− Quench, on the Food Network, brings cocktails to TV.
−Simon Difford’s Class Magazine is launched.
−Grey Goose vodka and Chopin vodka are introduced.
−Jared Brown and Anistatia Miller publish Shaken Not Stirred: A Celebration of the Martini.
−Gary Regan publishes New Classic Cocktails.
Paul Harrington and Laura Moorhead, authors of the ground-breaking 1998 cocktail book, Cocktail: The Drinks Bible for the 21st Century. © Paul Harrington
1998 − Paul Harrington and Laura Moorhead publish the game-changing Cocktail: The Drinks Bible for the 21st Century.
−On April 9, the first known Cosmopolitan cocktail seen and mentioned on a television show was written into the show ER by Linda Gase. The season 4 episode 17 is called “A Bloody Mess.”
−Patrick Sullivan opens B-Side Lounge, which is considered Boston’s first fresh classic cocktail bar.
−Tony Abou-Ganim is hired to bring classic fresh cocktails to all twenty-three bars at Bellagio in Las Vegas.
−The first known videogame to mention a cocktail is Metal Gear Solid when Nastasha Romanenko says that a Stinger is her favorite cocktail.
−On July 19, season one, episode seven “The Monogamists,” the Cosmopolitan cocktail was first mentioned on the HBO show Sex and the City. The voice-over of the character Carrie Bradshaw read: “That afternoon I dragged my poor, tortured soul out to lunch with Stanford Blach and attempted to stun it senseless with Cosmopolitans.”
1999 − Smirnoff Ice, Absolut Mandarin, Van Gogh gin, Hendrick’s gin, and Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel are introduced.
−Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant in San Francisco becomes the number-one tequila bar in America.
−David Wondrich begins to update the online version of Esquire’s 1949 Handbook for Hosts.
−Ted A. Breaux becomes the first to analyze vintage absinthe using modern science, the results sparking a paradigm shift in our understanding of the infamous spirit.
−Sasha Petraske opens Milk & Honey on New Year’s Eve in New York City.
−In the second season of the HBO TV show Sex and the City, the Cosmopolitan becomes the new worldwide hottest cocktail due to being seen in ten episodes and verbally mentioned in three episodes. It pairs nicely with the flavored Martini craze and Martini bars found in all major cities that offered 200+ flavored Martinis on their menus.
2000 − The film Coyote Ugly shows scantily clad cowgirl bartenders slinging whiskey and dancing on the bar top.
−Tanqueray 10, Alizé, Tequiza, Smirnoff Twist flavored vodkas, and Wild Turkey Russell’s Reserve are introduced.
−The Beekman Arms of Rhinebeck in New York is the oldest continuously operating tavern in America.
2001 − Hpnotiq plans to launch on September 11, but America is attacked, so the launch takes place months later.
−Gary Regan begins conducting a series of two-day bartender workshops called Cocktails in the Country.
2002 − After forty years, James Bond makes another cocktail popular around the world. Pierce Brosnan (Bond) holds a Mojito in Cuba and then hands it to orange bikini–clad Halle Berry—overnight, it revives the classic Mojito and is still one of the most ordered cocktails in the world today. Bartenders are bombarded with drink requests and 99 percent of them do not have one mint leaf behind the bar.
−Dekuyper Sour Apple Pucker is introduced.
−Dale “King Cocktail” DeGroff publishes the book that officially kicks off the craft cocktail movement, The Craft of the Cocktail: Everything You Need to Know to Be a Master Bartender.
−The Appletini becomes popular.
−The first cocktail festival, Tales of the Cocktail is launched in New Orleans.
−William Grimes publishes Straight Up or On the Rocks: The Story of the American Cocktail.
−Jeff “Beachbum” Berry publishes Intoxica.
−Kevin Brauch hosts the drinking travel series TV show The Thirsty Traveler.
−The first known film to show and mention a Cosmopolitan cocktail is Juwanna Mann.
Country music star Alan Jackson in 2003. © Photofest
2003 − Julie Reiner opens Flatiron Lounge, the first high-volume craft cocktail bar in New York City.
−Colin Peter Field publishes The Cocktails of Ritz Paris.
−Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett release the song “It’s Five O’clock Somewhere.”
−The chorus starts with, “Pour me somethin’ tall an’ strong, make it a Hurricane before I go insane.” The flair bartender in the music video is Rob Husted who runs flairbar.com.
−Absolut vanilla and Blavod black vodka are introduced.
−Gary Regan publishes The Joy of Mixology.
−The first known song to mention a Cosmopolitan cocktail is “Cosmopolitans” written and performed by Erin McKeown.
2004 − The Museum of the American Cocktail is founded in New Orleans by Dale and Jill DeGroff, Chris and Laura McMillian, Ted Haigh, Robert Hess, Phil Greene, and Jared Brown and Anistatia Miller.
−Absolut Raspberri is introduced.
−Ted Haigh publishes Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails.
−The award-winning bar Employees Only opens in New York City.
−Jeff “Beachbum” Berry publishes Taboo Table.
2005 − Sasha Petraske opens Little Branch in New York City.
−Captain Morgan Tattoo, Absolut Peach, Starbuck’s coffee liqueur, Barsol pisco, Cognac Toulouse-Lautrec XO, Baileys Caramel, Baileys Chocolate Mint, and NAVAN are introduced.
−In September, University of Pennsylvania archaeochemist Patrick McGovern announces the discovery of 5,000-year-old Mesopotamian earthenware from the banks of the Tigris between Iran and Iraq that contain traces of honey, barley, tartaric acid, and apple juice. McGovern described this cocktail as “grog.”
−Audrey Saunders opens Pegu Club in New York City.
−Heavy Water vodka from Anistatia Miller and Jared Brown is introduced.
−David Wondrich publishes Killer Cocktails.
2006 − CMT airs a reality
