DOTD For Wednesday, February 18, 2026
We're Going To Mail It In On Today's Drink…
Today’s DOTD - Drink Of The Day - is an Airmail Cocktail inspired by the first official airmail flight!
The earliest “airmail” was most likely delivered by homing pigeons over a thousand years ago, but the first recorded use of an air vehicle to deliver mail occurred on January 7, 1785, when Jean-Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries delivered a letter across the English Channel to France on a hot air balloon. Blanchard would also deliver the first letter by balloon in the United States, in 1793.
The earliest airmail pioneer, Jean-Pierre Blanchard
Another important event in the history of airmail occurred on August 17, 1859, when John Wise set off for New York City from Lafayette, Indiana with over 120 letters in his balloon, Jupiter. Although he was forced to land after only traveling 25 miles, he would try again in a month and end up traveling over 800 miles.
John Wise sets out from Lafayette, Indiana in 1859
The first known airmail flight by winged aircraft occurred on February 17th, 1911 when Fred Wiseman carried letters, newspapers, and groceries a distance of 15 miles. A day later, the first “official” airmail flight was made when Henri Pequet flew 6,500 letters a distance of eight miles in India.
The first airmail delivery sanctioned by the U.S. Postal Service was made by Earle Ovington in New York on September 23rd, 1911. Ovington never landed, but instead tossed sacks of mail out of his airplane, scattering mail in all directions, a method of mail delivery we strongly recommend against.
After an intermittent series of government sponsored experimental flights between 1911 and 1918, domestic U.S. Air Mail was formally established as a new class of service by the U.S. Post Office Department (the predecessor to the USPS) on May 15, 1918, with the inauguration of the Washington–Philadelphia–New York route for which the first special Air Mail stamps were issued.
Air mail as a distinct service was effectively ended within the United States on October 10, 1975, when all domestic intercity first-class mails began to be transported by air whenever practical and/or expeditious at the normal first-class rate. U.S. domestic air mail as a separate class of service, with its own pricing structure, was formally eliminated by the United States Postal Service (USPS) on May 1, 1977.
Thankfully, today’s Drink Of The Day, the Airmail Cocktail, doesn’t need USPS approval.
Ingredients
Here’s what you’re going to need for this drink:
