The 1970s did cocktails - with style, chutzpah, and aplomb, making it a culture. And that’s a term we use loosely, especially when you compare the 70s bar scene to the modern era, with its house-made bitters and speakeasy passwords and $15 craft drinks. Back in the 70s, drinking was an accompaniment to nightlife, not the lead act. We know that a number of the cocktails from this era should stay exactly where they are, however with higher quality ingredients and some clever little twists, these are becoming firm favorites once more.

Green Hornet

Attitudes towards cocktails in the 70s and 80s were the brighter, the better and that’s why the Green Hornet was embraced with open arms, or let's just say an open mouth. Whiskey, vodka, gin, and crème de menthe all poured over ice to give a minty fresh high to your evening, certainly one to drink if you want to do a little dancing.

White Russian

This rich, creamy drink made with vodka, coffee liqueur, and cream is served over ice in an old fashioned tumbler. It was all the rage in the 70s. Palates have slightly changed since then, and we now tend to opt for lighter cocktails, but you can still find a White Russian on many cocktail menus.

Aperol Spritz

You may think that the Aperol Spritz is a recent creation, but Aperol came over from Italy in the 70s, and with it, the Aperol Spritz. A 3-2-1 mix of Prosecco, Aperol, and soda water was the drink to accompany the new Italian dishes that we were also embracing.

Now the drink is more popular than ever! Giant balloon glasses filled with effervescing bright orange liquid has become synonymous with al fresco drinking on a hot summer day.

Brandy Alexander

One of the many “crème” vehicles of the 1970s. And actually, just delicious. It's sweet, but not too sweet. It's retro but really timeless. Only the hardest cases could resist the charms of this creamy, frothy delight.1+1+1 oz. brandy,crème de cacao, heavy cream, and grate a little nutmeg on top.

Harvey Wallbanger

If you've ever wondered what bars use that triangular bottle of yellow liquor for (Galliano), it's the decidedly disco-era Harvey Wallbanger. In fact, the Wallbanger is one of that decade's iconic drinks. Whether the drink was actually invented in the 1970s is a subject of much debate. Harvey Wallbanger consists of 1 ½ oz Vodka, 4 oz Fresh orange juice ½ oz Galliano. Garnish with an orange wheel and sip.

Pina Colada

A creamy tropical vacation in a glass. Maybe an archetypal 70s drink, it’s got everything: sweet juice, booze, and something rich and creamy. Literally translated as "strained pineapple," the name of this cocktail already tells you a bit about the Piña Colada’s primary ingredients: rum, coconut milk or cream, and pineapple juice. There are countless origin stories and bars who claim to have invented the cocktail - some say it was carefully created by a bartender in San Juan, and some say it was invented at a popular restaurant 2 miles away.

The Pink Squirrel

The drink was invented at Bryant's Cocktail Lounge in Milwaukee, Wisconsin The Pink Squirrel was invented as an ice cream drink and is still served as an ice cream drink there and in many parts of the upper Midwest. The Pink Squirrel is a cocktail made of 1 oz crème de Noyaux, 1 oz crème de cacao, and 1 oz heavy cream

Shake with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and serve.

Grasshopper

The Grasshopper is a sweet, mint-flavored, after-dinner drink. The name of the drink derives from its green color, which comes from crème de menthe. A bar in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, Tujague's, claims the drink was invented in 1918 by its owner, Philip Guichet.

Tequila Sunrise

Although an earlier version of the Tequila Sunrise made an appearance at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in the 1930s, the modern version was created in the 1970s at The Trident in Sausalito, California. The Rolling Stones, while on tour in 1972, helped popularize the current Tequila Sunrise recipe. Thanks to either an eye for art or someone’s forgetfulness, combining the ingredients without mixing creates a color gradient, resembling a beautiful sunrise - hence, its widely recognized name.

Tom Collins

Its roots are in 19th-century London. As legend has it, John Collins, a bartender at London’s Limmer’s Hotel, made a gin punch so popular it inspired a limerick and even made an appearance in a Victorian writer’s memoirs. When this punch was made with Old Tom gin, one version of the story goes, it was called a Tom Collins. Comprised of gin, lemon juice, sweetener, and soda water, it’s an easy-drinking cocktail, the sort modern-day enthusiasts call a “porch pounder.”

The Pink Lady

The Pink Lady is a classic gin-based cocktail with a long history. Its pink color comes from adding grenadine. The exact ingredients for the pink lady vary, but all variations have the use of gin, grenadine, and egg white in common. In its most basic form, the pink lady consists of just these three ingredients. According to the Royal Cafe Cocktail Book of 1937, it is made with a glass of gin, a tablespoon of grenadine, and the white of one egg, shaken and strained into a glass.

The Golden Cadillac

The Gold Cadillac is a cocktail made with Galliano, white crème de cacao, and cream. It is classified as an "after-dinner" drink, a digestif. This cocktail originated at Poor Red's in the town of El Dorado, California.

Sometime in 1952, a woman and her new fiancé came into Poor Red's, a small restaurant in the Gold Country of California, located in the Town of Eldorado on the Lincoln Highway. They were on their way to Lake Tahoe, Nevada to celebrate their engagement. The couple asked Frank Cline, a long-time bartender to create a cocktail in their honor. After some trial and error, Cline finally created a drink using Galliano, Creme de Cacao, half and half and blended it with ice. The couple loved it and since it had no name, Cline asked the couple what they wanted to call it. The couple decided to name it after their brand new Gold Cadillac, parked out front.

Header illustrations by Mrs. Tami Thirlwell-Nicol