Since today is September 24th, the birthday of legendary writer F. Scott Fitzgerald - perhaps America’s drunkest author of all time - today’s DOTD (Drink Of The Day) is the Daisy cocktail, inspired by Fitzgerald’s birthday and his character Daisy, the lady love of Fitzgerald’s most famous character, Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby.
“Daisy” is also the name of Jody’s girl cat that often visits us in the bar - but back to Mr. Fitzgerald.
While many have made a joke about his name, especially those he’d wronged, F. Scott Fitzgerald wasn’t trying to be cool by using his first initial. He reportedly just preferred to be be called “Scott” as opposed to “Francis.”
Fitzgerald published four novels, four collections of short stories, and 164 short stories. His success while he was alive was confined to a short period in the 1920s. He’s now considered one of the greatest 20th century American writers, but he wasn’t fully appreciated until after his death. He was the archetype of famous authors who wrote prolifically, swore profusely, and drink heavily.
Ignoring the details of his early life, his time at Princeton, and his failed attempt to become a successful writer while he was living in New York, he ultimately decamped to the top floor of his parents’ house. There he rewrote his first rejected novel manuscript as This Side of Paradise, an autobiographical account of his time at Princeton and failed romances.
When it finally published in 1920, This Side of Paradise became an instant success, becoming a cultural sensation in a matter of months. Critics swooned and magazines published his previously rejected articles. One of his lost loves, Zelda, even came back and married him.
In 1924, the Fitzgeralds moved to Paris, where Scott worked on his magnum opus, The Great Gatsby.
Fitzgerald was a raging alcoholic from his college days onward, and he ultimately drank and smoked himself into a terminal spiral. He made a drunken fool of himself at parties, was hospitalized for alcoholism 8 times, and was thrown in jail a few more. As his alcoholism grew, his writing declined, and he had no more big successes. By the end of his life, he was largely forgotten in the entertainment discourse of the day, and he was ultimately reduced to being a contract writer for the Metro-Golden-Mayer film studios in Hollywood. He died in Los Angeles of a heart attack at the ripe old age of 44.
While Fitzgerald’s life was a disaster due to alcohol, we don’t think that means we should put the bottle away. Instead, we’ll embrace responsible drinking by teaching you how to make ONE Daisy cocktail, for Daisy Buchanan, a key character in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. While there are mixed opinions about Daisy, we think the Daisy cocktail will only make you happy.
Daisies are a family of cocktails that are basically the template for a type of drink known as a sour (spirit, citrus, sweetener) with soda water added. Originally, the sweetener was most often a liqueur, but by the time the 20th century rolled around, grenadine was more commonly used.
While daises can be made differently, we’re making today’s DOTD with gin, because gin was Fitzgerald’s favored spirit, something he apparently believed would not be detected on his breath.
Thank you to the Drunkard’s Almanac for the history on this drink, and for the basis of some of the other stories behind our drinks of the day.
Ingredients
Here’s what you’re going to need for this drink:
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