Category Archive for whiskey
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The Vacuum Cleaner and "The Suck it Up"
Around this time back in 1901, Englishman Hubert C. Booth patented the vacuum cleaner. But it took another few years (and ditching the horse-drawn cart) for the dust-busting device to take off as a consumer product, thanks to an Ohio janitor and a business baron named Hoover. Hear the story, then toast the spirit of invention with a cocktail that doesn't suck. Read more...
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Hattie Bo Baddy
This week back in 1932, an Arkansas housewife suddenly became the first elected female Senator in U.S. history...and that was the easy part. Learn all about the woman reporters called "Silent Hattie," and then toast her memory with a blend of potent southern poisons that'll leave you speechless. Read more...
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The Government Lunch
This week back in 1813, prosperous meatpacker (and army supplier) Samuel Wilson of Troy, NY became known "Uncle Sam" - a moniker that ultimately spread to cartoonish proportions and came to represent the U.S. government at large. Read more...
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Under the Desk
This week back in 1835, the fledgling newspaper The Sun started publishing a sensational series of stories about the discovery of life... on the moon. Hear about how New Yorkers bought outright lies about lunar unicorns and man-bats, then reach for this liquid tribute to reckless journalism. Read more...
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La Belle Rebelle
This week back in 1862, Isabelle Maria Boyd was captured by the Union Army for the first time. And why would the Union want to incarcerate a fun-loving teenaged debutante? Read more...
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You've Got Nail(ed)
Way back in 1994, lawyers Laurence Canter and Martha Siegel hit upon a new way to advertise their legal services: auto-send thousands of emails to chat groups. Read more...
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The Saint
This week in 1989, two respected electrochemists, Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischman, announced they'd discovered science's holy grail: A process for generating clean fusion energy at low temperatures. Read more...
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The Fightin' Words
This week in 1903, Texas' most unlikely Justice of the Peace -- Phantley Roy Bean Jr. -- died. He literally held court in his frontier saloons, so we served ourselves a summons to one of the best cocktail spots in Austin to let another bartender lay down the (liquid) law. Read more...
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The Eternal Optimist
This week in 1971, the hapless basketball counterpart to the Harlem Globetrotters - The Washington Generals - won their only game. Read more...
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Suck It Up
Around this time back in 1901, Englishman Hubert C. Booth patented the vacuum cleaner. But it took another few years (and ditching the horse-drawn cart) for the dust-busting device to take off as a consumer product, thanks to an Ohio janitor and a business baron named Hoover. Read more...
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Corrigan's Bluff
This week in 1938, aviator Douglas Corrigan took a fateful wrong turn into the history books. Inspired by Charles Lindbergh, Corrigan pledged to fly his own junker of a plane across the Atlantic. Which he did, despite the efforts of safety regulators... and with some help from what he insisted was the world's worst sense of direction. Read more...
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The Pemberton
This week back in 1985, Coca-Cola unveiled the infamous "New Coke." It's widely considered one of the biggest marketing disasters ever... and it may have saved the brand. Hear the tale, then sip a drink styled after Coke's original original formula. Read more...
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The Hattie Bo Baddy
This week back in 1932, an Arkansas housewife suddenly became the first elected female Senator in U.S. history...and that was the easy part. Read more...
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Casey's Killjoy
On June 3rd, 1888, Ernest Thayer's baseball rhyme "Casey At the Bat" was first published in the San Francisco Examiner. Popularized by vaudeville actor DeWolf Hopper, soon everyone in America was in love with the poem... except the author. Read more...
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The 52 Fizz
For much of the 20th Century, England's romantic mist was actually a not-so-romantic brew of coal smoke and fog -- the word "smog" was coined to describe it. Read more...
