Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

Drink to This: The Cocktail Chart of Film and Literature

By

Have you ever wondered what was in a Flaming Moe? Or how to make Don Draper’s Old Fashioned? Or Jay Gatsby’s Gin Rickey? The Cocktail Chart of Film and Literature will take you on a journey through the libations of your favorite movies and books.

“Our love of libations is no big secret—we’ve charted the varieties of beer, the constitutions of cocktails, the manifold martinis, and the breakdown of alcohol at large,” says Will Prince, managing editor of Pop Chart Labs. “Our infographic-crazed poster company was actually borne from a love of books and literature. Or perhaps more accurately, our obsession with narrative—the way data can come together to tell a story, be it through prose, the moving image, or the snaking tendrils of a chart. So for this poster we plumbed the deaths of our book knowledge and cinephilia to come up with story-specific tipples. We realized quickly that so many of our favorite characters were actually immediately associated with alcoholic drinks: Bond’s shaken-but-not-stirred martini; The Dude’s White Russians; the many, many drinks of Fitzgerald and Hemingway’s gilded age guzzlers. And our research further confirmed our suspicions: fictional characters, across all mediums, love to drink.”

Recommended Videos

All our favorite characters do love to imbibe, and this chart is a great conversation starter in any kitchen, living room or kitchen. Pop Chart Labs even had a little fun with it, adding some drinks that aren’t meant for actual consumption, like Edgar’s Sugar Water — lots of sugar with tap water — from Men in Black, or the Flaming Moe, which consists of Krusty-Brand cough syrup, cigarette ash and drops of various liquors. Rest assured though, all the other recipes are for real.

“The infographic is mathematically and culinary sound, making the chart not just a cheat sheet for impressive literary references, but also a useful tool for your next cocktail party,” says Prince. “We took great care in making sure all of the ingredient ratios were proportional.”

So go ahead, if you want to have a little fun with your cocktails, get this handy infographic for hours of drinking and amusement.

The Cocktail Chart of Film and Literature, $27 at popchartlab.com.

Image used with permission by copyright holder
Ann Binlot
Ann Binlot
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Ann Binlot is a New York-based freelance writer who contributes to publications like The Economist, Wallpaper*, Monocle…

Editors’ Recommendations

How to make a Bee’s Knees cocktail, a drink that fits its name perfectly
You can create a buzz with the honey-kissed cocktail
Bee's Knees with garnish

Many of the drinks that are still beloved in bars today are cocktails from the Prohibition Era, when bars went underground and got creative with the ingredients they had available to make drinks that were tasty and innovative. That was a challenge when many of the spirits available were of dubious quality at best, but it created delicious combinations like the Bee's Knees cocktail, an easy-to-enjoy gin classic.

Now, the mix of citrus and honey sweetness acts as a good introduction for people who have only previously said, "I don't like gin." (If you are one of those people, we'd like to take this opportunity to convince you otherwise ... we're not in bathtub gin territory anymore.) The floral and citrus notes in the gin blend with the other ingredients for an easy-to-drink cocktail that now allows the craft gin to come through without being hidden away.

Read more
How to make the Aviation cocktail, a drink almost lost to history
The cocktail renaissance brought this classic drink back to the forefront
Aviation cocktail

In the canon of classic cocktails, you'll find plenty of well-known drinks, like the Negroni or the Old Fashioned. But you'll also find some lesser-known drinks that are beloved by cocktail enthusiasts but not widely enjoyed by the general public. Included in this category is the Aviation cocktail, a drink known as much for its gorgeous sky blue or pale violet color as for its delicate floral flavor.
The Aviation cocktail recipe

What you’ll need to make the Aviation

Read more
Why we think the Creole cocktail is the perfect drink for fall
Manhattan fans should try this lesser-known riff
Creole cocktail

The cocktail renaissance of the early 21st century breathed new life into countless classic cocktails. But for every Negroni, Boulevardier, and daiquiri, there’s a handful of lesser-known drinks that deserve more attention. Today, we'll take a closer look at the Creole cocktail.

This riff on the popular Manhattan might seem like a drink from New Orleans, but it’s much more likely that this drink was created in New York City. The first known reference to the drink was by a German-born New York City bartender named Hugo Ensslin in 1916. It was also published in the 1939 version of W.C. Whitfield’s Just Cocktails.

Read more