176 Fun Facts About Beverage

In which city did pharmacist John Pemberton first sell his new temperance soda in 1886?

The first glasses were poured at Jacob's Pharmacy for five cents each, after Atlanta and Fulton County went dry.

In what year did Coca-Cola replace its formula with the short-lived 'New Coke'?

New Coke launched on 23 April 1985; taste tests favoured it, but public protest brought the old recipe back as Coca-Cola Classic that July, 79 days later.

Which company put a red-suited Santa in its ginger ale ads in 1923, before Coca-Cola?

White Rock had already used Santa to sell mineral water in 1915, so the myth that Coca-Cola invented the red-and-white Santa is exactly that.

Under what name was Pepsi first sold in 1893 at a North Carolina drugstore?

Caleb Bradham sold it as Brad's Drink at his New Bern pharmacy from 1893 and renamed it Pepsi-Cola in 1898; the company went bankrupt in 1923 before Charles Guth revived it.

Pepsi got its 1898 name from a supposed benefit for which bodily function?

Bradham claimed the drink aided digestion: the name nods to pepsin, a digestive enzyme, and early adverts promised relief from dyspepsia, headaches and drowsiness.

Charles Alderton created Dr Pepper at a drugstore soda fountain in which Texas city?

Regulars simply ordered 'a Waco'. The name Dr Pepper was in commercial use by 1885, a year before Coca-Cola.

A rumour circulating since the 1930s claims Dr Pepper secretly contains which ingredient?

The prune juice rumour has dogged Dr Pepper for decades; the company's official FAQ flatly denies it, and one theory blames a rival's delivery driver for starting the story.

Which ingredient in 7 Up's original 1929 formula was removed in 1948?

7 Up launched in 1929 as 'Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda'; its lithium citrate, a mood stabiliser, stayed in the formula until it was removed in 1948.

Fanta was created in 1940 in which country, after a trade embargo cut off supplies of Coca-Cola syrup?

Max Keith of Coca-Cola Deutschland created Fanta in Germany in 1940 from whey, apple pomace and beet sugar; the name came from 'Fantasie' after staff were told to use their imagination.

Before it was a soda, 'mountain dew' was 19th-century slang for which drink?

'Mountain dew' meant moonshine whiskey; the Hartman brothers of Knoxville, Tennessee, first sold the soda in the 1940s as a whiskey mixer, with a hillbilly label showing a barefoot mountaineer and a rifle.

Root beer's traditional flavour comes from the root bark of which tree?

Sassafras root bark gave root beer its classic flavour until the FDA banned its safrole oil in 1960; Charles Hires chose the name 'root beer' over 'root tea' to appeal to Pennsylvania coal miners.

Sprite was introduced in the United States in 1961 as a direct competitor to which drink?

Coca-Cola launched Sprite in 1961 to take on 7 Up, then the dominant lemon-lime soda; it began life in West Germany in 1959 as Fanta Klare Zitrone, 'Fanta Clear Lemon'.

The word 'cola' comes from a caffeine-bearing nut of which plant?

Modern colas usually get their caffeine elsewhere, but a kola-based stimulating soda was on sale by about 1880.

Which country is home to the bright orange soft drink Irn-Bru?

Irn-Bru has been made in Scotland by A.G. Barr since 1901; its 'made from girders' slogan nods to the rusty colour and the 0.002% ammonium ferric citrate on the label.

The first ginger ale was manufactured in the 1850s by an apothecary in which city?

Thomas Cantrell, a Belfast apothecary, made the first dark 'golden style' ginger ale around 1851; the pale 'dry' style came later from Canadian John McLaughlin.

Where is Kaldi, the goatherd credited in legend with discovering coffee, usually said to have lived?

Legend places Kaldi in Ethiopia, where his goats grew lively after eating coffee cherries; the story first appears in 1671 with the goatherd unnamed, so Kaldi is probably a later invention.

The earliest credible reports of people drinking coffee, in the mid-15th century, come from Sufis in which region?

Until the end of the 17th century most of the world's coffee was still shipped out of Yemen.

Which country grew about 31% of the world's coffee beans in 2023, more than any other?

Brazil, where coffee arrived in 1727 and boomed after independence in 1822, produced roughly 31% of the world's coffee in 2023, with Vietnam a distant second.

Luigi Bezzera filed his 1901 espresso machine patent in which Italian city?

Milan engineer Luigi Bezzera patented his steam-driven espresso machine in 1901; Desiderio Pavoni bought the patent in 1903 and began building La Pavoni machines in Milan in 1905.

Starbucks takes its name from the chief mate in which novel?

Starbuck is the first mate of the Pequod in Moby-Dick; co-founder Gordon Bowker admitted the novel had little to do with the business, as partner Terry Heckler just thought words beginning with 'st' sounded powerful.

Starbucks opened its first store in 1971 in which city?

The first Starbucks opened in Seattle in 1971 at 2000 Western Avenue, moving to Pike Place Market a few years later; for its first decade it sold only beans and equipment, inspired by roaster Alfred Peet.

Black, green, oolong and white tea all come from the leaves of which single plant species?

Camellia sinensis, an evergreen shrub, is the single species behind all true teas; it originated around southwestern China and northern Myanmar, and processing alone separates black, green, oolong and white.

After plain water, which is the most widely consumed beverage in the world?

Tea is the world's most-drunk beverage after water; China alone grows roughly 45% of the world's tea, with India a distant second.

Which country topped per-capita tea consumption in the 2010s, ahead of Ireland?

Turkey topped per-capita tea consumption throughout the 2010s at roughly 3 kg a person a year, ahead of Ireland, where it is brewed strong and usually taken with milk.

Roughly how many chests of tea did the Sons of Liberty throw into Boston Harbor on 16 December 1773?

The 342 chests, holding about 46 tons of tea, took roughly three hours to dump; days later Philadelphia patriots forced the tea ship Polly to sail home unloaded.

Some of the men who dumped the tea in Boston Harbor dressed up as which people?

Some participants dressed as Mohawk warriors; hiding their faces was a legal necessity, but the Native costume was a deliberate symbol of American identity rather than a mere disguise.

Masala chai is made by simmering black tea and spices in water and which other liquid?

Masala chai simmers black tea with milk, water, sugar and spices such as cardamom, ginger and cinnamon; street vendors known as chai wallahs sell it across India.

Matcha's vivid green colour and strong umami flavour come from which step in growing the leaves?

The powder is whisked into hot water rather than steeped, so you drink the whole leaf.

Bubble tea, with its chewy tapioca pearls, originated in the 1980s where, before spreading with the East Asian diaspora?

Taiwan invented bubble tea in the 1980s; the oldest version mixed hot black tea, tapioca pearls, condensed milk and syrup or honey.

Which country is the world's largest producer of milk?

India has been the world's largest milk producer since 1998, turning out roughly a quarter of global output, about half of it from buffalo rather than cattle.

Louis Pasteur developed pasteurisation in 1863 to fix a spoilage problem with which product?

He worked it out on holiday in Arbois and found that heating young wine to just 50-60 °C killed the microbes without ruining it.

Frozen orange juice concentrate was developed after soldiers rejected a vitamin C powder found in what?

The Florida Department of Citrus and government scientists finished the job three years after the war ended.

Red Bull was derived from which Thai energy drink?

Dietrich Mateschitz tried Krating Daeng on a 1982 business trip to Thailand, found it cured his jet lag, and partnered with its creator Chaleo Yoovidhya to carbonate the recipe for Western tastes.

The Thai name of the drink that inspired Red Bull translates as 'red' what?

The gaur is a wild bovine; the drink was popular with Thai truck drivers and labourers before it went global.

Red Bull was launched on 1 April 1987 in which country?

Mateschitz launched Red Bull in his native Austria on 1 April 1987, after he and Chaleo Yoovidhya each put in US$500,000 to found the company.

Which company created Monster Energy in 2002?

Hansen Natural launched Monster Energy in April 2002 and renamed itself Monster Beverage Corporation in 2012; by 2022 it held about 30% of the US energy drink market, behind only Red Bull.

Lipovitan D, the 1962 tonic often called the first modern energy drink, came from which country?

Taisho Pharmaceutical sold it in minibar-sized bottles to truck drivers and factory workers on long shifts.

Gatorade was developed in 1965 by a team of researchers led by Robert Cade at which southern university?

University of Florida researchers led by Robert Cade made it at the request of football coach Ray Graves; the first batch was water, sodium, sugar, potassium, phosphate and lemon juice.

Joseph Priestley discovered carbonated water in 1767 at a brewery in which English city?

Priestley lived next door to a brewery in Leeds and in 1767 suspended water over its fermenting vats to infuse it with gas; Schweppe commercialised the method in 1783.

Johann Jacob Schweppe founded the Schweppes company in 1783 in which city?

Schweppe, a German-born watchmaker, founded his company in Geneva in 1783 to bottle carbonated mineral water using Priestley's method, moving the business to London in 1792.

Perrier recalled about 160 million bottles in 1990 after a US laboratory found traces of which substance?

Benzene turned up in a North Carolina laboratory's tests in 1990; Perrier blamed a worker's failure to change a carbon filter and insisted the spring at Vergèze itself was unpolluted.

Which multinational owns Evian mineral water?

Danone, the French multinational, owns Evian; the name also covers a skin-care line and a luxury resort at Évian-les-Bains on Lake Geneva.

Caffeine was first isolated in 1819 by which German chemist, who called it 'Kaffebase'?

Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge isolated caffeine in 1819 after Goethe handed him a box of coffee beans to analyse; he named the compound 'Kaffebase'.

What daily caffeine limit does the European Food Safety Authority consider safe for adults?

EFSA's 2015 opinion set 400 mg a day as safe for healthy adults, with 200 mg a day for pregnant women; a single 6-ounce cup of coffee can carry 50 to 175 mg.

Among which people was drinking chocolate a mark of high status, and a bad omen for a commoner?

