Many works of fiction have incorporated into their world the existence of beverages or drinks – liquids made for popular consumption – which may create a sense of the world in which the story takes place, and in some cases may serve to advance the plot of the story. These products may be fictional brands which serve as a stand in for brand names, and in that capacity may be a vessel for mockery of the marketing culture associated with brand name products (e.g., Duff Beer from The Simpsons; Buzz Beer from The Drew Carey Show). In science fiction, beverages from alien races may enhance the sense of a futuristic society (e.g. Romulan Ale in Star Trek).[1]
While there are many fictional liquids that can be consumed, fictional liquid medicines and magical potions (such as the liquid that causes Alice to shrink in Alice in Wonderland) may not be widely available for common consumption, or may simply not be described as being used for that purpose, and thus would not be considered "beverages" at all.
Aka "milk with knives in it"; drunk by the protagonist to get him in the mood for "a bit of the old ultraviolence"[2] In the film, Moloko Plus is milk laced with one of three (possibly illegal) drugs, Vellocet, Synthemesc and Drencrom. Alex and his droogs prefer the version containing Drencrom.
A legendary cocktail invented by Zaphod Beeblebrox, based on "Old Janx Spirit." The effect of drinking it is "like having your brains smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick."[4] Many real-life recipes for this drink exist.
A cheap, low-quality drink supplied by the government. It has a "sickly, oily smell" and tastes like nitric acid;[5] swallowing it gives "the sensation of being hit on the back of the head with a rubber club."[6]Winston Smith, the protagonist, frequently drinks it despite its disagreeable taste and smell. Only party members have access to Victory Gin; beer (which is of much better quality than Victory Gin) is the drink of the proles, while wine (which Winston finds disappointingly bland) is only available to the Inner Party. In the 2018 film Terminal, Annie as a waitress serves Bill a drink of Victory Gin, the gin from George Orwell's 1984.
Three measures of Gordon's, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it's ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel. Named after the original Bond girl, Vesper Lynd. Since Kina Lillet is no longer available, it can be approximated by using modern Lillet or Cocchi Americano.[7]
Old Sock
The last Gold Diggers, The Last Polar Bears
1998, 1993
A drink consumed by Wolves in the Arctic whilst Roo and Grandfather are trying to find polar bears and by Kangaroos and koalas in Australia. Reportedly alcoholic as the Wolves were reported to have been acting in a drunk and disorderly manner.
A brandy made by the House of bel Auster in Emberlain. It is a famous mercantile export of Emberlain, and plays a key role in an elaborate confidence trick in the book.
A wine made in the fictional Duchy of Grand Fenwick, an independent microstate from Leonard Wibberley's Grand Fenwick series. The wine is the Duchy's primary export, and is described as a favourite of wine connoisseurs. Particularly popular in the US, this wine inspired the cheap, Californian, imitation Pinot Grand Enwick, and issue which prompted the events of The Mouse That Roared.[8] In the sequel novel The Mouse on the Moon a variant of the wine is discovered to have nuclear properties, such that a simple reaction with iron-filings creates enough energy to propel a space ship.[9]
A bottle of this brand is found in the apartment of the title character (who is understood to have been murdered), leading the detective investigating the crime to develop suspicions based on his belief that she would not drink so cheap a brand. In the stage play of the film, the product is called "Four Horses Scotch".[10]
The plot was loosely based on Shakespeare's Hamlet, but the key characters were either stakeholders or employees of the company that made this beer, which was contaminated by an evil mastermind in a plot to control the world.[11][12]
A highly intoxicating beverage, which is outlawed within the Federation but nonetheless occasionally shown aboard Federation ships, typically with some commentary as to its prohibited / bootleg status. Generally light to medium-blue in color. Despite the use of the term "ale" in its name, Romulan Ale is depicted on-screen as an uncarbonated liquid poured from a flask or decanter which, along with its high potency, suggests a distilled spirit.
A high-end liquor, generally depicted as being served neat. Likely analogous to brandy, in the original series it is shown alternately as either red or light brown in color, while in the re-imagined series, it is always bright green.
Created by the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULG) for a series of television commercials in their anti-drinking campaign.[14]
A mixture of beer and coffee brewed and mixed by the characters in Drew's garage.[15][16] The production and marketing of this product created numerous situations in which the dynamics of the characters played out. In one episode, a product with the same ingredients called Cap-Beer-Cino was made by a competitor.
Death Comes for the Archbishop
Blandings
February 17, 21013 "Problems with Drink"
Composed of equal measures (one supposes) of gin, sherry, port, brandy, pudding wine, with a substantial dash bitters, this concoction is guaranteed to "insulate the drinker against the amorous attentions of the female." ("I should think it would, sir," replies Beach.)
Consumed by many characters, this beer has been prevalent throughout the series since its introduction in May 1990, and provides a basis for numerous storylines. Variations include Duff Lite, Duff Dry, and Duff Dark. Fudd Beer is sold in competition with Duff Beer, and is reportedly popular in Shelbyville despite having blinded hillbillies.
Originated from Charlie and Mac attempting to create "the first alcoholic, dairy-based protein drink for bodyguards by bodyguards." The beverage consists of a mixture of milk, vodka and crow eggs (added for "crowtien"). Fight Milk has also been featured in Season 12's "Wolf Cola".
Drink invented by Homer Simpson and then co-opted by Moe the bartender, which becomes wildly popular. It consists of several alcoholic beverages mixed together with children's cough syrup and is set on fire before serving.
Lead character Al Bundy's favorite beer, and the official beer of his anti-feminist club, NO-MA'AM – that is, until Yoko Ono becomes the brand's official spokesperson.
In this short, the Three Stooges work for the beer company that manufactures this product, and end up sending barrels of it rolling through the streets.
Rigor Mortis
Blandings
March 30, 2014, "Custody of the Pumpkin"
"The secret of a really stiff rigor mortis is plenty of yellow chartreuse," mixed, presumably with gin, and shaken in a large jug.
This drink is made-up by the bar regulars to boot out the new bartender, Wayne, in favor of keeping Woody. It eventually becomes an actual drink in the real world.[22]
In three episodes airing February 5, 2000, March 18, 2000, and May 13, 2000; "Uncle Jemima" (played by Tracy Morgan), is the husband of Aunt Jemima, "the pancake lady", and the creator of the beverage in this commercial parody. The commercial jabs at old-time racial stereotypes perpetuated by products like Aunt Jemima. Uncle Jemima comments that while his wife says "sellin' booze is degradin' to our people", "I always say that black folk ain't exactly swellin' up with pride on account of you flippin' flapjacks".[23]
Lucy schemes to get on Ricky's TV show by appearing in a commercial for this beverage, which is said to contain "vitamins, meat, vegetables and minerals". As Lucy does repeated takes of the commercial and swallows dose after dose, her increasingly tipsy behavior reveals that the product also contains alcohol.
Gustavo Fring gifts Don Eladio a poisoned bottle of Zafiro Añejo, an expensive high-end tequila brand. The brand reappears throughout the spin-off series Better Call Saul, with the agave-shaped bottle stopper becoming a recurring symbol of Jimmy McGill and Kim Wexler's cons.
Apparently an ordinary American light lager, depicted in the subsequent 1975 film of the same name as being ladled directly out of a mountain stream by a rugged-looking outdoorsman. Its packaging is described with vaguely sexual undertones, and it is implied to not be beer at all, but rather the product of bears urinating into fresh water, possibly a critique of the inexpensive, mass-produced American lager style beers which are commonly advertised in North America in a similar manner. "As my daddy said, 'Son, it's in the water. That's why it's yellow.'"
A potent energy drink promoted by 5-time Indianapolis 500 champ Guy Gagné, Adrenalode contains ingredients such as Phonisirene, Ethylonium, Tauranidrene, Chloriadium, and Tastebadazine which in fine print are "not recommended for ingestion".
Part of the multi-pronged product empire of that film's character, Alpa Chino.[30] The drink, like other products, supports the use of Chino as a parody of other rappers or musicians who become multi-product moguls. Chino has a supply of the beverage throughout the film, and plugs it (anachronistically) during the filming of the Vietnam war film-within-a-film.
An awful beverage that contains no water in its formula. The evil producer of the beverage wants to produce a world drought, so people will be forced to drink his product.[31]
A popular soft drink that the film's antagonist, teenage mad scientist Menlo Schwartzer, chemically alters to turn its drinkers into garbage-eating zombie slaves as part of a scheme to rid Southern California of its surfer population.[32] The preferred drink of rebellious youth and mindless drones.
As part of the viral marketing campaign, the drink Slusho! has served as a tie-in. The drink had already appeared in producer Abrams' previous creation, the TV series Alias.[33]
Gut Milk is the fictional vanilla-blast flavored supplement and multi-level marketing product featured in Only Murders in the Building. It is sold by Ursula to various residents in the building. Oliver buys some in exchange for information about Tim Kono, as does one of Cinda Canning's minions.
Featured in the last two host segments of the episode, a send up of the Alaskan Polar Bear Heater. Composed majorly of candies and sweets, very thick. Joel passes out after a taste, while Frank has an extreme sugar rush. He manages to drink it all, but is very nauseous, prompting Dr. Forrester to give him an ipecac.
