out (I was still working on my first drink). A short time later he came back and told me he would have to take the second drink back until I finished the first one, since they're not allowed to serve two drinks as once.

I wonder if ordering a boilermaker gets one around the 2 drinks at a time law since it is the definition of a single drink whereas a "shot and a beer" could be construed as two drinks. Nothing like weird liquor laws.

Naperville was the suburb I was thinking of that wouldn't allow a second beer until the first was completely gone. However, I've been at a Naperville restaurant and had my second beer brought with only a couple of swigs left on the first. Either they've relaxed the enforcement or it was just randomly enforced.

A funny multiple beverage story occurred when I was in Kona, HI, a couple years ago (at the Kona Brewpub). I had a nearly full IPA (7% abv) in front of me when a friend bought the next round (a 13%abv barleywine). I was having a great time blending the two in my mouth when a server came over and sheepishly told me about the HI stacking law. It seems one can have two beverages in front of them as long as the total alcohol content and/or volume doesn't exceed some amount. A shot and a beer or two "normal" strength beers would be OK but the IPA and barleywine were over the limit.

In appropriate Aloha spirit, I asked him how we could solve the problem. The answer: he takes one away or I give one away. My solution: temporarily give one to the only person at the table who couldn't drink alcohol (over 21 but on medication). I then took it back after finishing the other beer. All was good and I didn't loose a beverage by "letting" a drinking friend take possession of it, if only temporarily.

I don't know the intricacies of the law, but I do know that in my past life as a bartender (in Chicago) we were not allowed to serve two drinks at one time, but we could serve a beer and a shot. I don't know if it was because of alcohol content. And I know I've gotten a bloody mary and a small beer in the city.

As I mentioned up thread my standard order is a bottle of beer, and a shot of tequila, and the only places I have had to finish the shot before the beer were in the suburbs(particulalry Bolingbrook, and Naperville), but those are hit and miss, and depend on the bartender, and if their manager is lurking about. Most will serve what you order. In Chicago, I have never had an issue, but I drink at hole in the wall shot & a beer type places where that is the standard order. But even at Joes, or Saloon, I was able to have my beer, and $10-$25 glass of tequila at the same time.

Its too bad Illinois has some wacky laws on the books, and prohibits happy hours that include drink specials.

At juicy wine's $5 brunch you get a can of "cheap beer" (in this case, Miller High Life) with their spicy bloody mary and a small plate of garnishes for your drink. Cheers!