An ode to ’70s cocktails

Harvey Wallbanger

By Adam Gropman
Special to Metromix

As with other cultural aspects of the era, the most popular cocktails during the 1970s were a combination of flamboyant, exuberant, optimistic and disgusting. Their names, too, were often colorfully hedonistic. Many classic ’70s cocktails actually originated in earlier decades, but just like denim, LSD and kung fu, the opportunistic, self-promotional Me Generation grabbed these drinks out of semi-obscurity, granting them both immortality and infamy.

Take the Harvey Wallbanger, for example.

Forget for a second about the ingredients or taste. The ridiculously puerile name makes this one hard to order straight-faced unless you're over 70, already drunk or a “journalist” named Borat. One of several legends about the drink’s mellifluous title entails a California surfer named Harvey guzzling self-concocted Screwdrivers spiked with Galliano at his local pub, then smashing into the wall. We think Harvey was just shrooming and got thrown off an imaginary wave.

The taste
A sweetened, licorice-flavored Screwdriver.

The recipe
2 ounces vodka
2 ounces orange juice
1 ounce Galliano
Combine vodka and orange juice in a shaker with ice and shake until frothy. Strain into a highball glass filled with ice. Add the Galliano delicately on top and garnish with an orange slice.

Where to order one
Smog Cutter
Tattle Tale Room