A timeless highball classic, the Screwdriver is a drink that, like many of our cocktails, has a murky, debatable history. Most stories range back to the early 20th century with mentions of Turkish intelligence agents and engineers in clandestine bar meetings, World War II soldiers adding vodka to their reconstituted o.j., and even oil workers in the Persian Gulf mixing their vodka into their juice with a screwdriver because they lacked another convenient stir tool.
Personally, I think it was invented by a overworked, under appreciated, bored and hungover mid-twentieth century housewife who spied a nearly empty bottle of vodka on the kitchen counter the morning after she and her hubby had thrown a cocktail party. "Waste not, want not" and that dribble of vodka went into her morning o.j. before the bottle went into the trash can. From that point on a little vodka in the juice was as accepted an accessory to her breakfast as her pearl choker was to her shirtdress.
The I.B.A recipe calls for 10 parts orange juice to 5 parts vodka. I like my Screwdriver a little less like diesel fuel and fresh juice is a must.
