By Donna Reuss
Alexandria, VA – With fall underway and the holiday season rapidly approaching, I thought I’d write about something often associated with good times and festive celebrations: cocktails!
You may be wondering what cocktails have to do with the military. Well, I wondered the same thing when a friend suggested the topic!
Great wars often have influenced what people drink around the world. A number of classic cocktails have their roots in wartime or military history. Others were explicitly created to honor the armed forces or military leaders.
For example, the legendary gin and tonic appeared in the mid-nineteenth-century British colonial wars in India. British soldiers added gin, sugar, and lime to the tonic water taken to prevent malaria and cut the quinine’s bitter taste.
While not strictly a military drink, the French 75 is perhaps the most famous cocktail to get its name from war. It was named for the 75-millimeter light field gun, the French Army’s primary artillery weapon during World War I. Who invented it and why it was named after the cannon is unknown. The recipe, a mix of gin, lemon, sugar, and sparkling wine, purportedly first appeared in 1927 and was made famous in The Savoy Cocktail Book by Harry Craddock in 1930. Among sparkling cocktails, French 75 is still one of the most popular worldwide.
The Cuba Libre, meaning “Free Cuba,” has its roots in the Spanish-American War. Its creation is also debated. One story, tracing it to the early 1900s in Havana, attributes the drink to an American army captain living in Havana after the war. One day at a local bar, the captain ordered Coca-Cola and a little lime juice added to his Bacardí rum and, toasting his Cuban comrades, cried, “Por Cuba Libre!” (“To a free Cuba!”), the slogan of the Cuban independence movement.
Another states that the Cuba Libre was invented at the Tampa Bay Hotel. The bartender there ostensibly came up with the same recipe as above and served it to Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders while they awaited transport to Cuba. Lifting their glasses, the soldiers toasted, “Cuba Libre!”
The specific history of the Sidecar is unclear as well, but it is thought to have been invented around the end of World War I in either London or Paris. The most famous origin story places it in 1920s Paris, when a US Army captain (again, an Army captain?!) who rode or was chauffeured on a motorcycle with a sidecar supposedly invented it. Another story says it was invented in New Orleans in the 19th or early 20th century, evolving from a New Orleans cocktail called the Brandy Crusta.
Gunfire, a less popular drink, was served to lower-ranking members of the British army in the 1890s. A shot of rum in black tea, the mixed drink typically was served at breakfast to pump up the courage before a morning attack. When deployed over the holiday, officers would serve it to their troops in bed at Reveille on Christmas Day. Some United Kingdom troops still consume Gunfire on special occasions.
Thanks to Germany’s nonstop U-boat attacks during World War II, the Scotch Martini was allegedly invented in the United Kingdom because it was hard to import vermouth from the continent.
In the interwar period, ‘tiki’ cocktails became popular in the US. One reason was the European food crisis caused by World War II. There was not enough grain for alcohol, but cheap rum from Caribbean sugar cane was available in sufficient quantities. One of the most popular tiki cocktails was the Mai Tai. Victor Bergeron claimed to have invented it for his friends from Tahiti at his restaurant, Trader Vic’s, in 1944. The name allegedly derives from the Tahitian maita’i, meaning “good” or “excellence.” For the next several decades, the cocktail was one of the most popular in the world.
Some of our most famous military men had a favorite drink or an interesting story about their favorite cocktails.
United States Army General George S. Patton called the cocktail he created Armored Diesel. The recipe calls for bourbon, shaved ice, sugar, and lemon juice.
While Douglas MacArthur, another famous US Army general, enjoyed sipping Scotch whiskey, the MacArthur cocktail was created in his honor by barman Oscar Haimo at the Pierre Hotel in New York. The drink contained white rum, a little dark rum, Cointreau, fresh lime juice, and a little egg white to give it a silky texture.
Other famous military men with a favorite drink were John F. Kennedy, who enjoyed daiquiris and martinis, and Dwight D. Eisenhower, who liked a good Scotch and soda.
Finally, there are dozens of cocktail and mixed drink recipes with military-related names, such as the B-52, Patriot Missile, and M16, available online.
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Note: If you or someone you know is abusing alcohol, I urge you to seek help. Drink responsibly, and don’t drink and drive!
If you are a veteran, veteran’s family member, or know a veteran who needs help, go to Virginia Board Veterans Services at www.dvs.virginia.gov/dvs; dss.virginia.gov/community/211.cgi; contact American Legion Post 24 Veteran Service Officer at [email protected]; or check out the Resources List on the Post 24 website: valegionpost24.com. For crisis intervention and suicide prevention services, dial 988 and Press 1, or text 838255, for the Veterans Crisis Line.
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