# Archaic Beverages **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [July 3, 2022, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-beverages/967329 "2022-07-03T03:20:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-beverages/967329/41 "2022-07-03T19:43:31Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > Lemon vodka sounds pretty tasty A friend of mine buys dozens of lemons and collects the zest, which he adds to vodka. He gives the peeled lemons to his sister, who makes lemonade. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-beverages/967329/42 "2022-07-03T20:03:16Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > > [@RealityChuck](#): > > > > You can still get [rye whiskey] , but it’s rare. > > Depends on where you shop. The corner bodega will likely only have Old Overshoe, but any decent liquor store should carry a dozen or more ryes. They are the only way to make a proper Manhattan. Here in Middle Tennessee, where it seems like there’s a distillery on every corner, Ryes are very common. It makes me happy, it does. I had just gotten the new Good Eats book for Father’s Day. I am eyeing the Milk Punch recipe currently. ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-beverages/967329/43 "2022-07-03T20:22:16Z")
Some years ago I was at a museum that had a recreation of an old time soda fountain. They offered something called an **“angel wing”**. Sparkling water, nonalcoholic mint syrup, and the contents of one of those small containers of half-and-half that are usually offered with a cup of coffee. There might have been a spoonful of vanilla ice cream in it was well. A web search found up a drink under the same name, definitely alcoholic. So maybe I got the temperance version. ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-beverages/967329/44 "2022-07-03T20:25:27Z")
An old farm drink: witchel. (Haymaker’s Punch) > **[How To Make Traditional Switchel (Haymaker's Punch)](https://www.ruralsprout.com/switchel/)** > > Only four common ingredients are required to mix up a batch of switchel You’re probably asking yourself, “What in the world is switchel anyway?” It’s only the best drink option to beat the crazy summer ---
**Author:** ![Tarataratara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Tarataratara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarataratara)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-beverages/967329/45 "2022-07-03T21:22:07Z")
The description of it in The Long Winter has always stayed with me. [The Long Winter - Laura Ingalls Wilder - Google Books](https://books.google.com/books?id=Il_yCqjP6N0C&pg=PA10&dq=the+long+winter+ginger+water&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiO8tuM0934AhWqlmoFHWE8Bj0Q6AF6BAgCEAI#v=onepage&q=the%20long%20winter%20ginger%20water&f=false) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-beverages/967329/46 "2022-07-03T21:49:41Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > When I was a kid in the early '90s, we referred to mixing equal parts of all of the available options at a soda fountain in one cup as a “suicide”. It rarely tasted very good and was something you did primarily to impress your peers rather than because you actually enjoyed it. When I was a Scout, a suicide was the thing to order from the camp concession stand. Except we also had the variant “Atomic Suicide”, where you added an Atomic Fireball candy to the mixture. I don’t think flavor ever had anything to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-beverages/967329/47 "2022-07-03T21:54:50Z")
> [@MikeF](#): > > We did the same thing only with the liquor in our friend’s dad’s bar. The idea being he wouldn’t miss a little out of each bottle. We called it rocket fuel and mixed it with Coke or whatever else we had on hand. And here I thought that was called a Long Island Iced Tea. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-beverages/967329/48 "2022-07-03T22:13:03Z")
We had a university party where every student made drinks in quantity and you went from one room to the next getting a different drink. Some were truly foul - wine and cola, homemade screech… ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-beverages/967329/49 "2022-07-03T22:27:26Z")
Wine and cola is foul, now? I guess it depends what wine, and what cola. The “nuclear bomb” of 1 part white wine, 1 part beer, and 1 part vodka is also not bad as you would think. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-beverages/967329/50 "2022-07-03T22:30:28Z")
Maybe. But I’m guessing it wasn’t made by a nearly bankrupt student who mistakes wine for vinegar and vice versa, sees cremes de menthe as the best drink ever, and uses 2L bottles of unkarbonated K-Mart brand Kola. If you really want to cheap it out, have the decency to go the proven purple jeebus route. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-beverages/967329/51 "2022-07-03T22:35:19Z")
And contain neither eggs nor cream. Haven’t seen the whole thread, but in the meantime, ISTR that genuine sarsaparilla had a small amount of alcohol, sort of the way kombucha does. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-beverages/967329/52 "2022-07-03T22:35:53Z")
