The 1950s to the 1990s are often dubbed as the cocktail's Dark Ages where drinks like Long Island Iced Teas and Midori Sours reined supreme. The drinks from this time are often reviled or ridiculed, but they made important contributions to cocktail history, too. In this episode: How TGI Fridays, Madonna, and the Cosmopolitan helped define this era of the American cocktail.

Further Reading:

A Proper Drink by Robert Simonson

"1970s Ockctails & Disco Drinks" Difford's Guide

"History of the Nightclub" American Nightlife Association

"How TGI Fridays Has Influenced Modern Craft Cocktail Culture" in The Thrillist by Kevin Alexander

Spirits, Sugar, Water, Bitters by Derek Brown with Robert Yule

Straight Up or on the Rocks: The story of the American cocktail by William Grimes

"TGI Fridays Was Once The Hottest Bar In America—What Happened?" in Delish by Hannah Selinger

"The Legacy of Joe Baum" in Edible Manhattan by Nancy Matsumoto

The Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails (Edited by David Wondrich & Noah Rothbaum)

"The Soviet Union Paid Pepsi With Vodka and Warships in Decades-Long Barter" in Vinepair by Ashlie Hughes (Illustrated by Gerry Selian)

"This is the Story of the Rainbow Room" in Punch by Joshua David Stein

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Was Prohibition really the Gilded Age utopia that it's made out to be? In this episode: Cocktail innovation happening in unlikely places under unlikely circumstances. We feature the Bees Knees and the Bloody Mary.

Further Reading:

A Spiritous Journey by Jared Brown and Anistatia Miller

"A Study of the Great Immoralities: Saloons in Chicago Before WWI" Ohio State University

"Bootleggers and Bathtub Gin" The Mob Museum

Lost Recipes of Prohibition: Notes From a Bootlegger's Manual by Matthew Rowley

Prohibition's Greatest Myths: The Distilled Truth About America's Anti-Alcohol Crusade, Edited by Michael Lewis & Richard F. Hamm

Smashing the Liquor Machine: A Global History of Prohibition by Mark Lawrence Schrad

"The Dangers of Common Ownership in an Uncommon Industry" by Jessica Starns Attorney At Law, LLC

"The FBI and the American Gangster, 1924-1938" The Federal Bureau of Investigation

"The Man in the Green Hat" The United States Senate

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How did the Industrial Revolution, immigration--and maybe Winston Churchill's mother--give rise to the Golden Age of cocktails in America? We explore the story of the Martini, the Manhattan, and the Daiquiri.

Make yourself a cool Gin Martini with our customizable recipe.

Further Reading:

A Spirituous Journey: A History of Drink by Jared Brown and Anistatia Miller

Difford's Guide for Discerning Drinkers

Imbibe! by David Wondrich

Rise of Industrial America, 1876 to 1900, Library of Congress

SANTA CLARA UNIVERSITY DIGITAL EXHIBITS

Spirits, Sugar, Water,Bitters: How the Cocktail Conquered the World by Derek Brown with Robert Yule

"The First American Hotels," JSTOR by Livia Gershon

The Manhattan: The Story of the First Modern Cocktail with Recipes by Philip Greene

The New Craft of the Cocktail by Dale DeGroff

The Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails edited by David Wondrich & Noah Rothbaum

"This influential Cuban bartender wants to preserve the elegant tradition of the island’s cantineros" Washington Post by M. Carrie Allan

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.