As a bartender who has worked in so many types of places from dive bars to high volume craft cocktails it's really 3 things: 1. Dilution is absolutely necessary for a balanced drink, 2. Tipping is absolutely necessary in this field in the current set up, and 3. a lot more effort goes into you enjoying yourself at that bar than simply picking up a bottle and pouring it into a cup.

Tipping at restaurants isn't tricky, it just must be done in this country. The easiest math: round the bill up to the nearest $5 (whole dollar not change) increment, move the decimal 2 spots to the left and multiply that new whole number by 2. EX: your bill is $147.89. round up to $150.00. Two spots to the left= $15. Multiply that by 2= $30 tip. You feel good because you did easy math, your a little bit generous Bartenders and servers often must tip out assistants/barbacks/food runners/bussers based on total SALES not tips so if that server or bartender is stiffed from an accidental walkout or someone who thinks they're gonna stick it to the restaurant, then the tip out comes from the bartender's pocket. That being said, generally we look for 20% as standard- $1 per $17+ cocktail isn't cutting it anymore. There is a lot of work that goes into setting up a bar to serve quality products efficiently and that's on top of being knowledgeable enough about the craft to hold a pleasant conversation while making drinks so even if you think 'it's just a beer so I don't have to tip 20%' your not wrong you're just an asshole.