Among the Aztecs cacao was a drink of nobles, warriors and merchants, and a commoner drinking it was said to be a bad omen; the Maya let every class drink it, cold and frothed.

What does SCOBY, the culture used to ferment kombucha, stand for?

SCOBY stands for 'symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast', the rubbery cellulose mat that ferments sweet tea; home brewers call it a 'mother' or 'mushroom', though it is neither.

Kombucha is believed to have originated in which country?

Kombucha is usually traced to Manchuria in northeast China around 220 BC; its English name was borrowed from the Japanese 'kombucha', a kelp tea that is an entirely unrelated drink.

The oldest evidence of beer, 13,000-year-old residues in Raqefet Cave, was found in which modern country?

Raqefet Cave on Israel's Mount Carmel yielded 13,000-year-old residues showing the semi-nomadic Natufians brewed a gruel-like beer for ritual feasts; clear chemical evidence of barley beer comes later from Godin Tepe in Iran.

The pale lager first brewed in Plzeň in 1842 came from which present-day country?

Plzeň lies in Bohemia, now the Czech Republic; its soft water suits the pale lager Josef Groll first brewed there in 1842, much as Dublin's hard water suits stout.

In 1759 Arthur Guinness signed a lease on the St. James's Gate brewery in Dublin for how many years?

Guinness took a 9,000-year lease at £45 a year in 1759; the brewery only switched to nitrogen for its creamy head two centuries later, in 1959.

The earliest known traces of wine, from around 6000 BCE, were found in which country?

Residues on pottery at Gadachrili Gora and Shulaveris Gora, south of Tbilisi in Georgia, date to about 6000 BCE; the oldest known winery, at Areni-1, is in neighbouring Armenia, about 4100 BCE.

What is the oldest recorded sparkling wine, made by Benedictine monks in 1531?

Blanquette de Limoux was first recorded in 1531 at the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Hilaire near Carcassonne, where monks bottled the wine before its first fermentation had finished, trapping the bubbles.

Dom Pérignon's superiors at Hautvillers originally ordered him to do what with the bubbles in their wine?

Bubbles were a fault that burst bottles in the cellar, so Pérignon was told to get rid of them; the wire muselet that holds a cork in place was not invented until 1844.

Sake is brewed from which grain, polished to remove the bran?

Despite the 'rice wine' label it is made more like beer, with starch converted to sugar before fermentation.

Tequila is distilled from which plant?

Tequila must be made from blue Weber agave, grown mainly around the town of Tequila and in the Jalisco highlands, where red volcanic soil suits the plant.

British colonial officers in India drank quinine, the bitter key ingredient of tonic water, to ward off which disease?

Malaria was the threat, and quinine was so bitter that officers cut it with gin, lime and sugar, giving the world the gin and tonic.

Rum originated in the 17th century in which region?

Rum was first made in the Caribbean in the 17th century, most likely by enslaved people on Barbados sugar plantations, from the molasses left over after refining.

Mead is defined by getting most of its fermentable sugar from what?

Mead ferments honey with water; it may be the most ancient alcoholic drink of all, and a light, low-alcohol version is called hydromel.

In the IBA's official margarita recipe, with its 10:4:3 ratio, what is the second-largest ingredient after tequila?

Triple sec is the 4 in the 10:4:3 standard of tequila, triple sec and fresh lime juice; the drink is served in a stepped margarita glass, often rimmed with salt or Tajín.

Which city is regarded as the birthplace of the mojito?

The mojito is a Havana drink; Hemingway is said to have scrawled 'My Mojito in La Bodeguita, My Daiquiri in El Floridita' on the wall of Havana's La Bodeguita del Medio.

A dry martini garnished with cocktail onions instead of olives is called what?

A Gibson is a dry martini garnished with a cocktail onion, named after a patron, possibly illustrator Charles Dana Gibson; the Vesper, by contrast, mixes gin, vodka and Kina Lillet.

The martini may have evolved from the Martinez, served in the 1860s at the Occidental Hotel in which city?

Legend credits Jerry Thomas at San Francisco's Occidental Hotel with the Martinez, made for drinkers catching the evening ferry to the town of Martinez across the bay.

A Bloody Mary made with gin instead of vodka is known as what?

The gin version is a Red Snapper, the name New York's St. Regis Hotel gave Fernand Petiot's tomato-and-spirit drink in the 1930s when 'Bloody Mary' was judged too vulgar.

Yerba mate is a species of which plant genus?

Yerba mate is Ilex paraguariensis, a species of holly; its leaves are shared from a gourd through a metal straw called a bombilla, and brewed cold it becomes tereré.

In Valencia, horchata is traditionally made from which ingredient?

Horchata de chufa, Valencia's version, is made from tiger nuts, the tubers of a sedge grown around Alboraya; the Mexican version swaps in rice, cinnamon and sugar.

Lassi, the yogurt drink, originated in which region of South Asia?

Lassi is traditionally a Punjabi drink, blended from yogurt often made with water buffalo milk and served in a clay cup called a kulhar.

