I could’ve sworn there were “fake” egg whites but it looks like I’m on crack.

As for the tiki drinks this weekend, I think that was a product of the bartender not knowing how to make the drinks. I saw her reading the drink menu many times after someone placed an order in order to know what went in that particular drink.

By fake eggs are you referring to pasteurized dried egg whites? Those are still eggs just in . . . well . . . dried form. Still wouldn’t help people who don’t eat tasty animals and I would doubt it would help for those with allergies.

No clue. I do know that I stabilized my home-made grenadine with an ounce or so of vodka (per 10-12 oz final volume?) which keeps the bacteria away.

A google search brought me to a NYTimes Article and an eGullet post which did state that some places use lecithin for some drinks which would be vegan-friendly.

Would it be so necessary then?

It could’ve also been that (now that I think of it) that was one bartender’s flourish on the drink, or that it was just left off. I think of the tiki drink I had this weekend that listed its ingredients, but we definitely saw at least one extra ingredient going in…

You make a great point about vegetarians. The same would also be true for people who have food allergies. I would think that at a minimum drinks containing egg (or other possible allergens) would be demarcated as you point out.

Very interesting about the bar that hides ingredients. I’ve certainly never heard of that before!

One possibility is that instead of sugar/simple syrup in the Sazerac, they used a modified gomme syrup. While researching how to make gomme syrup out of gum arabic, it turns out that other “full mouth feel” ingredients can be substituted for the harder-to-find gum arabic including maltodextrose and egg white (and other bartenders just use simple syrup and call it gomme because they assume that people can’t tell the difference if it’s not side-by-side). If they made it with egg white-sugar syrup, it would definitely foam upon being shaken (not that a Sazerac should be shaken). They might be doing that to smooth out the taste of the drink (ie: the harshness of rye and the complexity of the Peychaud’s) to make the drink more middle of the road.

As for ethical, I was a little annoyed when my cocktail was made with gelatin (I’m a vegetarian so egg is ok, but boiled animal skil not so much). One place around here has every cocktail with eggs demarcated with an underline under the drink name. Others you have to ask (one bar hides ingredients including gin since they’re afraid of the public’s (mis)perceptions about certain ingredients). I often ask what’s in certain drinks before ordering them to gage whether it falls outside of what I’m in the mood for.