List of fictional drinks
Many works of fiction have incorporated into their world the existence of beverages or drinks – liquids made for popular consumption - which may create a sense of the world in which the story takes place, and in some cases may serve to advance the plot of the story. These products may be fictional brands which serve as a stand in for brand names, and in that capacity may be a vessel for mockery of the marketing culture associated with brand name products (e.g., Duff Beer from The Simpsons; Buzz Beer from The Drew Carey Show). In science fiction, beverages from alien races may enhance the sense of a futuristic society (e.g. Romulan Ale in Star Trek).[1]
While there are many fictional liquids that can be consumed, fictional liquid medicines and magical potions (such as the liquid that causes Alice to shrink in Alice in Wonderland) may not be widely available for common consumption, or may simply not be described as being used for that purpose, and thus would not be considered "beverages" at all.
Contents
1 Alcoholic or intoxicating beverages
1.1 In literature and print
1.2 In film
1.3 In television
1.4 In radio
1.5 Miscellaneous
2 Non-alcoholic beverages
2.1 In film
2.2 In television
2.3 Miscellaneous
3 Magical/fantasy beverages
3.1 In literature and print
4 Fictional beverages later marketed
5 See also
6 References
7 External links
Alcoholic or intoxicating beverages
In literature and print
| Beverage | Source | Date of first mention | Description and significance |
Moloko Plus (Nadsat for "Milk Plus") | A Clockwork Orange | 1962 | Aka "milk with knives in it"; drunk by the protagonist to get him in the mood for "a bit of the old ultraviolence" [2] In the film, Moloko Plus is milk laced with one of three (possibly illegal) drugs, Vellocet, Synthemesc and Drencrom. Alex and his droogs prefer the version containing Drencrom. |
| Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster | The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | 1978 | A legendary cocktail invented by Zaphod Beeblebrox, based on "Old Janx Spirit". The effect of drinking it is "like having your brains smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick."[3] Many real-life recipes for this drink exist. |
| Victory Gin | Nineteen Eighty-Four | 1949 | A cheap, low-quality drink supplied by the government. It has a "sickly, oily smell" and tastes like nitric acid;[4] swallowing it gives "the sensation of being hit on the back of the head with a rubber club."[5]Winston Smith, the protagonist, frequently drinks it despite its disagreeable taste and smell. Only party members have access to Victory Gin; beer (which is of much better quality than Victory Gin) is the drink of the proles. |
| Vesper | Casino Royale | 1953 | Three measures of Gordon's, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it's ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel. Named after the original Bond girl, Vesper Lynd. Since Kina Liliet is no longer available, it can be approximated by using modern Lillet or Cocchi Americano.[6] |
In film
| Beverage | Source | Date of first mention | Description and significance |
| Black Pony Scotch | Laura[7] | 1944 | A bottle of this brand is found in the apartment of the title character (who is understood to have been murdered), leading the detective investigating the crime to develop suspicions based on his belief that she would not drink so cheap a brand. In the stage play of the film, the product is called "Four Horses Scotch".[7] |
| Elsinore beer | Strange Brew | 1983 | The plot was loosely based on Shakespeare's Hamlet, but the key characters were either stakeholders or employees of the company that made this beer, which was contaminated by an evil mastermind in a plot to control the world.[8][9] |
In television
| Beverage | Source | Date of first mention | Description and significance |
| Alamo Beer | King of the Hill | 1997 | Seen as the popular beer in the town and with many of the characters. Was used as the main plot of the episode "Beer and Loathing". |
| Binge Beer | NASULG | 1999 | Created by the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULG) for a series of television commercials in their anti-drinking campaign.[10] |
| Buzz Beer | The Drew Carey Show | May 8, 1996 | A mixture of beer and coffee brewed and mixed by the characters in Drew's garage.[11][12] The production and marketing of this product created numerous situations in which the dynamics of the characters played out. In one episode, a product with the same ingredients called Cap-Beer-Cino was made by a competitor. |
| Duff Beer | The Simpsons.[11][13] | Consumed by many characters, this beer has been prevalent throughout the series since its introduction in May 1990, and provides a basis for numerous storylines. Variations include Duff Lite, Duff Dry, and Duff Dark. Fudd Beer is sold in competition with Duff Beer, and is reportedly popular in Shelbyville despite having blinded hillbillies. | |
