The Origin Of The Screwdriver

Fancy cocktails are fun to experiment with, but if you're looking for a quick drink, they're probably too complicated to try. Thankfully, there's a cocktail out there that is easy to make and delicious — and it has a fascinating origin story. Ladies and gentlemen, you guessed it! It's the screwdriver, which consists of literally two ingredients: orange juice and vodka.

If you're lucky, you might have both of these ingredients in your refrigerator. If so, it's easy to enjoy a screwdriver whenever you please, without spending any money. While sipping on your simple screwdriver, have you ever stopped to wonder where it got its name?

According to Business Insider, the screwdriver was named decades ago, when American oil workers in the Persian Gulf added vodka to their orange juice to make their job a little easier. Alas, to mix their on-the-go cocktail, they needed a spoon, but there aren't that many spoons lying around the oil fields. To solve this problem, they used a screwdriver instead. Presto! The screwdriver was born.

Though the simple vodka and OJ recipe is the classic way to make the screwdriver, you can add plenty of things to it to spice it up. For example, to achieve a tropical state of mind, we suggest putting fruit in your screwdriver — kiwis and blackberries work well. Or add other juices to the mix to take your screwdriver to the next level, like lemon or passionfruit juice.

Click here for our favorite screwdriver recipe.