Ever notice how memorable nightlife usually involves the perfect pairings? Successful venues use both live music and DJs to create the perfect entertainment blend, dance floors are always more enjoyable with the right partner at your side, even the club interiors offer subtle mixes of bright, central rooms alongside pockets of intimate VIP lounges. This pairing theme is never more obvious up at the bar with legendary cocktail blends like a “rum and coke”, “vodka and orange juice”, and the relative new kid on the block “Absolut and Red Bull.” Pairs liter the nightlife landscape, but have you ever wondered where some of these great cocktail concoctions came from?
Let’s start with the classic – Rum and Coke, also known to millions as the Cuba Libre. As with most drinking tales, the history of this drink tends to vary, but it would appear that it first surfaced sometime around 1898. The Bacardi website (www.bacardi.com) credits its invention to an American Army Captain who while drinking it for the first time was so impressed he ordered a round for all the soldiers in the bar. The cocktail “united the crowd in a spirit of fun and good fellowship.” Upon ordering a second round, one young soldier suggested the toast “Por Cuba Libre!” in order to honor the newly freed Cuba. Hisotirans will argue some of the logistics and timing of such a story, but with most bar tales, this one proves to be the most colorful!
As popular as the Rum and Coke is in the southern circles of nightlife, another combination reigns supreme throughout the country – The classic Screwdriver also known as vodka and orange juice. The first published mention of a Screwdriver was in a Time magazine in 1949, it was refferred to as a “Yankee Concoction.” Though historians feel vodka and OJ has been drank for the better part of the 20th century, it did not take on its title of ‘Screwdriver’ until American oil workers in Iran were often seen stirring their cocktail with their utility screwdrivers that were regularly attached to their work belts.
And the newest pair to become a pop phenomenon….how about an Absolut and Red Bull. Though the exact orgin of the drink is unknown, we know it had to begin after 1987 when the Thailand originated Red Bull began hitting the marketplace. Instead of a history lesson on this one, how about a quick bit of english…well synonyms to be exact, here are some nicknames for the classic Vodka and Red Bull: Eyeopener, Dagger, RBV, Heart Attack, A Lawnchair (in KY), Pearsall (Detroit), Raging Bull, One-Armed Scissor, Gummibäärli (Switzerland), Votka Enerji (Turkey), "Křídla"(Czech – it translates to Wings), REVO, Cheap Man’s Cocaine, and even Speedball…and the most unusual way to order it lies in Northeastern PA where you step up to the bar and order a “Ric Flair.”
So there you have a look at a trio of duos that embodies great pairings in nightlife. Everyone has their cult favorite of cocktails and combinations, so feel free to share them in our Club Hour Cocktail Forum.
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