MGM
There are many reasons to drink. Maybe you enjoy the taste of alcohol or maybe you just want to relax and get a little buzz after a long week of work. Although there are reasons to drink alcohol, sometimes the reasons for drinking a specific kind of alcohol or cocktail are more complicated. You’re probably more likely (or less likely) to try a beer brand because you’ve been overly saturated with commercials for it during Sunday afternoon football games.
But, would you be more likely to try a drink because you saw it in a movie or on a TV show? There’s no doubt that James Bond’s affinity for the martini made it more popular or Jeffrey Lebowski’s enjoyment of the White Russian instantly popularized the once forgotten classic.
White Russian
Working Title Films
Jeff Bridge’s famed character Jeffrey Lebowski, also known as “The Dude” in the 1998 cult hit The Big Lebowski had but one cocktail of choice. The Dude imbibed nine White Russians in the 117 minute long film. Although, while visiting Ben Gazzara’s character Jackie Treehorn, he spills one on the carpet. The White Russian consists of a mixture of vodka, kahlua and cream.
Orange Whip
Universal Pictures
In the 1980 film The Blues Brothers, Burton Mercer (played by the late, great John Candy) proclaims during an important scene, “Who wants an orange whip? Orange whip? Orange whip? Three orange whips!” It’s a very humorous scene where Mercer and a group of state troopers are attempting to arrest the aforementioned Blues brothers but decide to have a drink and enjoy the show instead. The drink, consisting of blended rum (or vodka), cream and orange juice, gained in popularity after it was mentioned in the hit John Landis comedy.
Red Eye
Touchstone Pictures
Tom Cruise has been a movie star for so long that some may forget his performance as bartender Brian Flanagan in 1988’s Cocktail. The story begins when Flanagan attempts to get a job in New York City. Lacking a college degree, his options are limited. He begins studying at a local college and gets a job bartending. This begins a self-transformation into one of the most popular flair bartenders in the city, a trip to Jamaica and the usual eighties love story (with a twist). The Red Eye cocktail, a mixture of vodka, tomato juice, beer and a raw egg, is referred to several times in the film. This take on the usual Bloody Mary is the perfect pick me up the morning after a night of drinking.
Martini
MGM
“Shaken, not stirred” is the way James Bond takes his martinis in the film adaptations of Ian Fleming’s novels. In the 1964 film Goldfinger, James Bond (played by Sean Connery) orders his martini this way. It’s been widely disputed as to whether or not that is the wrong way to order a martini and if Connery ordering it this way changed the way people think about the drink. There are two sides to argument. Some bartenders have no problem with a shaken martini, while other believe that shaking makes the drink cloudy and less appealing than its bubble free counterpart. Just order a martini and let the bartender decide whether to shake or stir it. They know what they’re doing.
Singapore Sling
Universal Pictures
During the debauchery filled, ridiculous trip to Las Vegas and the ensuing mind altering journey in the film adaptation of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Johnny Depp’s character Raoul Duke shows that he has more than just a penchant for drug use and madcap hijinks. He also has a taste for Singapore Slings. The complicated cocktails consists of gin, cherry liqueur, Cointreau, Benedictine, grenadine, lime juice, pineapple juice and angostura bitters.
Sweet Vermouth on the rocks with a twist
Columbia Pictures
In the 1993 comedy Groundhog Day, Phil Connors (played by Bill Murray) is stuck in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania repeating the same day over and over again. During the days he was trapped in the time loop, he learned every answer on jeopardy as well as the interests of all the town’s residents and fell in love with his coworker played by Andie MacDowell. Her favorite drink is a sweet vermouth, on the rocks with a twist.
Jameson Irish Whiskey and Lonestar Beer
HBO
On the first season of HBO crime series True Detective, detectives Rust Cohle (played by Matthew McConaughey) and Marty Hart (played by Woody Harrelson) are both flawed anti-heroes. The pair, Cohle specifically have obsessed about one unsolved case for almost twenty years before finally getting a break. They both have their vices with the most prominent being Irish Whiskey, namely Jameson (Hart) and Lonestar Beer (Cohle).
Suntory Japanese Whisky
Focus Features
The second important Bill Murray movie drink is Suntory Japanese Whisky. In the 2003 film Lost in Translation, Murray plays Bob Harris, a slightly depressed aging movie star. He’s visiting Tokyo to make a commercial for Suntory Whisky for a very large sum of money. He famously says, “For relaxing times, make it Suntory time,” as he mugs for the camera while doing his best imitation of Frank Sinatra (at the goading of the director). Afterwards, after being unable to sleep, he visits the hotel bar and runs into a fellow American named Charlotte (played by Scarlett Johansson) who can’t sleep either.
Old Fashioned
AMC
This classic drink never really went out of style, but its classiness found a whole new level when Mad Men’s Don Draper (played by Jon Hamm) started enjoying them. Many people even believe the reason the Old Fashioned has gained in popularity in the last decade is because the dapper Draper liked to imbibe them (sometimes in the middle of the middle of the work day). The simple combination of rye, angostura bitters and a muddled sugar cube is one of the easiest cocktails to make, especially if you want a quick pick me up after a long morning of advertising pitch meetings.
