DOTD For Wednesday, November 12, 2025

You'll Love This Drink In A… Well, 60 Seconds.

Today’s DOTD - Drink Of The Day - is the New York Minute, inspired by National Happy Hour Day!

If you think the term “Happy Hour Day” is confusing, this next bit of linguistic explanation will really spin your head.

In most bars, the term “happy hour” doesn’t reflect a collective state of joy, so much as it reflects a period of comparatively cheap booze. Further, the “happy” in “happy hour'“ usually means “discount,” but the “hour” is often much longer than an hour - in some cases all night. Which is often what cocky young men promise, though their more experienced partners know that their stamina is usually closer to a New York Minute.

                            One of our favorite TV places for “Happy Hour,” Cheers!

The origin of the term “happy hour” dates back to the late 19th century, when it began as a name for community social clubs, especially those hosted by and for women. Hundreds of clubs around the U.S. used “happy hour’ as part of their name, and the clubs acted as social hubs for lectures, dancing, dining quilting, & games.

The modern concept of happy hour, however, has been traced to the U.S. Navy. Around 1914, during the U.S. occupation of Veracruz Harbor, Mexico, during the Mexican Revolution, a group of U.S. sailors who called themselves the “Happy Hour Social Club” began hosting twice-weekly events aboard the battleship USS Arkansas. These events weren’t about drinking though,

These events weren’t about imbibing alcohol, however. In fact, in 1914, Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels issued General Order 99, which prohibited the use of alcohol on ships and around naval stations, and was spurred by the rise of the anti-alcohol “temperance” movement.

So instead of drinking, the “happy hour” events on the USS Arkansas were about entertainment, like singing songs, watching movies, or hosting boxing matches between sailors, with the intent of building morale. Eventually, the custom was taken up on other navy ships, and from there moved to the private sector.

The popularity of “Happy hours” began before prohibition, and has long outlasted them, continuing to today, and likely long into the future.

Anyway, cheap drinks always go down well in a bar, an event worth celebrating on National Happy Hour Day with today’s Drink Of The Day – the New York Minute!

Ingredients

Here’s what you’re going to need for this drink: