The extreme true stories behind the world's most popular cocktails
No matter if you like them short and sweet, light and fruity, or packed with a punch, there's a cocktail for everyone's taste. They’re the perfect aperitif to turn to before a dinner or treat after a long day at work.
Cocktails are centuries-old drinks that we’ve been indulging in for years, distinctly shared by their efforts to mix different spirits, botanicals, fruit, and herbs all in one glass to savour in different ways. They even date back to the ancient Egyptians, who would mix honey and fruit into wine to enhance different tasting notes.
The name ‘cocktail’ itself has multiple origins, but was first defined in 1806 as a ‘stimulating’ concoction of sugar, water, and bitters. The godfather of bartending, or one of the first renowned bartenders to make the history books, was Jerry Thomas, who compiled cocktail recipes in his book How To Mix Drinks in 1862.
It may have involved fewer of the mini umbrellas and candied sugar garnishes that pollute our drinks today, but dropping his name into conversation is a sure way to get any mixologist’s respect that you know what you’re talking about the next time you’re at the bar.
As the weather warms up, deliciously refreshing cocktails are definitely on the menu. Read on to discover some of the most fascinating trivia behind our favourite cocktails and have plenty of interesting conversation starters for when you next have drinks with friends or family.
Margaritas were invented for flirting
Any good margarita will leave you with a headache the next day, with the perfect balance of sweet agave, salt, and citrus acting as the perfect drink to toast to a good evening.
Although the identity of the bartender who invented the drink is debated, one thing’s for certain: the margarita was made after a bartender crafted a brand-new cocktail in an attempt to swoon a beautiful woman, for her to fall in love with the drink and have it named after her instead.
An Old Fashioned is unsurprisingly quite old
It’s a classic that never feels dated, giving bitter tastes of aniseed and barley a sweetened edge. This bullet in a tumbler glass originated in the Pendennis Club in Louisville, Kentucky, before rising to fame after the recipe was brought to New York’s Waldorf-Astoria hotel in 1880.
When Jerry Thomas was talking about cocktails being built on the three key building blocks – water, sugar, and bitters – he was talking about the Old Fashioned. Or the 145-year-Old Fashioned, to be more specific.
Sushi rice is the secret ingredient to a great Negroni
Negronis are the perfect three-part, no-fuss drink: Rosso vermouth, Campari, and gin. Stir through ice and add a twist of orange peel, and you’ve crafted an elegant, punchy drink to get a party started.
But if you want to make your drink stand out, bartenders recommend adding a tablespoon of sushi rice to your cocktail to mix through and sieve out before serving.
Sushi rice adds starch to the drink that leaves your cocktail with a creamy, softer flavour. It might take the edge off for people wanting to try the cocktail for the first time, or a new favourite flavour interpretation for people who often opt for the sbagliato – which in Italian means ‘mistake’. It is a Negroni with Prosecco instead of gin.
Pretty in Pink inspired the creation of the Cosmopolitan
Donned as the drink of the 90s, trademarked by women in cocktail dresses attempting to recreate their Sex & The City fantasies, the cosmopolitan has a history that predates its new millennium buzz. It can be dated back to 1934, but one of the leading mixologists to create the drink recipe we recognise today was Cheryl Cook.
After watching the film Pretty in Pink, she shared that she wanted to add ‘just enough cranberry to make it oh so pretty in pink’, and created the perfect balance of sweetness and bitterness in a stem glass.
The name was inspired by the pink cover of Cosmopolitan magazine that was on the bar at the time – the bar where Cheryl would later serve the likes of Madonna and the costume designers of Sex & The City, who made sure to include the cocktail as the must-have accessory in the TV programme.
Mojitos may have been the product of Sir Francis Drake’s piracy
Mojitos are one of the most classic drinks you’ll find in any bar, and it’s no surprise they're so popular. The combination of fresh herbs, sugar, and a spritz of alcohol can elevate any mundane drink into an occasion worth celebrating and remembering. Unfortunately, the history of how the mojito was created is not as well remembered.
One theory is that the drink was perfected in La Bodeguita del Medio, a bar in Havana, Cuba, that became a favourite of Ernest Hemingway.
This is disputed, however, by the belief that the fiery sugar cane concoction was created to ail the illnesses of Sir Francis Drake’s enslaved crew members in the 1500s. The Cuban locals created the drink for its medicinal properties in tackling the likes of dysentery and scurvy, and it later gained the name El Draque after helping the enslaved crew through their malnutrition.
Gin and tonics glow in the dark
Yep, you did read that correctly. Quinine, a chemical found in tonic water, is actually fluorescent and absorbs ultraviolet light energy. When it’s dark, it emits light and appears to glow.
Initially, tonic water was made with the intention of combating malaria, as quinine includes a chemical that treats the condition. To make the drink palatable, gin and sweeteners were added, and the classic mixed drink was invented.
Palomas are named after a Mexican folk song
Ahh, the Paloma. The grapefruit and tequila concoction adds a not-too-sweet edge to the agave liquor that you’ll most likely finish your evening doing shots of, but in a tall glass to make it last longer.
It’s thought that the paloma derives from La Paloma, meaning ‘the dove’, a Mexican folk song dating back to 1860. By 1999, when grapefruit fizzy drinks began to hit the market, they found their calling with tequila to make a drink with the dove-toned colouring that the song sings about.
Long Island Ice Teas were made because of a lack of good bartenders
If you’ve had one boozy iced tea, you’ve most likely lived to see the hangover regrets the next day from such a powerful drink that slips down so easily. Combining rum, vodka, gin, tequila, triple sec, and a dash of cola, it’s a drink that turns any party up a notch in its ABV intensity.
But the Long Island Ice Tea came about due to a lack of quality bartenders with classical training following World War Two in America, in a time when premixed cocktails and convenience food became commercialised for every home.
The aim of the cocktail was to create something strong and easy to make, fuelling a crowd who didn’t care for fanciness in their drink, compared to a strong alcohol content. And with five spirits in one glass, are you that surprised to hear it?
A Tom Collins is the result of gossiping and pranks
It’s sweet, it’s light, it’s a more fun version of lemonade. The Tom Collins can be dated back to 1874 when a group of pranksters ran around New York gossiping and spreading rumours about different people, naming themselves Tom Collins.
The story goes that when people would be mad and try to hunt out Collins himself, they’d angrily demand that the bar staff say if they’d seen him. Rather than letting a good opportunity go to waste, bartenders created the drink to profit from people hunting out the imaginary man.
Your Sidecar is the product of Ritz embarrassment
Nowadays, if you were to buy a drink of neat spirit, nobody would bat an eye, but during World War I, it would be inadvisable. That’s exactly what one customer found out when he tried to order a neat brandy from The Ritz Hotel in Paris, where he was discouraged from drinking neat alcohol so early in the day.
It resulted in a bartender mixing brandy with curacao, lemon juice, and ice to hide him from the shame, but instead invented the sweet and tart drink we recognise today. The patron enjoyed it so much that he allegedly named it a Sidecar after a regular at the bar who always arrived on his motorcycle with his attached sidecar.
Don’t worry, if you want to try the drink as it was intended to be made, it still features in the hotel’s Bar Hemingway for an eye-watering €3,000.
Martinis used to be called a Martinez
Before James Bond could ever request a ‘shaken not stirred’ cocktail, this store cupboard staple was originally branded as a Martinez.
With the added ingredients of Rosso vermouth, orange curacao, and bitters, a Martinez was considered the modern take on a Manhattan. Or, as modern as a drink created in the late 1800s in Martinez, California, can be.
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