The New York Times > **[Wine and Cola? It Works (Published 2013)](https://web.archive.org/web/20201111192032/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/22/dining/wine-and-cola-it-works.html)** > > The kalimotxo is wonderfully refreshing, and doesn’t require all that fruit-chopping and waiting. says to use 3–4 ounces dry Spanish red, an equal amount of (non-corn-syrup) Coca-Cola, and a squeeze of lemon juice, in a glass filled with ice. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-beverages/967329/53 "2022-07-03T22:37:23Z")
> [@BrickBat](#): > > Interesting about the phosphate thing. I was watching a rerun episode of ‘The Andy Griffith Show’ and Barney Fife described a lunch at the local soda fountain with “a lemon phosphate” on the side. > > I was curious since I’ve never heard of such a thing. There was a restaurant/candy store in Madison, WI - the Badger Candy Kitchen - that had them. They were delicious. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-beverages/967329/54 "2022-07-03T22:38:47Z")
As a former Denny’s waitress (granted, almost 40 years ago), if someone ordered a cherry Coke, etc. we would pour a full glass of the ordered beverage, and mix in a spoonful of maraschino cherry juice from the cherries we used on the desserts. (They were also serving beer and wine at the time, which didn’t last long.) I read recently about some cocktail that people generally don’t order in bars any more being used as their “safe cocktail”, that people in the know would use to alert the bartender that something was wrong, and a customer who didn’t know about this had a hard time convincing the staff that she was not in danger and really did want that mixed drink. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-beverages/967329/55 "2022-07-03T22:44:19Z")
There’s a candy store and lunch counter in my town that has genuine Green Rivers, and I’d heard how good they were and decided to order one. To me, it tasted like carbonated green-flavored syrup, whatever that flavor was. I did finish it but I have no desire to get another one. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-beverages/967329/56 "2022-07-03T23:01:30Z")
There was an old-style ice cream chain in our area as a kid. They had phospates and sarsaparilla. I liked to have a small sarsaparilla when I went there. A little bit was great. But something about a larger amount just went south. Presumably an actor famous for playing cowboys, esp. lonesome ones, also went to the same chain and is where he picked up [drinking sarsaparilla](https://youtu.be/O7r9fIaQRtk). ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-beverages/967329/57 "2022-07-03T23:12:03Z")
You clearly haven’t been to a liquor store in a while, if you think that flavored vodkas were a sometime thing. There are dozens of flavors from several brands in every liquor store. Same thing for rum, and there are even a few flavored gins. Here’s an example: [Vodkas | Vodka Infused with Natural Flavors | Smirnoff](https://www.smirnoff.com/en-us/vodkas-and-flavors/) I think some of the mid-range drinks that I’ve _heard_ of, but never actually had or seen might qualify. My dad mentioned something called a “boilermaker” which was a beer with a shot of whiskey in it, either in sequence (slam the beer, down the shot), or mixed together. That’s one that I haven’t actually seen or heard of in the wild. Is malt liquor, specifically in 40 oz bottles (the “forty” of the 80s and 90s) still a thing? I can’t say I’ve seen forties of Olde English or St. Ides in a gas station in a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-beverages/967329/58 "2022-07-03T23:26:49Z")
So all this student needed was unsweetened red wine, lemons, ice, good glassware and Mexican Coca-Cola made with sugar, and he would have all the required ingredients to make a tasty beverage. I am guessing his standards were lower than yours. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-beverages/967329/59 "2022-07-03T23:39:56Z")
Ah - the Hotel Party. I would make pitchers of gin & tonic. ---
**Author:** ![cincinnatus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cincinnatus/32/7990_2.png) [@cincinnatus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cincinnatus)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2022, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-beverages/967329/60 "2022-07-04T00:00:48Z")
A dear neighbor and I sat in the back yard one hot summer day. My wife treated us to a pitcher of gimlets. Before long my neighbor and I had to hold onto the grass to keep from falling off of the world. Haven’t seen a gimlet in a long time. My wife made them about two weeks ago. Lime juice and vodka goes down easy and quick. I have to be very careful with gimlets. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-beverages/967329.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-beverages/967329.md?page=4)