Screwdriver

The Screwdriver is a classic combination of vodka and orange juice that has been designated an International Bartender Association official cocktail. The history of the Screwdriver is somewhat debatable, even though mention of it in literature goes back to at least 1940s, when vodka was first gaining traction in the United States.

Though uncomplicated, the Screwdriver is one of the most well-known highballs ever created. To this day, it remains one of the first cocktail recipes many ever learn, and countless people's introduction to mixed drinks.

Who Invented the Screwdriver Cocktail?

The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails places the drink's inception around the time of World War II when American civilians and servicemen abroad, unable to find a steady supply of familiar spirits like whiskey, took to cutting neutral spirits and Turkish vodka with orange juice to make them more palaptable. The drink gained visibility as vodka brands like Smirnoff, seeking to gain a foothold in the U.S. market, began to incorporate the Screwdriver cocktail into marketing campaigns over the following decades.

The origins of the Screwdriver's name are less clear. One commonly repeated story is that the name resulted from factory workers stirring the drink with a screwdriver when a spoon couldn't be found, though little evidence can be found to support this. Coincidentally, a similar story exists about the etymology of the word "cocktail" itself—from early iterations that were allegedly stirred with a rooster's tail feather—as well as the Rusty Nail supposedly being stirred with, well, a rusty nail. If true, this all begs the question of why so many people throughout drinking history had such a tough time finding spoons.

Everything You Need to Know About the Drinks That Could Save Your Morning

RELATED ARTICLE

Questionable origin stories aside, the cocktail's two-ingredient simplicity means it’s possible the drink appeared in multiple places around the same time, as people took to adding orange juice to whatever spirit they could find. After all, the Mimosa (sparkling wine and orange juice) had already been in rotation for a couple of decades by then, and it’s not a far stretch from sparkling wine to vodka.

Combining orange juice and vodka in a highball glass is about as easy as a cocktail gets and creates a base that’s ripe for experimentation, spawning later derivative creations like the Harvey Wallbanger and Fuzzy Navel.