Kvass, the mildly alcoholic drink of Eastern Europe, is traditionally fermented from what?

Kvass is traditionally made from stale rye bread steeped in water and fermented with yeast for around 12 hours; the result usually stays under 1% alcohol.

Ayran, the yogurt drink of Turkey and the Balkans, is made from yogurt, water and what?

Ayran is yogurt thinned with cold water and seasoned with salt; some versions add mint, and a few are even carbonated.

Eggnog may have developed from which medieval drink of hot milk curdled with wine or ale?

Posset, a medieval British drink of hot milk curdled with wine or ale, is the likely ancestor of eggnog; in the United States eggnog is drunk almost exclusively from Thanksgiving to the end of the Christmas season.

The first written mention of Scotch whisky appears in Scotland's Exchequer Rolls of which year?

The Exchequer Rolls of 1494 record malt sent 'to Friar John Cor, by order of the king, to make aquavitae', the first written mention of Scotch whisky.

Which berry gives gin its defining flavour?

Juniper berries define gin; the name derives from 'genever', the Dutch word for juniper, and EU rules require gin's predominant flavour to be juniper.

Gin became widespread in England after which 1688 event brought William of Orange to the throne?

The Glorious Revolution of 1688 put the Dutch William of Orange on the English throne; restrictions on French brandy that followed helped his homeland's spirit, genever, take hold in England.

What minimum alcohol content has the European Union set for vodka?

EU spirit-drink rules set vodka's minimum at 37.5% ABV, while the United States requires 40%; the 40% standard dates from Russia's 1894 state monopoly regulations.

Along with Chardonnay and Pinot noir, which grape is used to make almost all champagne?

Meunier (Pinot Meunier) joins Chardonnay and Pinot noir as champagne's three main grapes; small amounts of Pinot blanc, Pinot gris, Arbane and Petit Meslier are also permitted.

Port wine is produced in which valley of northern Portugal?

Port comes from the Douro Valley, demarcated as a wine region in 1756; fermentation is interrupted early by adding a neutral grape spirit, which leaves the wine sweet and strong.

Sherry is made primarily from which white grape?

Dry sherries such as fino and oloroso are made from Palomino grapes grown on the chalky albariza soils around Jerez; sweet sherries use Pedro Ximénez or Moscatel.

Modern vermouth was first produced in the 18th century in which Italian city?

Antonio Benedetto Carpano produced the first modern vermouth in Turin in 1786, and the city's fashionable cafés served it as an apéritif around the clock.

Milkshakes gained widespread popularity after the introduction of which appliance?

Electric blenders made milkshakes a soda-fountain staple: Steven Poplawski's 1922 drink mixer let counters whip ice cream into milk quickly, and Walgreens popularised the malted milkshake the same year.

Cacao was first domesticated at least 5,300 years ago in what is now which country?

Residues at Santa Ana-La Florida in Ecuador show the Mayo-Chinchipe culture using cacao about 5,300 years ago; the Maya drank it by 2,500 to 3,000 years ago.

An 1852 Michigan Farmer recipe for which drink called for Epsom salts, egg and milk?

E. M. Sheldon's 1852 cream soda recipe in Michigan Farmer mixed water, cream of tartar, Epsom salts, sugar, egg and milk, to be taken with bicarbonate of soda as a temperance drink.

The 'Dry' in Canada Dry's name refers to what?

John J. McLaughlin's ginger ale was far less sweet than rivals when he founded the brand in Toronto in 1904.

Sales of Tang were poor until NASA used it on whose Mercury flight in 1962?

John Glenn drank Tang aboard Friendship 7 in February 1962, and later Gemini flights carried it too, creating the misconception that it was invented for the space programme.

Kool-Aid was invented in 1927 in which Nebraska town?

Edwin Perkins created Kool-Aid in 1927 in his mother's kitchen in Hastings, Nebraska, a town that celebrates the drink with an annual Kool-Aid Days festival.

Kool-Aid's liquid predecessor was called what?

Perkins sold a bottled concentrate called Fruit Smack; glass bottles broke and cost too much to ship, so in 1927 he dehydrated it into powder packets sold as Kool-Ade, soon Kool-Aid.

Ovaltine was developed in 1904 by chemist Albert Wander in which city?

Albert Wander developed Ovomaltine in Bern in 1904 at his father Georg's laboratory; the name combines 'ovum', Latin for egg, with malt.

Which malted drink invented the fictitious condition 'night starvation' as an advertising gimmick?

Horlicks coined 'night starvation' for its 1930s British adverts, claiming a bedtime cup of the malted drink prevented the imaginary condition and its restless sleep.

Vimto, invented in 1908, contains the juice of grapes, blackcurrants and which other fruit?

Vimto blends the juices of grapes, blackcurrants and raspberries with herbs and spices; Noel Nichols first sold it in Manchester in 1908 as a health tonic called Vim Tonic.

Lucozade was created by a pharmacist in which English city under the name 'Glucozade'?

William Owen, a Newcastle pharmacist, created Glucozade in 1927 as a glucose drink for the sick; Beecham's bought it in 1938 and renamed it Lucozade.

