UK restaurant's gender-neutral, colorless cocktails aim to ease 'stereotypical pressure' on patrons — and observers skewer the idea

A United Kingdom restaurant chain, Burger & Lobster, launched a gender-neutral, colorless line of cocktails in two of its London establishments recently "in a bid to remove stereotypes surrounding drinks" that influence patrons to avoid selections they see as traditionally geared to the opposite gender.

Burger & Lobster noted in a news release that the "Mixed-ology" cocktails came about after research and social experiments.

In its Soho restaurant, the new line's five cocktails were listed using numbers and ingredients rather than traditional names; at its Bread Street eatery, the traditional names were used. It was discovered that:

• Just over 30 percent of male customers weren't keen on drinks like the Cosmopolitan or Pina Colada because of their "feminine" names.
• And just over 10 percent of female customers were too embarrassed to order drinks considered more "masculine" like a Negroni or Old Fashioned.
• At Bread Street, only 5 percent of men and women chose the White Negroni, while at the Soho restaurant — where it was simply called No. 1 – it was four times more popular, Metro UK reported.

Also, it was discovered that just over 20 percent of drink buyers aren't comfortable ordering items they see as geared toward the opposite gender. And 67 percent would avoid a drink if the glassware was too "feminine" or "masculine," the outlet said.

Let the lampooning begin

Commenters on Yahoo Lifestyle's coverage of the gender-neutral line of cocktails weren't very impressed:

• "If you're stressing out over the perceived 'gender' of your drink, I submit that you probably shouldn't be drinking in the first place."
• "Next week: The words 'white,' 'black,' 'yellow,' and 'brown' were all removed from food and drink names because they are painfully obvious racist terms."
• "I didn't think drinks were gender-specific before. I still don't. Numbering them instead of naming them is unhelpful. All I care about is getting a margarita. Is that a masculine or feminine drink?"
• "I wasn't aware cocktails had genders to begin with."
• "Orwell was off by only 35 years."
• "Made a mental note to never eat there."
• "I can't be the only one who thinks this is totally ludicrous/ridiculous."
• "Ignorance, nothing more!"