Top 10 Surprising Origins of Famous Cocktails

It sounds like something you’d see in the movies, but this cocktail is actually rooted in a proven hoax. It first occurred in 1874 when people started asking, “Have you seen Tom Collins?” Chances are the listener would respond, “No, who’s Tom Collins?” The pranker proceeded to tell the listener that Tom Collins said some nasty things about them and he can be found at a nearby watering hole. Instead of finding a person, though, the only Tom Collins waiting for them is a mixed drink. Sometimes the bartender would fix them a Tom Collins, letting the poor sap know that they’ve been duped. Other times, the victim of the prank was informed that Collins went to another bar across town, keeping the hoax going.

Tom Collins might not be a real person, but this French wine cocktail is named after Félix Kir, a priest turned resistance fighter who served as mayor of Dijon from 1945 until his passing in 1968. The drink didn’t always share Kir’s name, however. Comprised of white burgundy wine and crème de cassis, the cocktail was originally known as blanc-cassis. Kir loved this local drink so much that he would serve it to delegates. People came to associate the drink with the politician, eventually earning Kir’s moniker. Having helped nearly 5,000 prisoners of war escape during World War II, Kir is somebody we can all raise our glasses to.

You’re sure to find people drinking this cocktail at the Kentucky Derby and various Southern establishments. You probably wouldn’t expect your doctor to prescribe you a mint julep, though. Believe it or not, the drink was initially used to treat sickness at the stomach. In 1755, the julep was defined as an “extemporaneous form of medicine, made of simple and compound water sweetened, serving for a vehicle to other forms not so convenient to take alone.” Just a spoonful of mint and sugar makes the medicine go down. Over time, the julep became recreational with consumers adding bourbon to the mix. By the time Kentucky senator Henry Clay brought the drink to Washington, D.C., the mint julep was more for social occasions than medical purposes.

The Screwdriver has become a go-to alcoholic beverage for brunchers, but why exactly is it named after a something you’d find in a tool box? The answer is actually quite straight-forward, but still surprising nonetheless. During the late 1940s, some American engineers were working in a Persian Gulf oil field. To spice up their orange juice a little, they decided to add vodka. Since nobody had a spoon, however, they had to improvise and stir the drink with a screwdriver. Probably not the most sanitary way to mix a cocktail, but the name caught on and soon everyone was getting hammered on screwdrivers.

Carrie Bradshaw popularized the Cosmopolitan on “Sex and the City,” although this cocktail’s genesis remains up for debate. Various people have taken credit for creating the Cosmopolitan over the decades, but the most colorful origin story can be traced back to 1975. Neal Murray, a black college student, was allegedly denied a bartending job at a Minneapolis steak house due to his skin color. When the mangers went out of town, the restaurant’s bookkeeper decided to give Murray a shot. Experimenting behind the bar, Murray added cranberry juice to a Kamikaze, saying it could use some “color.” He wasn’t just talking about the drink, but also the mostly white staff. The first person to taste the drink said, “How cosmopolitan,” coining the cocktail’s immortal name.

While we know that it originated for Cuba, the mojito has varying backstories, all of which are equally surprising. Some say that Cuban famers added lime, sugarcane juice, and mint to rotgut rum in order to block out its taste. Others claim that slaves working in a Cuban sugar cane field created the mojito during the late 1800s. It’s even believed that Sir Francis Drake, an English pirate, helped concoct the drink to combat sea sickness. As for the name, it’s possible that Mojito derives from “Mojo,” a Cuban sauce containing lime. It’s also been speculated that Mojito comes from the word mojadito, which is Spanish for “a little wet.” However the Mojito came into fruition, Ernest Hemingway certainly drank A LOT of them.

Working as a bartender in Long Island, New York, Robert “Rosebud” Butt entered a drink-making contest sponsored by Triple Sec during the 1970s. Butt couldn’t help but notice that his creation shared a resemblance to an iced tea. Even though there traditionally isn’t any tea in the recipe, the name Long Island iced tea caught on regardless. Almost fifty years earlier during the U.S. prohibition era, Old Man Bishop supposedly crafted a similar drink in Long Island, Tennessee. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Long Island iced tea was created in Long Island. What is surprising is that nobody knows for sure if Long Island, New York or Long Island of the Holston should be considered the drink’s true birthplace.

This is another cocktail with a few different origin stories, but the most popular one by far is linked to the Manhattan Club in New York. As legend has it, Lady Randolph Churchill hosted a party at the club for U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Samuel J. Tilden in 1874. During the banquet, Dr. Iain Marshall fashioned a new cocktail that would be named after the club. As intriguing as this all sounds, there’s a major hole in the Manhattan’s supposed backstory. At the time, Lady Randolph was pregnant in France with her son, future British prime minister Winston Churchill. It may be a tall tale, but it’s one we can all toast to.

Some historians believe that this cocktail stemmed from a drink called the Daisy, which translates to margarita in Spanish. If you’re looking for a fun story to tell at your next dinner party, though, let’s travel back to 1938 when Carlos "Danny" Herrera supposedly invented the drink. At Herrera’s restaurant, dancer Marjorie King informed him that she was allergic to virtually every alcohol except tequila. Since she wouldn’t drink tequila on its own, Herrera mixed in some Cointreau, lemon juice, and shave iced, dubbing his creation Margarita after Marjorie. By 1947, the story caught the attention of bartender Albert Hernandez, who helped get the word out about margaritas in San Diego. While there are other possible origin stories, this one is definitely the juiciest.

Of all the cocktails on this list, the origins of the Martini might be the most heavily contested. One theory claims that a bartender created the drink on the spot in Martinez and a gold-miner brought the recipe to San Francisco. Yet, some have said that the Martini was really created in San Francisco and then made its way to Martinez. Another story suggests that Jerry Thomas created the drink at the San Francisco’s Occidental Hotel. His customers were usually about to take the ferry to Martinez, laying the groundwork for the Martini. Many also assume that it derived from Martini & Rossi, an Italian alcoholic beverage company. Whichever story you like best, one thing is for sure: James Bond prefers his shaken, not stirred.