Harvey Wallbanger

Harvey Wallbanger is a Screwdriver—vodka and orange juice—lent a dash of exoticism by a float of the Italian liqueur Galliano. This simple highball enjoyed a popularity in the 1970s equaled by few other postwar drinks. During the peak of its popularity, it inspired bottled versions and cake mixes. Much of the hype surrounding the drink was due to a marketing campaign hatched by George Bednar, who worked for McKesson Imports, Galliano’s importer at the time, featuring a dopey-looking cartoon surfer mascot (the eponymous Harvey) created by New York marketer Bill Young, and a racy catchphrase (“My name is Harvey Wallbanger and I can be made”). The drink itself was likely the work of bartender Donato “Duke” Antone, who may have created it as early as the early 1950s at the Hollywood bar Black Watch, calling it the Duke Screwdriver. See Antone, Donato “Duke.” How it acquired its new and now famous label is not known. Bednar encountered the drink under that name while on a scouting trip in Los Angeles, California, in the late 1960s, investigating wide consumption of Galliano there. McKesson adopted the cocktail and built a marketing campaign around it in 1969, offering free merchandise to anyone who threw a Wallbanger party or event; thousands did. Later, McKesson enlisted Antone to promote the drink, an early instance of a corporate-mixologist collaboration, and one of the most successful.

See also Screwdriver and Galliano.

Recipe: Combine in a tall glass full of ice 45 ml vodka and 120 ml orange juice. Float 22 ml Galliano on top and add a straw and a maraschino cherry.

Simonson, Robert. “Banging My Head against a Wall.” Lucky Peach 12 (August 2014), 96–99.

By: Robert Simonson