The Bubbleator Cocktail Recipe - 1962 Seattle World's Fair

Does anyone know the recipe for the "Bubbleator" cocktail that was served at the Seattle World's Fair?

I am doing a 60s sci-fi theme night and have the spacy soundtrack that they used for the futuristic parts of the fair. Now if I could just serve that cocktail too....

Have you tried tracking it down via these guys at Oliver's Lounge?
https://twitter.com/OliversLounge/status/201064156500213760/photo/1

Unfortunately, that "Orange Bubbleator" is not the the original Bubbleator from 1962.

Wendy, the concierge at the Mayfair Park Hotel, who created the "Orange Bubbleator", did however give me the recipe for it:

2 slices of fresh orange, muddled
2 slices of fresh lemon, muddled
Add ice
1 ounce of Ketel One Citron
1 ounce of Smirnoff Vanilla
Shake and strain with juice of orange and lemon for color into chilled martini glass
1 ounce of Champagne or Sparkling wine to top off
Garnish with twist of orange

This is however definitely something she created and it is NOT from 1962.

So I'm still looking for the original.

Come on Seattleites - how can you have forgotten such a key part of your history???

Allow me to "fix" that recipe:

2 slices of fresh orange, muddled
2 slices of fresh lemon, muddled
Add ice
1 1/2 ounces Light Rum
1/4 oz Orange Curacao
1/4 oz Vanilla Syrup
Shake well and strain with juice of orange and lemon for color into chilled martini glass
1 ounce of Champagne or Sparkling wine to top off
Garnish with twist of orange

On 2012-06-26 08:08, arriano wrote:
Allow me to "fix" that recipe:

2 slices of fresh orange, muddled
2 slices of fresh lemon, muddled
Add ice
1 1/2 ounces Light Rum
1/4 oz Orange Curacao
1/4 oz Vanilla Syrup
Shake well and strain with juice of orange and lemon for color into chilled martini glass
1 ounce of Champagne or Sparkling wine to top off
Garnish with twist of orange

Is that fixed for historic accuracy or just because? Regardless, it sounds tasty!

What he said...^

So is this just a better drink or is it the 1962 original? (the suspense is killing me...)

No accuracy involved, I just think any time you replace flavored vodkas you're improving a drink. But full disclosure: I haven't made the drink either way.

If you can't find the original recipe for the "Bubbleator", we'll have a contest to pick the best one submitted.

I think I know the perfect judge...

I've lived in Seattle my entire life and (lightly) collected/looked at Fair books and I've never seen a cocktail menu from the Fair, from any location. Here's what I can do: They're doing a "The Next Fifty" celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Fair, and there's a little museum dedicated to Fair items. I've been through but didn't see a Space Needle menu. I'll go visit again, ask around, and see if anyone involved knows this recipe, or any others.

I don't remember if the Needle's new restaurant, SkyCity (which has excellent food, unlike the old Eye Of The Needle and Emerald Suite it replaced) has any specialty cocktails with a vintage flair, as it's been at least a year since I ate there, but I can ask them as well. They did bring back the Lunar Lander dessert, a sundae in a double dish, the lower half filled with crushed dry ice; just before it leaves the waiter's stand, they pour warm water in the outer bowl, and it floods fog over your table.

For those not versed in Seattle World's Fair history, the Bubbleator was an elevator formed as a gigantic sphere, made of a metal framework with big plastic panels. It rode on a relatively thin riser shaft, no tracks, cables or other equipment spoiling the 'floating bubble' look. Even the operator's console had a little galaxy of bubbles with lights inside. This was inside the Coliseum (now Key Arena) to take people up into a huge cloud made of hundreds of aluminum cubes for the World of Tomorrow exhibit. It later ended up in the Food Circus (ex-Armory) building, was replaced in the 80s by a conventional elevator, and was sold off for scrap-- except that a guy from neighboring Auburn, who didn't want to see it destroyed, bought it and turned it into a greenhouse in his yard.

[ Edited by: TorchGuy 2012-06-27 12:41 ]

Hello TorchGuy - thanks very much for that kind offer.

I am surprised no one seems to remember this cocktail recipe, given that it was made specially for the Fair and countless thousands of people drank it. (Or was it so awful no one WANTS to remember it?)

I will look forward to whatever results you come up with.

Major apologies. Nobody seemed to know. And then the exhibit closed. The people staffing it were mostly just staffing the exhibit.

Sort of like the time the Seattle Center hosted an exhibit on MAD Magazine. I thought I'd make some friends and asked the guys working if they knew the rules to Three-Cornered Pitney. They looked at me like I'd grown an extra head.

Thanks for trying though - one day we may unlock the mysteries of this concoction....

Where did you find a reference to a bubbleator cocktail? The cocktail menu for the Space Needle had around six fair-oriented drinks but none on it called a bubbleator. These drinks also had their own mugs, at least shown on the menu. Do you know what dinning area it was served in? Was it "virgin"?

But really how did you come across the drink in the first place? I may know a place to search for it but it could take many hours of thumbing through clipping and ephemera and I could use a starting point for another of my wild goose chases. :)

aloha, tikicoma

Wow, I'd like to see these mugs. I especially like the Hay Stack - looks like Cousin It! Tikicoma - any chance to get a close up look at the drink descriptions?

Arggh! Now, 8 months later, I can't find the original reference.

I would settle for any or all of the recipes of the concoctions shown above though... (apart from the Panorama Punch, which Beachbum Berry has already documented)

Toto, j'ai l'impression que nous ne sommes plus au Kansas !

[ Edited by: Club Nouméa 2013-01-30 19:12 ]

[ Edited by: Club Nouméa 2013-01-30 19:13 ]

Arriano- I found the image of the menu on the web and couldn't find one good enough to read when enlarged. but...

Noumea- I was able to read enough to accept these recipes as likely...

"Seattle Magazine's cocktail expert A.J Rathbun offers these recipes-from a Trader Vic's cocktail guide..."

PANORAMA PUNCH
ice
3/4 oz. light Puerto Rican rum
3/4 oz. Gin
3/4 oz. Cointreau
1 dash grenadine
juice of 1/2 lime plus a slice for garnish
shake all ingredients in a shaker. Pour into a 10 oz. pilsner glass fill with ice cubes. Serve with a straw and lime slice.

CLOUD BURST
ice
1 1/2 oz. vodka
3 oz. champagne
lemon twist for garnish
add vodka and 3 ice cubes to a Champagne glass. Add Champagne stir briefly, garnish with the lemon twist.

MILKY WAY
ice cubes
1/2 oz. brandy
1/2 oz. Jamaican Rum
1/2 oz. Bourbon
6 oz. whole milk or cream
3 drops vanilla
nutmeg
Shake all in a shaker. Pour into 10 oz. glass. Fill with ice cubes. Dust with grated nutmeg. Serve with a straw.

ta-dah!

aloha, tikicoma

Cool, thanks!

Thanks tikicoma - I will be trying these out tonight!