DOTD For Wednesday, October 22, 2025

A Drink To Light Up Your Day - Or Night

Today’s DOTD - Drink Of The Day - is a Combustible Edison Cocktail inspired by the invention of lightbulb by Thomas Edison on this day on October 22, 1879.

While the idea of the lightbulb itself had been around for nearly 75 years, iwas on this date in 1879 that Edison perfected the filament light bulb. Or we should say perfected it for the moment, as after arduous development, it stayed lit for the first time for a significant 13.5 hours. Not quite what we’re accustomed to today, but nonetheless a milestone event.

Thomas Edison was born in 1847 in Ohio, but grew up in Michigan after his family moved. His mother taught him reading, writing, and arithmetic and he ended up attending school for only a few months. That said, he was noted for being curious.

Edison developed hearing problems at the age of 12, most likely due to a bout of scarlet fever and untreated middle ear infections. He ended up completely deaf in one ear and barely hearing out of the other. Edison believe this helped him avoid distractions and concentrate more fully on his work, but modern historians and medical professionals figure he had ADHD.

Edison became an employee of Western Union when he was 19, and then requested the night shift - which left him time to read and run experiments. But he notably got fired when he spilled battery acid on the floor, which ate through the floor - and then landed on his boss’s desk on the floor below.

Edison soon established a research lab in Menlo Park, New Jersey with funds from selling the quadruplex telegraph he invented. The Edison companiy’s top inventions included the invention of the phonograph (AKA “record player”) and the motion picture camera. But the incandescent light bulb is considered one of his signature achievements.

It was 1878 and after the phonograph Edison set his sights on making the light bulb functional, stable - and a salable product. He figured he and his team of 40 researchers could do it in 3-4 months. But it wasn’t until more than a year had passed that he and his team “perfected” the device.

It took around 1,200 experiments to get there, trying all kinds of materials. It turns out a filament of coiled cotton thread baked until it was all carbon and placed inside an evacuated glass bulb did the trick. For most of the next 125 years, the filament lightbulb was the most common lightbulb in the world

These days, the far more efficient LED & CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lamp) bulbs dominate, and filament bulbs are primarily for decorative usage.

Still, we raise a glass today to Thomas Edison for making life after sundown not only possible, but a common normal thing.

Ingredients

Here’s what you’re going to need to make a Combustible Edison Cocktail: