The Harvey Wallbanger is a
mixed drink
A mixed drink is a beverage in which two or more ingredients are mixed.
Types
* List of non-alcoholic mixed drinks -- A non-alcoholic mixed drink (also known as virgin cocktail, boneless cocktail, temperance drink, or mocktail) is a cocktail- ...
made with
vodka
Vodka ( pl, wódka , russian: водка , sv, vodka ) is a clear distilled alcoholic beverage. Different varieties originated in Poland, Russia, and Sweden. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impuriti ...
,
Galliano, and
orange juice
Orange juice is a liquid extract of the orange tree fruit, produced by squeezing or reaming oranges. It comes in several different varieties, including blood orange, navel oranges, valencia orange, clementine, and tangerine. As well as vari ...
. It is a variant of the
screwdriver
A screwdriver is a tool, manual or powered, used for turning screws. A typical simple screwdriver has a handle and a shaft, ending in a tip the user puts into the screw head before turning the handle. This form of the screwdriver has been repla ...
, and was very popular in the United States in the 1970s.
History
The Harvey Wallbanger was created in 1969 as a marketing campaign by McKesson Imports Company, importer of
Galliano, as a means of driving sales of Galliano. The campaign was headed by
George Bednar, marketing director of McKesson, and a cartoon character was commissioned from graphic artist William J. "Bill" Young in
Lima, New York
Lima (, the name is a shibboleth) is a town in Livingston County, New York, United States. The population was 4,305 at the 2010 census. The town is in the northeast part of the county, south of Rochester. The village of Lima is located within ...
, with the tagline that Bednar claimed to have penned: "Harvey Wallbanger is the name. And I can be made!".
[ The Harvey Wallbanger character was a surfer, appearing in various ads during the campaign, and was mentioned in print as early as 1969,][ continuing into the 1970s.
The cocktail itself is credited to three-time world champion mixologist Donato "Duke" Antone, of Hartford, Connecticut, where he ran a bartending school, Bartending School of Mixology (established 1949) and worked as a cocktail consultant.] It is unclear if Antone designed the drink for Galliano (to advertise the ingredient), or renamed an existing drink, as suggested by his grandson, who claimed the earlier version was called "Duke's Screwdriver". An implausible story of the origin is that it was invented in 1952 by Antone, and named after a surfer frequenting Antone's Blackwatch Bar on Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. This is implausible because at the time, Antone was running a bartending school in Hartford, and there is no evidence of any "Blackwatch Bar" in Los Angeles at the time, so it is presumably a fabrication; spirits writer Robert Simonson goes so far as to say that "no sane person ever believed that story."
Cocktail historian David Wondrich considers the Harvey Wallbanger the first successful consultant-created cocktail saying,
Antone is also credited with the Freddy Fudpucker, which swaps vodka for tequila, but this was not nearly as popular.
Other uses
* The 1982 Milwaukee Brewers, winners of the American League pennant, were nicknamed "Harvey's Wallbangers," because of the team's power hitting (wallbanging) under mid-season manager Harvey Kuenn
Harvey Edward Kuenn (; December 4, 1930 – February 28, 1988) was an American professional baseball player, coach, and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). As a shortstop and outfielder, he played with the Detroit Tigers (1952–1959), Clev ...
. After a mediocre 23–24 start to the season, manager Buck Rodgers
Robert Leroy "Buck" Rodgers (born August 16, 1938) is a former catcher, manager and coach in Major League Baseball. He managed three major league teams: the Milwaukee Brewers (1980–1982), Montreal Expos (1985–1991) and California Angels (19 ...
was fired. Under Kuenn, the team went 72–43 (.626), led the Major Leagues in home runs and total bases, and produced the highest team OPS+ OPS may refer to:
Organizations
*Obscene Publications Squad, a former unit of the Metropolitan Police in London, England
* Oceanic Preservation Society
*Office of Public Safety, a former US government agency
* Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg ...
since the New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...
.
* Conservative talk-show host Michael Savage
Michael Alan Weiner (born March 31, 1942), known by his professional name Michael Savage, is a far-right author, conspiracy theorist, political commentator, activist, and former radio host. Savage is best known as the host of '' The Savage Na ...
refers to rival conservative talk-show host Sean Hannity
Sean Patrick Hannity (born December 30, 1961) is an American talk show host, conservative political commentator, and author. He is the host of '' The Sean Hannity Show'', a nationally syndicated talk radio show, and has also hosted a commen ...
as Harvey Wallbanger.[ ]
See also
References
{{Reflist
Cocktails with liqueur
Cocktails with vodka
Food and drink introduced in 1952
Three-ingredient cocktails
Cocktails with orange juice