The Coctail Thing / Booze on the Tube

One slight "problem" with this Tiki Central format is that an original post becomes dated but the replies are still a good read. Such is the case with this post which was a heads up on a Martha Stewart Living episode that aired April 26, 2002. The original post:

This Friday's Martha Stewart Living TV show is supposed to be all about coctails and cocktail parties. Say what you will about Martha but the girl likes a stiff drink. She's profiled many a coctail on her show before and was pretty damned liberal with the booze in her egg nog demo. Most other cooking/home shows act as if hard liquor doesn't exist or only exists as a flavoring (and they go to great lengths to explain that the alcohol is burned off). Martha is a champion of cocktails, and I bet she'd love a good Tiki bar.

The epiosode was OK, not too many cocktail recipes (and I may have blinked but it seems she made mojitos without mint) and an inexplicably placed segment on history's worst monster Dale Chihuly.

[ Edited by: woofmutt on 2002-05-03 09:56 ]

[ Edited by: woofmutt on 2002-05-03 10:02 ]

And what is this big fear of liquor all about these days anyway? Do you ever think there will be a swing back to the 50's style cocktail imbibing level where everyone had a stiff one after work?

Or am I just doomed to be forever out of style?

It's thanks to the dominant advertising of beer in my opinion. Did you know that one of the strongest voices behind getting NBC to reinstate their ban on liquor advertising wasn't some morally righteous group using "public health" as their cover, it was their competition - the beer and wine distributors of america.

During the 50's, it wasn't just a 'stiff one after work' but included a couple of stiff one's for lunch. Now that's swingin' baby!

Hey, I agree with woofs assesment of Martha, (being a closet Martha voyeur :wink: ) She did an awesome margarita show with only the best anejo tequila and boy was she enjoying them!

Oh, and the glasses she used... simply stunning...

Martha, I salute you! :drink:

There is a certain mystique to booze (and boozin') that I thoroughly love. All the kooky names, crazy concoctions and exotic flavorings... man, there is so much more to it than just getting bombed. And man, does booze liven up a party, or what! :D

I was a big beer drinker for a long time. Now I can hardly tolerate it. It's like eating a big Italian meal to me now. Heavy and filling.

I am very glad to see liquor ads coming to TV. I hope they will be a bit more classy than the beer ads. It is funny how they have to advertize. No one can get drunk or imbibe for the alcoholic effect. I don't think they can even show someone drinking.

Oh, let me TELL you the rules, babies! I write TV ads for a living, and liquor ads are among the worst to try and come up with an idea for. First of all, the clients are all horny shmoes in golf shirts and dockers, who want plenty of jiggling T&A in their spots. Then once you've got some scripts that make those clowns happy (and generally I don't admit to writing, they're all Alan Smithee's commercials as far as I'm concerned) , it's off to the liquor board for approval... Here goes:

You can't show someone drinking the product. You cannot show a glass that is not full. You cannot show someone being intoxicated. You cannot imply booze will get you laid. You cannot imply booze is the solution to a problem. You cannot show a moving vehicle. You cannot show someone drinking outside a licensed area such as a bar or patio. If they are outdoors, they must be behind a fence that implies said bar or patio. You cannot show someone with more than one drink. And so on, and so on....

Speaking of beer vs. mixed drinks, I think it's funny that so many people I know think that most mixed drinks are "FU FU" drinks and that beer is a "MAN's" drink! When the fact is that the alcohol in any of the tiki bar drinks- especially the ones I make myself :) are so much stronger than any beer in the world! It's amusing how the media and stereotypes can make people think stuff that isn't even close to the truth!

You should tell 'em the correct phrase is "frou frou" drinks too. Not that it would help any though. Being french and all.

PS. I have no idea what a "frou" is.

Frou-frou. Of French origin (as Tikifish attests). 19th century. An onomatopoetic word originally used to describe the sound of rustling of a frilly, silky, highly ornamental dress.

Also the sound a beer-only drinker makes when vomiting through the putrid flavor of a Mickey's Big Mouth.

• Pedantic Monkey

I had a recent party at the home tiki bar with quite a few people who hadn't been over before. When I gave them the menu, several commented that, "well who cares which one- they're all girl drinks." urgh. I told them "au contraire, mon frere", proceeded to pour a few Zombies, and spent some time blotting the puke off the carpet afterwards. sigh They were warned. People have really been conditioned by those stupid slushie-machine bars that serve up artificial slime and call it a tropical drink. Am I too off topic now?

-Martin

As an aside, I would just like to point out that a lover of both fine tropical drinks and fine beers, I think it's possible to like both. No shame in good beer!

Lotsa shame in bad beer.

-martin

A really annoying thing about the beer distributors pressure agains hard liquor ads on TV is that health officials and anti-alcohol people chimed in with them and blah-blah-blahed about the end of civilization as we know it if ads for vodka should air. Their collective voice added to the myth that the alcohol in beer and wine is somehow different than the alcohol in rum or bourbon (I'm sure there are many alcoholics who don't think they are alcoholics because all they drink is beer). I believe, due to the beer and wine whining and threats of new laws restricting such ads, NBC has cancled its ad plans. We've been spared the horrors of hard liquor ads while the beer companies continue to run ads implying all night parties full of limitless beer consumption. Such anti hard liquor attitudes aren't new...An 18th century Hogarth engraving showed "Gin Lane" with people drunk, starving, and dying in the streets, buildings falling down, and a pawn shop doing good business. In another engraving named "Beer Street" there are happy, healthy, litearate people and a pawn shop in disrepair.

One might simply say that "liquor is quicker" and let's slow people down with beer.

But, if you drink liquor, you become more conscious of your consumption. You have to.

As you drink more, you get a more refined palette. You can tell well brand from Absolut. Taste matters. That's going to make you more responsible too.

When we had a party at home recently, I had 3 drinks on the menu. People gathered around and were enthralled with the mixing. It actually got people to stock their bars more and try other things.

I've thought of writing a book: Bar Alchemy. The search for the "Philosopher's Cocktail"

It's good chemistry!

It just bugs me that I can't tell a Zima commercial from a beer commercial from a Pepsi commercial any more. Come on! Who throws down with a case of Pepsi?

Wow, this old thread needs a bump.

I find it very fascinating comparing the comments from 2002 to the current advertising of today, where we now have classy Tanqueray and Disarrono commercials on most channels.

So fellow TCers, what do you have to say about coctail culture (or whatever you wanna call the love of liquor) in 2006?

[ Edited by: I dream of tiki 2006-01-08 15:39 ]

I thought Cocktail Culture was dying out about 1996 or so. That was when the "lounge" section in record stores started to disappear. But now it seems stronger than ever.

The whole "cocktail culture" thing seems somewhat dead for the Ordinaries, but happily the cocktail itself stuck around. Not long ago the idea of serving mixed drinks seemed strange and too complicated for most people to attempt but now Target sells Martini glasses in 8 packs. I think it's fine people like ourselves who deserve a pat on the back for this. And a nice drink as well.

I find that it just depends on the ordinaries. But then again, I work around theater people, many whom fancy themselves with a martini in hand.