Our episode on the 90th anniversary of the drive-in had us thinking about the movies people watched from their front seats. These five comedies are some of the most quoted ever made. Each one gets a drink built on a cocktail that works, with a nod to the movie.
Blazing Saddles (1974): The Campfire Sour
Mel Brooks’s Western spoof, co-written with Richard Pryor, starred Cleavon Little as Bart, a Black sheriff sent to a bigoted frontier town, and Gene Wilder as the Waco Kid. It’s famous for skewering racism and Hollywood clichés, and for the campfire scene with the beans, which was reportedly the first time flatulence was heard in a major studio film. This rye sour gets a little smoke and heat from chipotle hot sauce.
The Campfire Sour
Ingredients
- 2 oz rye whiskey
- 0.75 oz fresh lemon juice
- 0.75 oz demerara syrup
- 2 dashes chipotle hot sauce
- 1 egg white (optional)
Garnish
A lemon twist
Instructions
- Dry shake everything without ice if using egg white.
- Add ice and shake hard.
- Strain into a rocks glass over a large cube.
Airplane! (1980): The Aviation
Jim Abrahams and the Zucker brothers rebuilt the 1957 drama Zero Hour! as a nonstop joke machine and cast serious actors like Leslie Nielsen and Lloyd Bridges to play it straight. (“Surely you can’t be serious.” “I am serious. And don’t call me Shirley.”) The only drink for it is the Aviation, a pre-Prohibition gin sour tinted sky blue with crème de violette.
The Aviation
Ingredients
- 2 oz gin
- 0.75 oz fresh lemon juice
- 0.5 oz maraschino liqueur
- 0.25 oz crème de violette
Garnish
A brandied cherry
Instructions
- Shake everything with ice.
- Double strain into a chilled coupe.
The Blues Brothers (1980): The Blues Julep
Jake and Elwood, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd’s characters from Saturday Night Live, set out on a mission from God to save their childhood orphanage, wrecking a record number of cars along the way, with musical stops for Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Ray Charles, and Cab Calloway. It’s 106 miles to Chicago. Here’s a bourbon julep made blue with muddled blueberries.
The Blues Julep
Ingredients
- 2 oz bourbon
- 0.5 oz simple syrup
- 8 fresh mint leaves
- 8–10 blueberries
Garnish
A big bouquet of mint and a few blueberries
Instructions
- Gently muddle the blueberries, mint, and syrup in a julep cup or rocks glass.
- Add the bourbon and fill with crushed ice.
- Stir until the cup frosts, then top with more crushed ice.
Caddyshack (1980): The Cinderella Story
Harold Ramis’s country club comedy turned Rodney Dangerfield, Chevy Chase, and Bill Murray loose at Bushwood Country Club. Murray improvised most of his scenes as the gopher-obsessed groundskeeper Carl Spackler, including the “Cinderella story” monologue. Golfers already have their drink, the Arnold Palmer, half iced tea and half lemonade. This one adds bourbon.
The Cinderella Story
Ingredients
- 1.5 oz bourbon
- 3 oz unsweetened iced tea
- 3 oz lemonade
- 2 dashes Angostura bitters
Garnish
A lemon wheel and a mint sprig
Instructions
- Build everything over ice in a tall glass.
- Stir and garnish.
National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983): The Wally World Slush
John Hughes adapted his own magazine story, “Vacation ’58,” into the tale of Clark Griswold driving his family cross-country in the Wagon Queen Family Truckster to an amusement park that turns out to be closed. Chevy Chase played Clark. Christie Brinkley played the woman in the red Ferrari. The drink is a frozen strawberry daiquiri, the official beverage of every road trip that has gone wrong.
The Wally World Slush
Ingredients
- 2 oz white rum
- 1 oz fresh lime juice
- 0.75 oz simple syrup
- 1 cup frozen strawberries
- 1 cup ice
Garnish
A strawberry and a lime wheel
Instructions
- Blend everything until smooth.
- Pour into a chilled glass and serve with a straw.
For the full story of the drive-in, and the popcorn-and-cola bourbon cocktail a bartender and ChatGPT both invented for it, listen below.
Listen to the episode
“Bring back some popcorn with Ben Robbins” is Season 1, Episode 4 of Drinking With Robots. Rob celebrates 90 years of drive-in theaters with Ben Robbins of Olde Raleigh Distillery. Listen above, on Buzzsprout, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Drinking With Robots is sponsored by Remedy Cocktail Company, makers of handcrafted cocktail bitters.