| Flaming Moe (Flaming Homer) | The Simpsons episode "Flaming Moe's"[11] | November 21, 1991 | Drink invented by Homer Simpson and then co-opted by the Moe the bartender, which becomes wildly popular. It consists of several alcoholic beverages mixed together with children's cough syrup and is set on fire before serving. |
| Girlie Girl Beer | Married... with Children | Lead character Al Bundy's favorite beer, and the official beer of his anti-feminist club, NO-MA'AM - that is, until Yoko Ono becomes the brand's official spokesperson. | |
| Glen McKenna scotch | How I Met Your Mother episode "Intervention" | October 13, 2008 | An expensive scotch appearing at various point throughout the series.[14] |
| Panther Pilsner Beer | The Three Stooges short subject, Three Little Beers;[15] | November 28, 1935 | In this short, the Three Stooges work for the beer company that manufactures this product, and end up sending barrels of it rolling through the streets. |
| Screaming Viking | Cheers | September 24, 1987[16] | This drink is made-up by the bar regulars to boot out the new bartender, Wayne, in favor of keeping Woody. It eventually becomes an actual drink in the real world.[17] |
| Uncle Jemima's Pure Mash Liquor | Saturday Night Live | February 5, 2000 | In three episodes airing February 5, 2000, March 18, 2000, and May 13, 2000; "Uncle Jemima" (played by Tracy Morgan), is the husband of Aunt Jemima, "the pancake lady", and the creator of the beverage in this commercial parody. The commercial jabs at old-time racial stereotypes perpetuated by products like Aunt Jemima. Uncle Jemima comments that while his wife says "sellin' booze is degradin' to our people", "I always say that black folk ain't exactly swellin' up with pride on account of you flippin' flapjacks".[18] |
| Vitameatavegamin | I Love Lucy episode, "Lucy Does a TV Commercial" | May 5, 1952[19][20] | Lucy schemes to get on Ricky's TV show by appearing in a commercial for this beverage, which is said to contain "vitamins, meat, vegetables and minerals". As Lucy does repeated takes of the commercial and swallows dose after dose, her increasingly tipsy behavior reveals that the product also contains alcohol. |
In radio
| Beverage | Source | Date of first mention | Description and significance |
| Shires | The Archers | 1951[21] | Served in The Bull, Ambridge, the village pub in world's longest running soap opera[22]The Archers. A cask beer real ale.[21] |
| Otter's Crest, Old Monk's Bell, Sailor's Junk, Orbital, Tandoor, Riland's Dark Water, Allison's Amber | Double Science | May 2008[23] | In all episodes fictional real ale is discussed by the errant science teachers. Particularly in episode 3, "4 Extra Premiere". |
Miscellaneous
| Beverage | Source | Date of first mention | Description and significance |
| Bear Whiz Beer | Everything You Know Is Wrong | October 1974 | Apparently an ordinary American light lager, depicted in the subsequent 1975 film of the same name as being ladled directly out of a mountain stream by a rugged-looking outdoorsman. Its packaging is described with vaguely sexual undertones, and it is implied to not be beer at all, but rather the product of bears urinating into fresh water, possibly a critique of the inexpensive, mass-produced American lager style beers which are commonly advertised in North America in a similar manner. "As my daddy said, 'Son, it's in the water. That's why it's yellow.'" |
| Heisler Beer | Various | Essentially a placeholder name for a beer, this brand has appeared in many films and television shows. |
Non-alcoholic beverages
In film
| Beverage | Source | Date of first mention | Description and significance |
| Adrenalode[24] | Turbo | 2013 | A potent energy drink promoted by 5-time Indianapolis 500 champ Guy Gagné, Adrenalode contains ingredients such as Phonisirene, Ethylonium, Tauranidrene, Chloriadium, and Tastebadazine which in fine print are "not recommended for ingestion". |
| Blue milk | Star Wars | 1977 | Blue coloured bantha milk. Bantha is an animal, which lives on planet Tatooine. |
| Booty Sweat energy drink | Tropic Thunder | 2008 | Part of the multi-pronged product empire of that film's character, Alpa Chino.[25] The drink, like other products, supports the use of Chino as a parody of other rappers or musicians who become multi-product moguls. Chino has a supply of the beverage throughout the film, and plugs it (anachronistically) during the filming of the Vietnam war film-within-a-film. |
| Botijola | Mort & Phil. Mission: Save Earth | 2008 | An awful beverage that contains no water in its formula. The evil producer of the beverage wants to produce a world drought, so people will be forced to drink his product. |
