Let’s crack open one of my favorite cookbooks from my collection, Benson & Hedges 100’s Presents Drink Recipes from 100 of the Greatest Bars (1979). Don’t you love the cover? My little eye spies a Martini, a Daquiri, and a Long Island Iced Tea. Since I decided to feature this book on Facebook and InstagramContinue reading Benson & Hedges 100’s Presents Drink Recipes from 100 of the Greatest Bars: Traffic Light (1979)
It’s Smirnoff Southpaw Season! If America has a beverage to call its own, it must be cola. In fact, we took good old cola so for granted that in our search for interesting things to mix with Smirnoff, we overlooked it until now.So it was with a sense of correcting this oversight that we mixedContinue reading Smirnoff Southpaw (1975)
Happy National Tequila Day! In 1974, Montezuma Tequila released a series of magazine advertisements based around the Aztec calendar, which they called The Ancient Tequila Arts of Montezuma. This ancient calendar, called the Sun Stone, has an inner ring of twenty symbols, one for each day of the Aztec week. These symbols also suggests whatContinue reading National Tequila Day: The Ancient Tequila Arts of Montezuma (1974)
It’s National Daiquiri Day! Here’s an advertisement for the Smirnoff Daiquiri, which they call a “modest invention.” We were caught recently with an unexpected hankering for something different. Thumbed through a recipe book and decided on the daiquiri. The recipe called for a liquor we never use. So we improvised, and discovered the Smirnoff Daiquiri.Continue reading Smirnoff Daquiri (1973)
In the words of Mrs. Kasha Davis: THERE’S ALWAYS TIME FOR A COCKTAIL! So here we have another cocktail courtesy of whoever did the advertising for Smirnoff in the 1970s. Here’s the original text for The Sunstroke: The Sunstroke (Sometimes less is more) For a long time we clung to the notion that longer daysContinue reading Smirnoff Sunstroke (1974)
It’s another Smirnoff ad! Here’s the original ad: Original text: The Grapeshot (a drink to things past). Remember how you used to race the neighbor kid home from school–and you’d get so thirsty you could drink the whole Mississippi? Then Mom would give you grape juice that left you with a nice purple mustache. WeContinue reading Smirnoff Grapeshot (1973)
Here we go again! The Madras (how to do what we couldn’t) People who mean well are always advising us to mix Smirnoff with something it ought to mix with but doesn’t. We’ve got a whole list of promising possibilities that always turn out yukky. Cranberry juice used to be in the number one spot.Continue reading Smirnoff Madras (1974)
More winter fun from the folks over at Smirnoff! After a long day on the slopes, Alec likes to retire to his chalet with a snow bunny. There’s nothing like an apres-ski Smirnoff Horseshot. The Horseshot has a pleasantly rambunctious edge to it–just like Patty, who suggested they go back to his place and wrestle.Continue reading Smirnoff Horseshot (1976)
I can’t stop writing these. Version one appeared in Playboy with the following copy: We wondered recently how come we’d mixed Smirnoff with so many fancy juices but studiously avoided plain old gingerale. Maybe because our parents had mixed gingerale with everything, we were rebelling. Anyway, we did it. We mixed Smirnoff and gingerale, added aContinue reading Smirnoff Copperhead (1974)
Another Smirnoff cocktail–the Bloodhound! And another block of boring and confusing copy. What’s red, has Smirnoff in it and is served in a tall glass? Think you know? Suppose we add it’s easy to make and it has a nut-like taste instead of a spicy one? Still confident? Well, even we were fooled whenContinue reading Smirnoff Bloodhound (1974)
I was always curious to try a Bloody Caesar, but I don’t believe I’ve ever seen it available in a restaurant. Plus, I have found (in my very scientific research–which includes me talking to about 8 folks) that Clamato, the key ingredient to a Bloody Caesar, scares people. I mean, the idea of clam juiceContinue reading The Best Bloody Caesar
I am living for the Smirnoff Vodka magazine ads from the 1970s. Today’s drink is The Smokey Mary. We never dreamed when we first launched the Smirnoff Bloody Mary it would become a global classic. That doesn’t mean, however, that most folks know how to make a really good one, or even care to bother.Continue reading The Smirnoff Smokey Mary (1977)
We’ve come to the end of the Summer of Franks! And let me tell you, it couldn’t come soon enough. Bring on fall! And bring on dishes that don’t include cylindrical-shaped foods! For the very last Wiener Wednesday, I turned to Click Americana and One-Dish Frankfurter Meals. I was feeling a little spicy, so IContinue reading Wiener Wednesday: Mexican Franks & Eggs (1965) and Montezuma Bloody Maria (1974)
America’s Sweetheart, Betty White has been known to say that the secret to long life is vodka and hot dogs. If that is true, then I will live to be over a hundred. With Betty in mind, this week’s Wiener Wednesday features weenies and vodka: Yes, I am fully aware that the recipe only featuresContinue reading Wiener Wednesday: The Charlie Burch (1975)
In my last post (Wiener Wendnesday Pine Valley Red Hots), I mentioned that there was a recipe for a Pine Valley Cocktail in my Pap Pap’s 1958 copy of Here’s How! By Stouffer’s cocktail booklet. I love this book. It insists on absolute exactness in measurement, the selection of Grenadine to achieve properly colored drinks,Continue reading Pine Valley Cocktail (1958)
Why am I calling this The April 1981 Bloody Mary? Because it came from this calendar, which I got in a grab bag of cookbooks and pamphlets. I know nothing about it–I can’t find any sort of publishing mark on it and it’s missing its cover. Initially I thought it was a promotion for aContinue reading The April 1981 Bloody Mary
Happy Fat Tuesday! Since no one is going out to a parade or party today, I thought I’d bring a little bit of Mardi Gras home with the Cyclone Cocktail and Hurricane Punch from Pat O’Brien’s in New Orleans. The recipes are from one of my favorite cookbooks, Benson & Hedges 100’s Presents Drink Recipes fromContinue reading Pat O’Brien’s Cyclone and Hurricane Punch (1979)
Happy Groundhog Day! Phil has predicted that there is more winter yet to come!. At the moment it definitely looks like 6 more weeks of winter here–I don’t know how much snow has fallen, but school was closed yesterday and I have a delay today. However, it is forecasted to go up into the 50sContinue reading Groundhog Day Bloody Mary (1971)
