Screwdriver (cocktail)

This drink is designated as an
IBA Official Cocktail

Screwdriver

Type:

Cocktail

Primary alcohol by volume:

Vodka

Served:

"On the rocks"; poured over ice

Standard garnish:

orange slice

Standard drinkware:

Highball glass

IBA specified ingredients^†:

5 cl (1 part) vodka
10 cl (2 parts) orange juice
pinch salt

Preparation:

Mix in a highball glass with ice. Garnish and serve.

^†Screwdriver recipe at International Bartenders Association

History

The earliest written reference to the Screwdriver is from the October 24, 1949 issue of Time:

"In the dimly lighted bar of the sleek Park Hotel, Turkish intelligence agents mingle with American engineers and Balkan refugees, drinking the latest Yankee concoction of vodka and orange juice, called a 'screwdriver.'"

Dominic Joseph Palermo dubbed the name screwdriver around 1948 at his bar, The Airliner, on North Broadway in Los Angeles, CA (Lincoln Heights).^{citation needed}

Naming

The Screwdriver became popular in North America in the early 1950s, when orange juice was available nationally for the first time as a frozen concentrate. Sometimes a dash of Angostura bitters was added to early versions. The name of the drink, Screwdriver, is a wordplay. In bar lingo, the two main ingredients are called screw (orange juice) and driver (vodka).^{citation needed}

Variations

Replacing the flat orange juice with a carbonated orange drink produces a cocktail known as a Hi-Fi.

A Screwdriver in which Tang is substituted for the orange juice is known as a "fuzzy cosmonaut".

To make the beverage more palatable a sweet liquor is often added such as Amaretto. This is often referred to as a Samerreto.

Another variation occurs when the ratio of the components is switched. When mixed as 1 part orange juice and two parts vodka, it is referred to as a Drivescrewer.

To go along with the Drivescrewer there is also the DrewScriver which is 1 part orange juice and 1 part vodka.

The well known Harvey Wallbanger cocktail is a Screwdriver with a splash of Galliano floated on top.

In some cases, sloe gin is added as part of the drink. It is referred to as a "sloe screw," or if in a tall glass, a "long sloe screw", used as a pun on sexual intercourse. Adding Southern Comfort to this creates a "sloe comfortable screw", and Galliano (as in the Wallbanger) a "sloe screw against the wall".

A screwdriver in which the orange juice is replaced with blue Gatorade is a "sonic screwdriver", after the blue-lit device from Doctor Who. Another popular term for any Vodka/Gatorade cocktail is "Vaderade".

Another variation of the Sonic Screwdriver was recently created at the Rose & Crown Pub at Epcot in the Walt Disney World Resort. It is a standard screwdriver (vodka and orange juice) mixed with Blue Curacao.