| Buzzz Cola | Surf II: The End of the Trilogy | 1984 | A popular soft drink that the film's antagonist, teenage mad scientist Menlo Schwartzer, chemically alters to turn its drinkers into garbage-eating zombie slaves as part of a scheme to rid Southern California of its surfer population.[26] The preferred drink of rebellious youth and mindless drones. |
| Cadre Cola | The Running Man | 1987 | The sponsor of The Running Man TV game show. |
| Dark Planet Cola | Escape from Planet Earth | 2013 | A green cola popular on Planet Baab that is somehow 800% sugar and made to promote Scorch Supernova's mission to the Dark Planet. |
| Fizzy Bubblech | You Don't Mess with the Zohan | 2008 | A soft drink in an unusually shaped bottle popular in Israel. |
| Slusho! | Cloverfield, Star Trek | 2008 (earlier in Alias) | As part of the viral marketing campaign, the drink Slusho! has served as a tie-in. The drink had already appeared in producer Abrams' previous creation, the TV series Alias.[27] |
In television
| Beverage | Source | Date of first mention | Description and significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Killer Shrew | Mystery Science Theater 3000 | 1992, "The Killer Shrews" | Featured in the last two host segments of the episode, a send up of the Alaskan Polar Bear Heater. Composed majorly of candies and sweets, very thick. Joel passes out after a taste, while Frank has an extreme sugar rush. He manages to drink it all, but is very nauseous, prompting Dr. Forrester to give him an ipecac. |
| Buzz Cola | The Simpsons | 1994, "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy" | Used in The Simpsons series as a parody of Jolt Cola. Bart is often seen drinking it. |
| Slurm | Futurama | 1999, "Fry & the Slurm Factory" | Highly addictive soft drink used as a favorite of Fry's. Used as the plot of an entire episode where it is learned how slurm is made. |
| Sprünt | Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge | 1994 | A German soft drink that Alan illegally advertises on his chat show. |
| Pitt Cola | Gravity Falls | 2012, "Tourist Trapped" | Peach flavored soda, popular in the town of Gravity Falls; this is a reference to director Joe Pitt. |
Miscellaneous
| Beverage | Source | Date of first mention | Description and significance |
| Nuka-Cola | Fallout (video game) | ~1997 | In Fallout, Nuka-Cola is a unique soft drink that gained widespread popularity sometime before the Great War. It comes in multiple flavors; Nuka Cola Quantum, which is distinguishable by its blue radioactive glow. Classic Nuka Cola, which is the regular version. Nuka Cola Cherry, a cherry flavored version of Nuka Cola. Diet Nuka Cola, a diet version with a lowered sugar level. Nuka Grape. Nuka-Cola Dark. Nuka-Cola Orange, an orange flavored soda. Nuka-Cola Quartz. Nuka-Cola Victory. Nuka Cola wild. |
Magical/fantasy beverages
In literature and print
| Beverage | Source | Date of first mention | Description and significance |
| Butterbeer | Fictional universe of Harry Potter | 1999 | Butterbeer is the drink of choice for younger wizards. Harry is first presented with the beverage in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.[28] |
| Ent-draught | The Lord of the Rings | An extremely invigorating drink of the tree-like Ents. Characters Merry and Pippin drink this while traveling with the Ents, which results in both characters growing taller. | |
| Getafix's magic potion | Asterix | The magic potion the druid Getafix makes to give the villagers superhuman strength to fight the Romans. | |
| Lacasa | The Road to Oz | "A sort of nectar famous in Oz and nicer to drink than soda-water or lemonade." | |
Nectar and Ambrosia | Greek mythology | Before 424 BC | In ancient Greek mythology, nectar is drunk by the gods, and ambrosia (αμβροσία, Greek: immortality) is sometimes the food, sometimes the drink, of the gods, often depicted as conferring ageless immortality upon whoever consumes it. Ambrosia was brought to the gods in Olympus by doves (Odyssey xii.62), so may have been thought of in the Homeric tradition as a kind of divine exhalation of the Earth. |
| Frobscottle | The BFG | 1982 | A drink which tastes of vanilla and, in the BFG's words, "makes you whizzpop". |
Fictional beverages later marketed
Some real-life beverages were created and marketed after appearing as fictional, as is the case with Duff Beer from the TV show The Simpsons. To promote The Simpsons Movie, convenience store 7-Eleven marketed a Duff-branded energy drink.
Booty Sweat - Tropic Thunder[25]
Brawndo - Idiocracy[29][30]
Duff Beer - The Simpsons[11]
- Squishee - The Simpsons
- Swill - Saturday Night Live
Buzz Cola - The Simpsons
Romulan Ale - at the Star Trek Experience in Las Vegas, NV.
Romulan Ale - an energy drink created and marketed by Boston America Corp.- Klingon Raktajino - also available previously at the Star Trek Experience.
