Screwdriver recipe

It wasn't until vodka swept through mid-twentieth-century America that the Screwdriver - along with other tempting libations (Moscow Mule and Martini to name a couple), began to gain recognition with bartenders as the modern contemporary of highball. Suffice to say a premium vodka (Absolut, Stoli, Smirnoff) will often be considered essential for this drink. Pour 2 ounces of this (over a few ice cubes) into a highball glass, and fill the glass with 4 - 6 ounces of freshly squeezed orange juice. Add an orange wheel or a dash of angostura bitters to your highball for a lick of (optional) garnish.

Not surprisingly, the first Screwdriver - said to be invented as early as the 1950's - was made with little of the above altercation. American oilrig workers in the Middle East at the time (Iran, as it happens), used vodka to spice up their supply of canned orange juice. One of the men was seen taking a screwdriver to stir his drink thus giving rise to the name. By this time though, the mere combination of vodka and orange had already surfaced in America. The Hal Ligon, dubbed the "original screwdriver", was created in Key West during the 1930's, where famous author Ernest Hemingway (creator of the Montgomery) and fishing buddy Hal Ligon began ordering it at local bars. Their mixture of vodka, orange, and 7-Up - akin to the Screw-Up - is thought to have evolved into today's Screwdriver after migrating north into mainland Florida. Accordingly, you can still order a Hal Ligon today in many of South Florida's bars.

You may favor a Slow Screw (Sloe Gin), Creamsicle Screwdriver (Vanilla Vodka), or Southern Screw (with Southern Comfort) over the original. This, or a habit of using rum or adding apple juice to the mix however, could well demonstrate your craving for something different altogether. Those conversant of such delights as a Cosmopolitan or Mai Tai, for example, are likely to opt for a more dignified complexity to their drink, be they in the enthusiastic minority or simply of good taste.