2010, "In Which Claims Are Made and a Journey Ensues"
Energy Drink which Todd Margaret is tasked with selling in the UK, contains a chemical property sought by terrorists to create weapons. Central to many early-series plot devices and scenarios.
Caffeinated drink favored by forensic scientist Abby Sciuto and represented on screen first by Hawaiian Punch and later by unsweetened cranberry juice.[35]
In the video game franchiseFallout, Nuka-Cola is a unique soft drink inspired by Coca-Cola that gained widespread popularity sometime before the Great War, an atomic war between China and the United States. It comes in multiple flavors, such as Nuka Cola Quantum, which is distinguishable by its blue radioactive glow, Classic Nuka Cola, which is the regular version, Nuka-Cola Dark, an attempt by the company to create an alcoholic beverage, Nuka-Cola Orange, Nuka Grape, Nuka Cola Cherry, Nuka-Cola Quartz, Nuka-Cola Victory and Nuka Cola Wild. Nuka Cola Quantum was then remade by Jones Soda for a limited time offer in stores, though, it is purchasable on some online websites now like eBay. According to Fallout lore, it has a very high sugar content of 43 grams, and it is known to give people withdrawal and vascular problems.
Mad Monk Kvass is a brand of kvass in DayZ named after one of Rasputin's nicknames, the Mad Monk and Mad Monk Kvass has an image of Rasputin on the cans.
NiCola is a fictional Japanese brand of Cola within Cyberpunk 2077 often advertised as an Aphrodisiac with slogan's such as "Feel the chemistry" and "Taste the love".
Bonk! Atomic Punch is a brand of energy drink featured as an unlockable secondary item for the Scout in Team Fortress 2. When drunk, it grants the player temporary invincibility for 8 seconds, though getting hit by enemy fire will result in a temporary reduction of speed after the effects wear off.
Perk-A-Colas are brands of soft drinks seen in the zombies mode that give multiple benefits, most of which mirror perks from the multiplayer mode. Notable variants include Juggernog, Speed Cola, Double Tap Root Beer, Quick Revive, PhD Flopper, and Stamin-Up.
An abnormal collection of 24 bottles of Coca-Cola. Consumers of the contents (SCP-207-1) are provided with above-standard speed and reflexes, but die within 48 hours due to the failure of organs or internal injuries caused by overactivity. Appears as a consumable item in SCP - Containment Breach to provide a boost in speed for the player character.
An extremely invigorating drink of the tree-like Ents. Characters Merry and Pippin drink this while traveling with the Ents, which results in both characters growing taller.
In ancient Greek mythology, nectar is drunk by the gods, and ambrosia (αμβροσία, Greek: immortality) is sometimes the food, sometimes the drink, of the gods, often depicted as conferring ageless immortality upon whoever consumes it. Ambrosia was brought to the gods in Olympus by doves (Odyssey xii.62), so may have been thought of in the Homeric tradition as a kind of divine exhalation of the Earth.
A drink which tastes of vanilla and, in the BFG's words, "makes you whizzpop".
Fictional beverages later marketed
Some real-life beverages were created and marketed after appearing as fictional, as is the case with Duff Beer from the TV show The Simpsons. To promote The Simpsons Movie, convenience store 7-Eleven marketed a Duff-branded energy drink.
Victory Gin – In the late 1980s and early 1990s UK off licence chain Victoria Wine sold an own brand of gin called Victory Gin. It was not deliberately styled after the unpalatable product in Nineteen Eighty-Four; rather, it was originally called Portsmouth Gin, but this presumably caused confusion with Plymouth Gin. The name was changed to Victory, after Nelson's famous flagship HMS Victory, a tourist attraction in Portsmouth, the marketers presumably unaware of the brand's literary namesake.
See also
Independent Studio Services, provider of props, including several fictionally branded beverages, to television and movie productions
References
^Robin Andersen, Jonathan Gray, Battleground: The Media (2008), p. 386.
^Toxic substances, semiotic forms: Towards a socio- and textual analysis of altered senses - Semiotica. Volume 2007, Issue 166, Pages 409–426, ISSN (Online) 1613-3692, ISSN (Print) 0037-1998, doi:10.1515/SEM.2007.064, August 2007
^Bjorklund, Dennis A. Toasting Cheers: An Episode Guide, 1982–1993. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co, 1997. 332. Google Books. Web. 21 May 2012. ISBN978-0-89950-962-4.
^Silverstein, Clara. "Cheers". The Boston Chef's Table. Guilford, CO: The Globe Pequot Press, 2008. Google Books. Web. 20 May 2012.
