The 1950s to the 2010s

You can find a lot more cocktails on television in my Facebook Group “Cocktails in Media.” If you’re looking for something specific then use the group search bar. Cheers!

 

1954 Dragnet S4 E8

Sergeant Joe Friday is inside the Green Light Tavern investigating a murder.

A holdup man who drinks Scotch & Water is sticking up bars, taking the money, then killing the victims.

 

1961 White Horse Scotch Whiskey (Commercial)

White Horse Scotch Whiskey puts out a stop-motion TV commercial showing their white horse galloping around the globe. The horse travels to France, Hong Kong, Australia, Mexico, and New York City. People drink cocktails with White Horse Scotch on their balconies, patios, and bars as the white horse passes over.

1962 The Andy Griffith Show S3 E2 1

Andy takes his date to the nearby town of Mt. Pilot. She talks about New Orleans and orders a Sazerac.

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1964–1972 Bewitched

Bewitched is a fantasy show about a witch who marries a mortal man. Out of the 254 episodes, 169 of them have drinking scenes. In addition, many bar names appear or are mentioned. Some of these include Happy Times Bar, Joe’s Bar and Grill, the Diamond Slipper, Purple Popsicle Night Club, Elbow Room Cocktail Lounge, and Dundee’s Bar.

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1966 The Andy Griffith Show S7 E12 

Andy carries a tray of Tom Collinses.

 

1972–1983 M*A*S*H

The lead doctors, Hawkeye and Trapper John, drink Martinis in almost every episode. They make a gin-making still contraption in their quarters. The complete DVD collection is actually titled Martinis and Medicine. In the 1973 episode Ceasefire, Hawkeye says, “I’ll stick with gin. Champagne is just ginger ale that knows somebody.”

 

1972–1978 Maude

Maude was the first TV show in history to show a gay bar. The episode is called “The Gay Bar” (season six, episode nine). Maude drinks what looks like vodka on the rocks and several cocktails are seen. The episode “Walter’s Problem,” aka “Life of the Party” (season two, episode one), deals with Walter (Maude’s husband) drinking too much. The home bar is set up, and he asks who wants a Bloody Mary. There are five bartenders in ten episodes of this series, and many cocktails are seen.

 

1977–1987 The Love Boat

The Love Boat is set on a Princess Cruise Line cruise ship. Each week, celebrities, young and old, guest star and set sail on humorous and often romantic adventures. Over 1,300 celebrities appear on The Love Boat, including Janet Jackson, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Tom Hanks, and Hulk Hogan. Serving all kinds of cocktails, Teddy Wilson plays Isaac, the bartender, in 250 episodes. Other bartenders also serve drinks, because if you’ve ever been on a cruise ship, you know there are several types of bars. 

 

1977–1984 Three’s Company

This sitcom is set near the beach in Santa Monica, California. It is about three friends named Jack, Chrissy, and Janet becoming roommates. The girls, however, know the landlord would not appreciate the arrangement, so they tell him Jack is gay. (Roommates of different sexes and adding a gay factor were racy concepts in 1977.)

        

The neighborhood bar is the Regal Beagle and throughout the show’s seven-year run the bar goes through three bartenders and many cocktails. Jack is watching the bar for the bartender in “Stanley Casanova” (season two, episode ten). He makes two classic Daiquiris, but with tequila. In “Handcuffed” (season four, episode eighteen), Chrissy and Jack play around with handcuffs and accidentally cuff themselves together. The problem is that Jack has a date, so Chrissy has to come along to the Regal Beagle while handcuffed to Jack. They order three white wines, which cost $5.25. Jack drinks a red cocktail called the Rocket and becomes the life of the party in “Up in the Air” (season six, episode twenty-five). There are also ten episodes that have party scenes and many cocktails are seen.

 

1983 Archie Bunker's Place S4 E16

A female bartender approaches Archie, but he thinks only men should be bartenders. She tries to convince him by saying: “Mr. Bunker, I’ve been a bartender for ten years. I can make over two hundred drinks. I know what goes in them, what to pour them in, and how to serve them. I tell jokes, I’m a good listener, an avid sports fan, and I’ve thrown out my share of drunks.” In the same scene, she makes a Sidecar and a Grasshopper.

 

1982–1993 Cheers

Cheers wins for having the most scenes in a bar. This is because the show is named after a Boston bar, Cheers. The show features many drinks throughout its eleven-year run, and its theme song is one of the most beloved.

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1999–2003 Futurama

The Futurama crowd visits and mentions several bars such as the Hip Joint, O’Grady’s Pub, and O’Zorgnax’s Pub. A drink called Slurm is popular and the Hip Joint serves Martini Clouds that rain into your glass. There is also a heavy-drinking robot named Bender Bending Rodriguez.

 

1999–2007 The Sopranos

Bada Bing! What else would an Italian-American New Jersey mobster’s strip bar be named? Meetings with drinks are held in the club and in the lead character’s office in the back. There’s drinking in almost every episode. Drinks mentioned include Sambuca, Armagnac, vodka, wine, and homemade wine.

 

2000–2007 | 2016–til Gilmore Girls

The Gilmore Girls show follows a single mother and her daughter in the fictional town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut. The show is about relationships between its quirky residents.

 

Liz Torres is known for making a deceptively strong punch at all the town events and almost every character on the show has a regretful story from drinking it the next day.

 

In “Red Light on the Wedding Night” (season 2 episode 3), Lauren Graham says to her daughter, “Honey, someday, when you're a little older, you will be introduced to something that is extremely seductive but fickle. A fair-weather friend who seems benign but packs a wallop like a donkey kick, and that is the Long Island Iced Tea. The Long Island Iced Tea makes you do things that you normally wouldn’t do, like lifting your skirt in public or calling someone you normally wouldn't call at really weird times.”

 

In season five, episode twenty, Lauren Graham’s drink of choice is a gin Martini. Kelly Bishop pretends that Lauren’s drink of choice is a Sidecar, then Lauren says, “No, my drink is a Martini. It’s always been a Martini.”

 

In “Twenty-One Is the Loneliest Number” (season 6 episode 7), Kelly Bishop asks the bartender to create a drink called the “Rory” for Alexis Biedel’s twenty-first birthday. After tasting it, Scott Patterson comments that it tastes pink.

 

2001–2010 Scrubs

Scrubs is a medical comedy drama whose main character is Dr. John Michael “J. D.” Dorian, played by Zach Braff.  There are too many episodes to mention, but you learn quickly that his favorite cocktail is an Appletini.

 

2002–2006 The Thirsty Traveler

Kevin Brauch hosts this weekly Travel Channel show, and each week he explores a new destination’s alcohol, people, customs, and traditions.

 

2002–2008 The Wire

The characters in this cop show always gather at Kavanagh’s Irish Pub when an officer dies or retires, and on other occasions. Wakes are held with the body on the pool table. Lots of beer, whiskey, and indoor smoking are seen.

 

2003–2006 / 2013–til Arrested Development

Drinking is seen throughout the episodes; especially Martinis Jessica Walter (the mother) drinks. There are also several scenes at a local nightclub called “and Jeremy Piven.”

 

2003–2015 Two and a Half Men

This show is a situation comedy about brothers Charlie and Alan (the two) and Alan’s son (the half). After a divorce, Alan (Jon Cryer) and his son move in with brother Charlie (Charlie Sheen) who lives well in a beach house—and the move-in cramps his style, but leads to many laughs. Many drinks are seen throughout the series, and the local bar is called Pavlov’s, where every time the bell is rung everyone barks and takes a shot. Alan’s favorites drinks are Appletinis and Rum & Cokes.

 

2004–2006 Deadwood

This show is set in the 1870s in nonfictional Deadwood, South Dakota. Like every small 1800s town, you would expect to find a saloon, and every episode has a scene in the Gem Saloon. Al Swearengen owns Deadwood’s saloon and brothel. He is a known pimp. The handwritten imbibing menu on the backbar includes whiskey, brandy, Old Tom Gin, Blue Blazer, and a drink called the Judge. A large sign advertising ice is also hanging outside. At the time when the show is set, ice was harvested from frozen ponds.

 

2005–2014 How I Met Your Mother

This show is set in New York City starting in 2005 and follows the main character, Ted, and his friends. It is narrated by a voice who retells the story to his children in the year 2030. Every episode of this TV show has one or more scenes that take place at MacLaren’s Pub because this is where the friends sit in a booth, drink, and catch up each day.

           

There are too many scenes to mention, but some include Marshall inventing a cocktail called the Minnesota Tidal Wave; Lily’s funny pregnant drinking scene; Barney creating “Barney Stinson’s Hangover Fixer Elixir”; Robin drinking Scotch; Ted dropping a $600 bottle of Scotch; Ted offering to buy the newest Scotch at MacLaren’s (Jumbo Jim’s Grape Scotch); and the time when Barney and Ted dream of owning a bar, which cuts to them reenacting the famous Tom Cruise/Cocktail film scene where both are flair bartending behind the bar.
 

2005–til It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is about a gang of underachieving friends who own a bar called Paddy’s Pub in South Philadelphia. There is drinking and talking of drinking in every episode. Once they even hold drinking contest.

 

2006–2008 The Ultimate Coyote Ugly Search

CMT (Country Music TV) aired this reality TV show for three seasons. Fueled by the 2000 film Coyote Ugly, this show auditions/exploits female bartenders in competitions with the prize being a position at a Coyote Ugly Saloon and $50,000.

 

2007–2015 Mad Men

Mad Men is an AMC period drama primarily set in the 1960s. The show is about an advertising agency in New York City and the star character is Don Draper. There is too much to mention because every episode has drinking scenes and most are heavy, hard, three-Martini-lunch, stocked-liquor-cabinet drinking scenes.

 

One thing Mad Men did was to make cocktails from that era popular again. The AMC Mad Men website even provides Mad Men cocktail recipes. Some of these include the Old-Fashioned, Tom Collins, Blood and Sand, Champagne Cocktail, Blue Hawaiian, Manhattan, Pink Squirrel, Negroni, and Sidecar. One scene to share is the opening scene of season six, where Don Draper and his second wife lounge on a Hawaiian beach. She partakes of a Blue Hawaii that is served in a Hurricane glass.

 

2007–til The Graham Norton Show

This humorous BBC celebrity talk show hosted by Graham Norton provides liquid refreshment for its celebrity guests. Guests’ preferred drink of choice is preset on the coffee table in front of the sofa. There are too many to mention, but one notable cocktail gets a brand mentioned in series fourteen, episode three when Norton draws attention to Robert De Nero’s Hendrick’s Cucumber Martini.

 

2008–2014 True Blood

True Blood is an HBO horror vampire TV show that is set in Bon Temps, Louisiana (a small fictional town located in the northwest part of the state). The main character is a telepathic human-faerie hybrid named Sookie Stackhouse. Sookie waitresses at the favorite hang in town called Merlotte’s Bar and Grill, and her best friend, Tara, is the bartender.

 

The bar sells a new alternative blood source (synthetic blood) for vampires called Tru:Blood. It is designed to make humans feel safe around vampires. One year after the show premiered, HBO began selling Tru:Blood as a fictionalized brand to the public. It was a carbonated blood orange drink. Later in the series, Merlotte’s Bar & Grill is sold, revamped, and renamed Bellefleur’s Bar and Grill and often just called BB&G. As you might guess, every episode has a bar scene; in “Somebody I Used to Know” (season one, episode eight), Tara makes a straight-up Strawberry Daiquiri with the fastest shake in the world.

 

2008–2010 On the Rocks: The Search for America’s Top Bartender

Absolut vodka and LXTV (NBC Local Media’s award-winning producer of local lifestyle and entertainment programming) search for a bartender with the personality, looks, and skills to become America’s Top Bartender. Each week, ten finalists compete for $100,000.

 

2009–2015 Parks and Recreation

Parks and Recreation is often referred to as Parks and Rec and is a political comedy set in the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana. Leslie Knope, the main character, works at the Parks Department as deputy director and serves on many committees. Her goal is to become the city manager and eventually—her secret goal—president of the United States.

 

Leslie is cheerful and perky but inclined to put positive spins on failures. There is drinking throughout the series and a bar called the Snakehole Lounge. This fictional lounge even has its own website (snakeholelounge.com). Their specialty spirit is called snakejuice. Other drinks on the menu include Sweetums Fizz, Viper Milk, and Hiss Juice. In “Two Parties” (season five, episode ten), the guys from work visit a new trendy bar called Essence, which is a molecular mixology bar. They are not impressed with the Whiskey Lotion, Cotton Candy Beer, and vodka served in the form of a light flash. Other drinking scenes include Leslie getting drunk at the zoo; Leslie drinking wine from an illegal gift basket to be part of the boys’ club; and an employee building a wooden harp to prove to Leslie that he is capable doing amazing things while drinking alcohol.

 

2010–til Three Sheets

Three Sheets is an international travelogue/bar-hopping series. The title is short for a term for “drunk,” “three sheets to the wind.” It is hosted by Zane Lamprey, and as you might imagine, there are several educational bar and alcohol scenes in every episode.

 

2007–2017 The Big Bang Theory

The Big Bang Theory is a sitcom set in Pasadena, California. The show began its first season based around five characters: four geeky science guys and one girl, who is a waitress/bartender trying to be an actress, living across the hall. The show has had many famous scientists appear as guest stars, even Stephen Hawking! The friends visit many restaurants and bars, and there are many scenes involving drinks.

 

Three of the best that mention drink names include “The Grasshopper Experiment” (season one, episode eight). Here, Penny needs to practice making cocktails, so she sets up a bar in her kitchen and invites the guys over. Leonard orders a Tequila Sunrise; Raj orders a Grasshopper; Sheldon orders a Virgin Cuba Libre; and Howard orders a Slippery Nipple. There is funny interaction between orders. This is also the episode where the friends learn that Raj, who is afraid to talk to women, can talk to women if he drinks. In “The Gothowitz Deviation” (season three, episode three), Howard takes Raj to a Goth bar. Howard drinks a Vodka Cranberry because he says it looks like blood and then makes fun of Raj’s light beer. When they offer to buy two girls a drink, the girls ask for light beers. In “The Apology Insufficiency” (season four, episode seven), Penny is tending bar and Sheldon wants to order a cocktail. He opens a drink app on his phone to choose a cocktail and says: “Harvey Wallbanger . . . ehhh, Sex on the Beach . . . I hardly think so. Rob Roy, Silk Slipper, Mad Hatter, ohhhhh! I’ll have a Rosewater Rickey.” Penny serves him a shot of whiskey.

 

Other drinking-related things to mention include Sheldon getting drunk on beer; Sheldon getting drunk on wine; Sheldon getting drunk on Long Island Iced Teas; the friends patronize a wine bar; and they all go out to a tiki karaoke bar and drink tiki drinks complete with mugs and paper parasols.

 

2010–2015 Boardwalk Empire

This is a crime drama series set in Atlantic City during Prohibition. As you might guess, many scenes are set in speakeasy bars (except when they drink in Cuba). Well-known film director Martin Scorsese and actor Mark Wahlberg produce the series. The show’s intro has bottles of whiskey washing up on shore.

 

2010–til Nadia G’s Bitchin’ Kitchen

Nadia is a YouTuber-turned–Cooking Channel star. Not only does she cook, but also every once in a while she explores cocktails. In “Girls Night In” (season two, episode six), Nadia makes Cardamom Blood Orange Mojitos. In “Depression Desserts” (season two, episode thirteen), Nadia makes a Bourbon Vanilla Milkshake. In “Bitchin’/Party Guide” (season two, episode sixteen), Nadia shows you how to set up a DIY vodka bar with spicy pomegranate and lemongrass mixers. In “Mad Men” (season three, episode eight), Nadia makes an Old-Fashioned Cocktail–inspired Cherry Pie. In “Hair of the Dog Breakfast” (season three, episode thirteen), Nadia makes a Pineapple-Cilantro Martini rimmed with Chile salt and a Smoky Chipotle Bloody Mary. In “Hipster Brunch” (season three, episode sixteen) Nadia makes a Maple Pink Grapefruit Mimosa, Spiced Orange Mimosa, and Vanilla Pineapple Mimosa.

 

2014–til Booze Traveler

The Travel Channel’s host Jack Maxwell travels the world drinking his way through alcohol and its customs.

 

2014–til NCIS: New Orleans

NCIS: New Orleans is a police series set and filmed in New Orleans, Louisiana. New Orleans is known for having many bars, so there are many bar scenes, bars in the background, and lots of parades and celebrations with people drinking. One notable episode is the opening scene of “The Third Man” (season two, episode twenty-three), which shows and mentions two Sazeracs.

 

2014–til The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon

Jimmy Fallon succeeded Jay Leno, becoming the sixth Tonight Show host. He also succeeded in talking the executives into letting him host in New York City instead of California. Many cocktails have been seen and made on the show. He has also mentioned (a few times) the New York City bar PDT. Justin Timberlake makes an Old-Fashioned with his Tequila 9:01, Gordon Ramsey drinks a cocktail he created called Wake Up, You Donkey, Fallon presents light saber cocktails in Collins glasses set on lighted coasters with Stinger shots, Anthony Bourdain makes a Negroni, and Rachel Maddow makes a few cocktails.

 

Fallon also hosts a regular Drinko game with celebrities. Alcoholic drinks normally consist of tequila, sambuca, beer, wine spritzer, peppermint schnapps, champagne, cinnamon whiskey, limoncello, Jägermeister, and absinthe.

 

2014–til The United States of Drinking

A Smithsonian TV show hosted by award-winning food writer Josh Ozersky. Josh explores the science and history of all drinking and drinks, and the shows often delve into cocktails and mixology.

 

2015–til Ash vs. Evil Dead

This is a comedy horror show set approximately thirty years after the first three Evil Dead films. Ash Williams works as a stock boy in the day and drinks in bars at night. In the very first episode of the first season, “El Jefe,” Ash walks into a bar, spots a girl sitting alone, and says to the bartender, “Send me down a Moscow Mule and two of whatever the lady is having.”

 

2015–til Better Call Saul

Better Call Saul is a spin-off prequel of Breaking Bad. The show starts in 2002 and is set in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It follows the story of small-time lawyer Jimmy McGill six years before his appearance on Breaking Bad as Saul Goodman. There are many bar scenes. In “Bali Ha’i” (season 2 episode 6), Rhea Seehorn turns down a Moscow Mule, calling it vintage. Later that evening, she orders herself a Moscow Mule at a bar.

 

2015–til Cocktails & Classics

Michael Urie hosts Cocktails & Classics with celebrity friends who watch and analyze classic films while sipping cocktails. The show begins with Michael introducing the cocktail.

 

2016–til Match Game

Match Game is a panel game show where celebrities try to match fill-in-the-blank questions with contestants. The show was first aired from 1962 to 1969, then 1973 to 1982, then 1990 to 1991, but in the new 2016 show, the celebrities have an alcoholic drink of their choice. The host is Alec Baldwin.