Truth. Unless I know the place, I never order a Bloody Mary.

The same applies to a Penicillin, but for different reasons. Most places don't take the time to make/age the ginger cordial or use a properly smokey Islay topper so they inevitability come out too sweet and lack smoke.

I'm opposite- it's actually one of my 'judge-a-place' items- I'll get one as a general proxy for the quality of the place.

It's good if done well, easy to screw up, but enough flexibility to make it unique if you want.

And it's not just testing for if someone happens to know some obscure recipe.

This is the first time I've heard of a Penicillin, and I love both ginger and Islay....color me intriuged

Give it a shot at home. A ginger cordial is stupidly easy to make and you don't need to sacrifice more than a few drops of a proper sipping Scotch for the topper. IME, any cheaper mixer-Scotch is fine for the spirit base.

FWIW, if you're ever in Boulder, Colorado both "License No1" https://www.license1boulderado.com/ and "Bitter Bar" https://www.thebitterbar.com/ make excellent versions.

Oddly enough, that sounds like something that Harry Crews said in an article probably in Esquire many years ago--he was dismissing a class of drinks as inferior to whiskey.

Funny, I use gin.