The Zombie was born in 1934 at “Don the Beachcomber,” the Hollywood bar of Donn Beach (Ernest Raymond Beaumont‑Gantt) and father of tiki culture. Beach mixed three rums with lime juice, falernum, Angostura, absinthe, and grenadine to “revive” a weary traveler before a business flight. The customer later confessed he’d felt “like a zombie” for three days—so the name stuck. Beach limited patrons to two Zombies apiece and kept the recipe secret, written in mysterious code behind the bar.

The iconic tequila‑triple sec‑lime drink with the salted rim has several origin tales:

Tijuana, 1938 – Carlos “Danny” Herrera is said to have created it at Rancho La Gloria for dancer Marjorie King, who was allegedly allergic to all spirits except tequila but disliked drinking it neat.

Acapulco, 1948 – Socialite Margarita Sames served her own creation at a party attended by Tommy Hilton; the cocktail soon appeared in Hilton hotels and spread rapidly.

Despite competing stories, they all point to Mexican roots and a surge in U.S. popularity after Prohibition ended.

“La Paloma” (“dove” in Spanish) is now Mexico’s favorite tequila drink. Credit usually goes to Don Javier Delgado Corona, legendary owner of La Capilla in the town of Tequila during the 1950s. He mixed blanco tequila with grapefruit soda (Jarritos launched in 1950), a squeeze of lime, and a pinch of salt. Others say it arose organically as a “Mexican highball” once grapefruit soda became common. Unlike the Margarita, the Paloma conquered Mexican palates first and went global only decades later.

The bittersweet Negroni debuted in 1919 in Florence. Count Camillo Negroni, a globe‑trotting bon vivant just back from the American West, asked bartender Fosco Scarselli at Caffè Casoni to “strengthen” his Americano (Campari‑rosso vermouth‑soda) by replacing the soda with gin. Scarselli garnished it with an orange slice instead of lemon to mark the difference. The Negroni family capitalized on the craze, founding “Negroni Distillerie” and bottling Antico Negroni as early as the 1930s.

The word “spritz” appeared in the Veneto region in the early 19th century, when Austrian soldiers of the Habsburg Empire found local wines too strong and spritzened—splashed—them with soda water.