Slurm - Futurama
Victory Gin - In the late 1980s and early 1990s UK off licence chain Victoria Wine sold an own brand of gin called Victory Gin. It was not deliberately styled after the unpalatable product in Nineteen Eighty-Four; rather, it was originally called Portsmouth Gin, but this presumably caused confusion with Plymouth Gin. The name was changed to Victory, after Nelson's famous flagship HMS Victory, a tourist attraction in Portsmouth, the marketers presumably unaware of the brand's literary namesake.
See also
Independent Studio Services, provider of props, including several fictionally branded beverages, to television and movie productions- List of Middle-earth food and drink#Beverages
References
^ Robin Andersen, Jonathan Gray, Battleground: The Media (2008), p. 386.
^ Toxic substances, semiotic forms: Towards a socio- and textual analysis of altered senses - Semiotica. Volume 2007, Issue 166, Pages 409–426, ISSN (Online) 1613-3692, ISSN (Print) 0037-1998, doi:10.1515/SEM.2007.064, August 2007
^ Eater, The Cocktail at the End of the Universe
^ Extra Crispy, What '1984' Tells Us About Eating Under a Totalitarian Regime
^ Michael Rademacher, Orwell and Hitler: Mein Kampf as a source for Nineteen Eighty-Four
^ Serious Eats, The Vesper Cocktail Recipe
^ ab Eugene McNamara, "Laura" as Novel, Film, and Myth (1992), p. 10.
^ Duane Swierczynski, The Big Book O' Beer: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Greatest Beverage on Earth (2004), p. 182-83.
^ "Rick Moranis opts out of cartoon take on iconic comic duo Bob and Doug". CKWS. November 3, 2008.And we can't drink Elsinore beer because we don't own that, MGM does. And all these big companies are so litigious and so proprietary that you can't mess ...
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^ "Anti-Binge Forces Tap 'Beer' Ad". CBS News. 1999. Retrieved 2009-05-11.The ads feature a bottle of the fictional beverage, which is not available in any stores. The National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULG), sponsor of the campaign, doesn't intend to sell the fictional beer to college students, but to convince them and their parents that binge drinking is dangerous.
^ abcd McDuffee, Keith (February 5, 2008). "Nine fictional beverages from TV". TV Squad. Retrieved 2009-05-11.
^ Barry Nalebuff, Ian Ayres, Why Not?: How to Use Everyday Ingenuity to Solve Problems Big and Small (2006), p. 168.
^ Jonathan Gray, Watching with The Simpsons: television, parody, and intertextuality (2006), p. 80.
^ Kara Newman, "Good Riddance, Glen McKenna: I'll miss How I Met Your Mother, but I won’t miss its stupid fake Scotch", Slate.com (March 16, 2014).
^ Robert Kurson, The Official Three Stooges Encyclopedia (1999).
^ Bjorklund, Dennis A. Toasting Cheers: An Episode Guide, 1982–1993. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co, 1997. 332. Google Books. Web. 21 May 2012.
ISBN 978-0-89950-962-4.
^ Silverstein, Clara. "Cheers". The Boston Chef's Table. Guilford, CO: The Globe Pequot Press, 2008. Google Books. Web. 20 May 2012.
^ Script of SNL commercial.
^ Michael Karol, Lucy A to Z (2004), p. 197,
^ Karin Adir, The Great Clowns of American Television (2001), p. 12.
^ ab "Liquid assets: Shires". Telegraph Media Group Limited. Retrieved 2012-10-20.
^ The Archers airs 15,000th episode, BBC News, 2012-10-20
^ "Double Science". [BBC]. Retrieved 2013-01-03.
^ Adrenalode - Feed the Speed Archived 2013-06-12 at the Library of Congress Web Archives
^ ab "Booty Sweat". Paramount Pictures. Retrieved 2009-05-11.
^ "Surf II > Overview". AllMovie.
^ Silas Lesnick (2007-12-14). "Cloverfield Director Matt Reeves". IESB. Archived from the original on 2007-12-17. Retrieved 2007-12-22.One of the weirdest aspects of the advertising has been the Slusho tie-in. It was also later referenced in the beginning bar scene during the 2009 film Star Trek, as it too was directed by Abrams.
^ http://www.avclub.com/article/raise-butterbeer-harry-potter-most-underrated-hit--245402
^ "Brawndo". Twentieth Century Fox as Omni Consumer Products. Retrieved 2009-05-11.
^ "Energy Drink Puts Hair on Your Breath". National Public Radio. January 17, 2008. Retrieved 2009-05-11.Brawndo started out as a fictional beverage in Idiocracy. Now James Kirby has turned it into a real energy drink ...
External links
 | The Wikibook Bartending has a page on the topic of: Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster |
