Ever wondered where your favorite drink originated? Check out the histories of some of the most widely consumed cocktails:
The Mojito - Ingredients: white rum, sugar or sugar cane juice, lime, carbonated water and mint muddled together.
History: May be traced back to sailors in 16th century Cuba, using the drink to disguise bad rum.
The Singapore Sling - Ingredients: gin, cherry brandy and Benedictine in equal parts with a dash of bitters and Cointreau and finished off with pineapple and lime juice and grenadine.
History: Mr. Ngiam Tong Boon at the Raffles Hotel’s Long Bar in Singapore mixed the first one somewhere between 1910 and 1915. The recipe was modified in the mid-twentieth century by Tong Boon’s nephew.
The Sidecar - Ingredients: equal parts brandy or Cognac, Cointreau and lemon juice.
History: This drink probably dates back to Paris during or just after the first World War. The name may come from a motorcycle sidecar used to bring an American Army captain to and from the place of the drink’s invention.
The Pisco Sour - Ingredients: Pisco (a regional brandy from South America), lemon juice, bitters and egg whites.
History: Either a variation on the whiskey sour from Peru, or a combination of local limes and regional liqueur by an English steward in Chile.
White Russian - Ingredients: equal parts cream, vodka and Kahlua.
History: Originally invented in the 1930s, the recipe was standardized during the 60s in a drink recipe book. The name of the drink refers not to the location of its invention, but rather the connection between Russia and vodka. The drink has made a recent resurgence because of the cult film, the Big Lebowski.
The Manhattan - Ingredients: whiskey, sweet vermouth and bitters, garnished with a maraschino cherry.
History: Basically the only fact that is known about the origin of this drink is that it was created on the island of Manhattan. One story says Sir Winston Churchill’s mother threw a party is honor of a presidential nominee, and the club hosting the party, the Manhattan, created the drink for the event.
The Mai Tai - Ingredients: white and gold rum, pineapple juice, orange and/or lime juice.
History: Created as a result of the Tiki/Polynesian trend, by one of two restaurant owners.
Tom Collins: Ingredients: gin, lemon and lime juice and soda water.
History: Possibly the result of a hoax in nineteenth century New York City. It went something like this: you would run into your friend on the street some night, and he would say that he had just left a bar where another guy - Tom Collins - had been talking trash about you. You run to this bar to confront the guy, where the bartender tells you he’s just left for another bar. You continue running from bar to bar, trying to find Tom Collins while your friends laugh at you. It was only a matter of time before a bartender offered you a drink when you burst into his bar asking for a Tom Collins.
Bloody Mary - Ingredients: vodka, tomato juice, salt, pepper, cayenne and Worcestershire sauce.
History: Originally just tomato juice and vodka, it was originally a hangover cure. However, once the rest of the ingreidents were added by a separate inventor, the drink really took off.
The Martini - Ingredients: gin, vermouth and bitters.
History: Drunk by some of history’s greats - such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and Truman Capote, this classic cocktail came to be in the late nineteenth century. However, the recipe as we know it today gained popularity in the early twentieth century, and was also a popular drink during prohibition due to the ease of access to gin.
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