Episode 65: Cocktail Charlie – The Fairbank Cocktail

Monster in a Glass

If you do a quick search on the internet you will find any number of websites and blogs mentioning the Fairbank Cocktail, or more accurately, the Fairbanks Cocktail. You will also find that most confidently claim that the drink was named after actor Douglass Fairbanks. Occasionally, the voice of reason comes through and points to U.S. Vice President Charles Fairbanks as the origin for this drink. We here at the Black Liver Project try hard to do our research and present information as accurately as possible. Here is a hint: it doesn’t have anything to do with Douglass Fairbanks.

Join us as we explore this drink and get mad at the internet. The focus of the episode is the rise of Charles “Cocktail Charlie” Fairbanks and his political fall, because booze. Teddy Roosevelt has popped up pretty often throughout this podcast, but is featured heavily in this episode. That’s right folks, he killed big game, led the Rough Riders, and was still had time to throw his VP under the temperance bus.

The cocktail ingredients are as follows:

• 1½ oz Gin


• ¾ oz Vermouth


• 2 dashes Crème de Noyaux


• 2 dashes Orange Bitters

This cocktail was so, so pretty. It was pink and delicate, we all wanted to gently kiss and snuggle it. And then we tasted it. If you like a wet martini, this drink would suit you well, but it is just so shocking because it totally destroys expectations the color suggests. On further consideration, we even wondered if this dissonance was intended as a part of a joke ie that this cocktail is essentially a joke cocktail poking fun at Charles Fairbanks aka Cocktail Charlie.