Ribena was handed to British children in WWII as a supplement of what?

Blackcurrants are rich in vitamin C, so when wartime blockades cut off oranges the British government distributed Ribena free to children; GlaxoSmithKline later sold the brand to Suntory in 2013.

Orangina was created in the early 1930s as 'Naranjina' by a pharmacist from which country?

Valencian pharmacist Agustín Trigo Miralles created Naranjina in Spain in 1933 and sold the formula to Frenchman Léon Beton in 1935, who launched it as Orangina in Algeria.

Inca Kola's sweet flavour comes mainly from which plant?

Inca Kola's flavour comes mainly from lemon verbena, known in Peru as hierba luisa; British immigrant Joseph Robinson Lindley launched it in Lima in 1935.

Pocari Sweat, launched in 1980, is a sports drink from which country?

It is marketed as an 'ion supply drink' with a mild grapefruit flavour.

Under what name is the Japanese milk drink Calpis sold in North America?

It is made by lactic acid fermentation and sold as a concentrate.

Ramune, Japan's marble-stoppered soda, was introduced in 1884 by a pharmacist of what nationality?

Alexander Cameron Sim launched it in Kobe; the name derives from 'lemonade'.

The name Yakult was coined from 'jahurto', a word for yogurt in which language?

Yakult comes from 'jahurto', the Esperanto word for yogurt, chosen by Minoru Shirota, who first sold the drink in 1935.

Which milky, lightly sparkling Korean liquor is traditionally ladled from a bowl?

Makgeolli is a milky, lightly sparkling Korean rice wine of around 6-8% alcohol, traditionally ladled from a bowl; it was long the drink of farmers.

Chinese baijiu is usually distilled from which fermented grain?

Most baijiu, whose name means 'white liquor', is distilled from fermented sorghum, sometimes blended with wheat, rice or corn; Moutai and Fenjiu are both sorghum-based.

Pisco is a spirit produced in the winemaking regions of Chile and which other country?

Pisco is made in Peru, where the port of Pisco gave it its name, and in Chile; Spanish settlers developed it in the 16th century as a substitute for imported orujo brandy.

Cachaça, Brazil's most popular spirit, is distilled from what?

Cachaça is distilled from fresh sugarcane juice rather than molasses, which separates it from most rum; outside Brazil it is used almost exclusively in cocktails such as the caipirinha.

Ouzo has its roots in tsipouro, said to be the work of 14th-century monks on which mountain?

Tsipouro, ouzo's ancestor, is traditionally credited to 14th-century monks on Mount Athos; the first ouzo distillery opened in Tyrnavos in 1856.

Limoncello's slightly cloudy appearance comes from what?

Limoncello's cloudiness comes from tiny droplets of lemon essential oil, which separate out as the alcohol is diluted with sugar syrup, an emulsion known as the ouzo effect.

Baileys Irish Cream was invented in 1971 by a team headed by which advertising executive?

He was working from a marketing brief issued by Gilbeys of Ireland.

What is the declared alcohol content of Baileys Irish Cream?

Baileys is bottled at 17% ABV; it blends cream, cocoa and Irish whiskey, emulsified with refined vegetable oil so it keeps for two years without separating.

Kahlúa coffee liqueur is produced in which Mexican state?

Kahlúa is made in Veracruz from locally grown arabica coffee and sugarcane spirit; the name means 'House of the Acolhua people' in the Nahuatl spoken there.

How many herbs and spices go into Jägermeister's unchanged recipe?

Jägermeister blends 56 herbs, blossoms, roots and fruits, a recipe Wilhelm and Curt Mast developed in Wolfenbüttel in 1934.

Campari was originally coloured red with carmine, a dye derived from what?

Carmine is extracted from crushed cochineal insects; Campari used it for its red colour from Gaspare Campari's 1860 invention in Novara until switching to artificial colouring in 2006.

Aperol's name comes from 'apero', slang for apéritif in which language?

'Apéro' is French slang for an apéritif; Luigi and Silvio Barbieri of Padua borrowed it when they launched Aperol in 1919 after seven years of experimentation.

James Pimm first produced his gin-based fruit cup in which year?

James Pimm, a London oyster-bar owner, first served his gin-based fruit cup in 1823 as an aid to digestion; the brand passed to Diageo when that company formed in 1997.

The House of Angostura produces its famous bitters in which country?

The town of Angostura, where they were first made, is now Ciudad Bolívar in Venezuela.

Angostura, the town that named the bitters, sits at the first narrowing of which river?

Angostura, Spanish for 'narrowing', sits where the Orinoco first narrows, about 400 km from the sea; the town was renamed Ciudad Bolívar in 1846.

The Negroni was created in 1919-20 in which Italian city?

Count Camillo Negroni asked bartender Fosco Scarselli at Florence's Caffè Casoni to strengthen his usual Campari-and-vermouth with gin in place of soda, creating the Negroni around 1919.

Equal parts vermouth and Campari topped with soda, but no gin, is known in Italy as what?

The Americano is Campari, sweet vermouth and soda; it grew out of the soda-free Milano-Torino (Campari from Milan, vermouth from Turin) and was the Negroni's base before gin replaced the soda.

The Bronx cocktail adds which juice to gin and both sweet and dry vermouth?

The Bronx is a perfect martini of gin with sweet and dry vermouth shaken with orange juice; Waldorf-Astoria bartender Johnnie Solon is usually credited with creating it around 1906.

The term 'old-fashioned cocktails' dates to which decade?

'Old-fashioned cocktail' appears in print in the 1880s, as drinkers asked for the simple spirit, sugar and bitters formula of 1806; Louisville's Pendennis Club also claims it from that decade.

Historians credit the daiquiri to Jennings Cox, an American working in Cuba as what?

Jennings Cox was an American mining engineer at the iron mines near Daiquirí, a beach and village east of Santiago de Cuba; he mixed the rum, lime and sugar drink around 1898.

The name 'piña colada' literally means what in Spanish?

'Piña colada' means 'strained pineapple' in Spanish, for the freshly pressed juice; the drink originated in Puerto Rico, which declared it the national drink in 1978.

The cosmopolitan is made with vodka, cranberry juice, lime juice and which orange liqueur?

The IBA recipe calls for 40 ml vodka citron, 15 ml Cointreau, 15 ml fresh lime juice and 30 ml cranberry juice; Cointreau is the orange liqueur, with triple sec the usual substitute.

Victor J. Bergeron claimed to have invented the Mai Tai in 1944 at his restaurant in which city?

Bergeron, 'Trader Vic', said he created the Mai Tai in 1944 at his Oakland restaurant for friends visiting from Tahiti; rival Donn Beach claimed he had made it in 1933.

The mint julep is a symbol of which sporting event?

The mint julep has been the Kentucky Derby's official drink since 1938, with Churchill Downs serving around 120,000 over Derby weekend; spearmint is the traditional Kentucky choice.

The caipirinha originated in which Brazilian state?

The caipirinha is usually traced to São Paulo state around 1918, when cachaça, lime, garlic and honey were mixed as a Spanish flu remedy; the garlic and honey were later dropped for sugar.

Kefir originated among herders of which mountain range?

Kefir comes from the North Caucasus, where herders fermented milk in skin bags; the grains were long guarded as a secret before reaching Moscow's dairy industry in 1908.

Oat milk was developed in the 1990s by Rickard Öste, a scientist from which country?

Rickard Öste, a food scientist at Lund University in Sweden, developed oat milk in the early 1990s and founded Oatly in 1994 in Malmö.

The Prosecco grape was officially renamed what in Italy in 2009?

Italy renamed the grape Glera in 2009 so that 'Prosecco' could be protected as a place name, after the village of Prosecco in the province of Trieste.

About 95% of all cava is produced in which area of Catalonia?

Penedès, around Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, makes about 95% of all cava; Macabeo, Parellada and Xarel·lo are its traditional grapes.

Madame Clicquot is credited with inventing which process to clarify champagne in 1816?

Madame Clicquot devised the riddling table in 1816, a tilted board with holes that let bottles be turned gradually neck-down so the sediment collected on the cork for removal.

Beaujolais nouveau is released for sale on which day each year?

Since 1985 Beaujolais nouveau has gone on sale on the third Thursday of November, at 12:01 a.m.; distributors race to get the first bottles to markets around the world.

Which Italian company introduced the stovetop Moka Express coffee maker in 1933?

Alfonso Bialetti launched the aluminium Moka Express in 1933; its octagonal shape has barely changed, and the little moustached man on the side is a caricature of his son Renato.

Café owners in Australia and which other country both claim to have invented the espresso-based flat white?

New Zealand and Australia both claim the flat white, though the name was already in use in England in the 1960s for an espresso-based coffee.

Turkish coffee is prepared in a small pot called what?

Turkish coffee is brewed in a cezve, a small long-handled pot, often copper; very finely ground beans are brought just to the boil without filtering.

For how long are coarse-ground beans typically soaked to make cold brew coffee?

Cold brew steeps coarse grounds in cold or room-temperature water for 12 to 24 hours, producing a concentrate that is diluted with water or milk.

In 19th-century France, a mixture of coffee and spirits was called what?

A 'gloria' was sweetened coffee laced with brandy or eau-de-vie, a staple of 19th-century French cafés; 'café royal' is the later Anglo-American name for a similar drink.

Earl Grey tea is flavoured with oil from the rind of which citrus fruit?

Earl Grey is scented with bergamot oil from the rind of a bitter citrus grown mainly in Calabria; it traditionally used Chinese keemun black tea and was served without milk.

Darjeeling tea comes from which Indian state?

Darjeeling lies in the hills of northern West Bengal at the foot of the Himalayas; its tea became India's first registered geographical indication in 2004.

What does 'rooibos', the caffeine-free South African infusion, mean in Afrikaans?

Rooibos is Afrikaans for 'red bush', after the colour of the needle-like leaves of Aspalathus linearis once oxidised; the shrub is native to the Cederberg region of the Western Cape's Fynbos.

Thomas Sullivan, who popularised tea bags around 1908, shipped them in bags made of what?

Sullivan, a New York tea merchant, sent samples in small silk bags that customers steeped whole; Roberta Lawson and Mary McLaren of Milwaukee had already patented a 'Tea Leaf Holder' in 1903.

Richard Blechynden helped popularise iced tea at the 1904 World's Fair in which city?

Blechynden ran the India Tea pavilion at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair; in the summer heat he poured his hot tea over ice, helping make iced tea an American habit.

Fiji Water was founded in 1996 by David Gilmour, a businessman of what nationality?

David Gilmour, a Canadian businessman who also co-founded Barrick Gold, set up Fiji Water in 1996; the Resnicks' Wonderful Company bought it in 2004 for a reported $50 million.

A&W Root Beer was founded in 1919 by Roy W. Allen and originally sold for how much?

Roy Allen sold his first frosty mug of root beer for five cents at a stand in Lodi, California, in June 1919; he partnered with Frank Wright in 1922 to create the A&W name.

Moxie, an early mass-produced American soda, is flavoured with the bitter extract of which root?

Gentian root extract gives Moxie its bitter bite; Augustin Thompson began it around 1876 as a patent medicine called Moxie Nerve Food, then carbonated it in 1884.

Which state designated Moxie its official soft drink in 2005?

Maine made Moxie its official soft drink in 2005; creator Augustin Thompson was born in Union, Maine, though he first produced it in Lowell, Massachusetts.

Vernors ginger ale was first sold by pharmacist James Vernor in which city?

James Vernor sold his ginger ale at his Detroit drugstore soda fountain; the company dates it to 1866, though historians put the first sales around 1880.

Fresca, introduced by Coca-Cola in 1966, was originally flavoured with which fruit?

Fresca launched in 1966 as a bottled sugar-free diet soda with a grapefruit flavour, originally sweetened with cyclamate until the FDA banned it in 1969.

Coca-Cola's first diet drink, launched in 1963 and discontinued in 2020, was called what?

Tab, launched in 1963, was Coca-Cola's first diet drink; its saccharin sweetener was linked to bladder cancer in rats in the 1970s, and the brand was dropped in 2020.

Unveiled in 1982, Diet Coke was the first new brand since 1886 to do what?

Diet Coke, unveiled in 1982, was the first new product to carry the Coca-Cola trademark since 1886; it uses a different recipe from the flagship, sweetened primarily with aspartame.

The Slurpee brand began in 1966 when 7-Eleven licensed slushies from whom?

7-Eleven licensed Omar Knedlik's Icee machines from The Icee Company in 1965 and coined 'Slurpee' in 1966; Knedlik had invented them after his Kansas soda fountain broke and he froze bottles of soda.

Nesquik launched in the US in 1948 under what one-word name, after 'Nestlé'?

The Nesquik name became worldwide in 1999.

Capri-Sun was invented in 1969 by Rudolf Wild in which country?

Rudolf Wild created Capri-Sun in 1969 in Eppelheim, West Germany, near Heidelberg; its foil pouch with a straw hole was the product's signature from launch.

Powerade, Coca-Cola's rival to Gatorade, was first released in which year?

Coca-Cola introduced Powerade in 1988 and took it nationwide in 1990 to challenge Gatorade, which had a two-decade head start.

Who founded Living Essentials, the company behind 5-hour Energy shots launched in 2004?

Manoj Bhargava founded Living Essentials and launched 5-hour Energy in 2004 as a two-ounce shot sold as a dietary supplement, which needs no FDA approval.

Nespresso is based in which Swiss town?

Nespresso is headquartered in Lausanne, on Avenue de Rhodanie beside Lake Geneva, while parent Nestlé sits up the lake in Vevey; its capsule system launched in 1986.

Sir Thomas Lipton began his business in 1871 as what?

Lipton opened his first grocery shop in Glasgow in 1871 at age 23; his stores only began selling tea in 1890, after he bought plantations in Ceylon.

Twinings has occupied the same premises on which London street since 1706?

Thomas Twining opened at 216 Strand in 1706, and the shop has traded there since; its logo, created in 1787, is claimed as the world's oldest in continuous use.

The Coca-Cola contour bottle was designed in 1915 by the Root Glass Company of which city?

Earl R. Dean of the Root Glass Company in Terre Haute, Indiana, drew the contour bottle in 1915 to a brief demanding a bottle recognisable by touch in the dark or when broken.

Cheerwine, produced since 1917 in Salisbury, North Carolina, is what flavour?

Cheerwine is a cherry-flavoured soda created by L.D. Peeler in Salisbury in 1917; the name nods to its burgundy colour and cheery fizz rather than any wine.

Big Red, created in Waco, Texas in 1937, was originally known as what?

Grover Thomsen and R.H. Roark launched it in Waco in 1937 as Sun Tang Red Cream Soda; it became simply 'Big Red' in 1969.

Bovril's name borrows 'Vril', an energy force from a novel by which author?

John Lawson Johnston coined Bovril from 'bos', Latin for ox, and 'Vril', the life force in Edward Bulwer-Lytton's 1871 novel The Coming Race.

Mezcal is made from the heart of the agave plant, which is called what?

The trimmed agave heart is the piña, named for its pineapple look; it is roasted in earthen pits for mezcal, and over 30 agave species are used.

Under EU rules, which two countries can label their product 'Sangria'?

Since 2014 EU rules reserve the bare name 'Sangria' for products made in Spain and Portugal; elsewhere it must be sold as an aromatised wine-based drink with the producing country named.

The espresso martini is commonly credited to which London bartender in the 1980s?

Dick Bradsell mixed the first espresso martini in 1983 at London's Soho Brasserie for a customer who asked for something to wake her up; it contains neither gin nor vermouth, so is not a true martini.

A Long Island iced tea has roughly what alcohol concentration?

Four or five spirits, triple sec, sour mix and a splash of cola put a Long Island iced tea around 22 percent alcohol; the name refers to its amber colour, not to any tea.

A Moscow mule is properly served in a mug made of what?

The Moscow mule, a buck of vodka, ginger beer and lime, is traditionally served in a copper mug, a 1940s marketing pairing that has stuck.

Which grape is most widely used to make cognac?

Ugni blanc, Italy's Trebbiano, makes up roughly 98% of cognac vineyards and is known locally as Saint-Émilion; Colombard and Folle Blanche are minor permitted grapes.

Bourbon sold in the US must be made from a grain mixture that is at least what percentage corn?

US regulations require bourbon's mash bill to be at least 51% corn and the spirit to be aged in new charred oak containers.

The Lincoln County Process filters Tennessee whiskey through charcoal made from which wood?

Tennessee whiskey is dripped through sugar maple charcoal before ageing, the Lincoln County Process; state law since 2013 requires it, with Benjamin Prichard's the sole exempt producer.

'Frappuccino' blends 'cappuccino' with 'frappé', a New England word for what?

In New England a 'frappe' is a thick milkshake made with ice cream; Starbucks fused it with 'cappuccino' in 1995 after acquiring the Frappuccino name from Boston's Coffee Connection.

Tim Hortons was founded in 1964 in which Ontario city?

Tim Horton opened the first store at 65 Ottawa Street North in Hamilton in 1964 with partner Jim Charade; Ron Joyce joined in 1965 and built the chain.

The chocolate drink Yoo-hoo was created in 1928 in which state?

Natale Olivieri, who bottled fruit drinks in Garfield, New Jersey, created Yoo-hoo in 1928 after working out how to keep chocolate milk from spoiling by heating the bottles.

S.Pellegrino sparkling water is bottled at San Pellegrino Terme in northern Italy, in which region?

Lombardy's province of Bergamo is home to the principal S.Pellegrino plant at San Pellegrino Terme; the brand has belonged to Nestlé since 1997 and is exported worldwide.

Which company has owned the V8 vegetable juice brand since 1948?

Campbell Soup Company bought V8 in 1948 from Standard Brands; the name refers to the eight vegetables in the blend, led by tomato.

The name Snapple is a portmanteau of 'apple' and which other word?

It began as an apple juice made by Unadulterated Food Products in 1972 and is now owned by Keurig Dr Pepper.

SunnyD, the orange drink sold as Sunny Delight until 2000, was developed in 1963 by Doric Foods in which state?

Florida's Mount Dora is where Doric Foods created the orange drink in 1963; plants in California and Ohio followed, and the name was shortened to SunnyD in 2000.

Who founded the juice company Tropicana in Bradenton in 1947?

Sicilian immigrant Anthony T. Rossi founded Tropicana in Bradenton, Florida, in 1947; PepsiCo owned it from 1998 until selling a 61% stake to PAI Partners in 2021.

The 'John Daly' is a boozy twist on which golf-named drink, adding vodka to iced tea and lemonade?

An Arnold Palmer is half iced tea, half lemonade; adding vodka makes it a John Daly, after the golfer famed for hard living. MillerCoors sold a malt-based Arnold Palmer Spiked from 2018.

Guaraná Antarctica, Brazil's guaraná soft drink, was created in which year?

Pedro Baptista de Andrade developed Guaraná Antarctica for Companhia Antarctica Paulista and it launched in 1921; Ambev owns the brand, which is also bottled in Portugal and Japan.

In which city was the Barq's Brothers Bottling Company founded in 1890?

Edward and Gaston Barq opened the Barq's Brothers Bottling Company in New Orleans' French Quarter in 1890; Edward moved to Biloxi, Mississippi, and first sold his root beer there in 1898.

Coca-Cola launched Mello Yello in 1979 to compete with which rival drink?

Coca-Cola launched Mello Yello in 1979 as its citrus answer to PepsiCo's Mountain Dew; singer Donovan has said the company contacted him about basing the name on his 1966 hit 'Mellow Yellow'.