What Members Of The Rat Pack Liked To Sip On

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When it comes to social drinking and party culture, the Rat Pack walked so modern-day celebrities could run. For the gang of five male performers, "a Vegas nightclub was their playground, but the world was their stage" (via theratpack.com). The famous 1960s group included Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford. They came together through their love of performing and were often seen holding cocktail glasses and cigarettes on stage. While there were reportedly few drinks the crew didn't like, some of their favorites included: the Rusty Nail, the highball, the martini, the margarita, and a classic Jack Daniel's on the rocks. If you want to emulate the "spirits" of the Rat Pack, these are the drinks to try.

The Rat Pack members were known to drink together at Booth 22 at the Golden Steer Steakhouse in Las Vegas, one of Frank Sinatra's favorite restaurants in the U.S. They also partied wherever they performed: The Sands, the Beverly Hills Hotel, and many other venues across the country. Sinatra, widely considered the Rat Pack's leader, would often get behind the bar and mix concoctions for fellow group members and guests. The lyrics to Sinatra's 1947 song, "One For My Baby," are a testament to the mindset the group would later adopt: "We're drinkin', my friend, to the end of a brief episode. Make it one for my baby and one more for the road."

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If we had to name one signature drink associated with the pentad of performers, the Rusty Nail stands out as the old-school cocktail the Rat Pack loved the most. The original drink to follow the Rusty Nail cocktail recipe (Scotch whisky and Drambuie served at a 1:1 or 2:1 ratio over ice) reportedly appeared at the British Industries Fair in 1937. Back then, the cocktail was called the "BIF". In the early 1960s, the Rat Pack got noticed for drinking it at 21 Club in New York City. Then ,in 1963, Gina MacKinnon, chairwoman of Drambuie at the time, officially changed the cocktail's name to the "Rusty Nail." Its association with the Rat Pack carried the drink's cultural relevance through the 1960s and '70s.

Though its notoriety has fallen in recent decades, cocktail connoisseurs on Reddit still discuss the Rusty Nail. Many claim to enjoy it, and some say it's underrated. A user at r/cocktails wrote that the Rusty Nail was the first "real cocktail" they were introduced to at the W Hotel in NYC, circa 2005. They offered their home recipe: 2 ounces of Glenlevit 12 and a ¾ ounce of Drambuie, finished with a dash of Fee Brothers Old Fashion Aromatic Bitters. "I know the bitters isn't authentic," they said, "but it makes a nice drink, which is more important to me in the end."

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While Frank Sinatra helped popularize many of the Rat Pack's drinks, one that fans associated with Sammy Davis Jr. was the highball. Using Japanese whisky in a highball recipe is common, but any type of whisky mixed with club soda at either a 4:1 or 3:1 ratio and served over ice in a tall (highball) glass fits the basic description of the drink. A highball tastes best when mixed and chilled thoroughly, so veteran mixologists will sometimes chill each part separately (including the glass) prior to preparing. 

Davis Jr. preferred his highball mixed with Suntory, the Japanese whisky he was linked to through a series of commercials in the 1970s that featured him energetically improvising "scat" phrases while pouring himself a glass on the rocks. Some highball drinkers in a thread of the r/cocktails subreddit called out Toki (a blended whisky made by Suntory) as a top choice for mixing the drink. "I use Toki exclusively if I want a Japanese highball. It's designed for that cocktail," wrote u/crass_anon.

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Members of the Rat Pack loved to drink martinis and reportedly enjoyed them with some of their most famous pals, including Jerry Lewis, Buddy Greco, and Don Rickles (via The Gentleman's Journal). The martini is a versatile cocktail with a multitude of variations, but the basics of a classic martini recipe are gin and dry vermouth, most commonly combined at a 5:1 ratio. A martini is either stirred or shaken, then strained into a chilled glass and garnished with an expressed lemon peel or olives. 

Dean Martin had his own signature take called the Flame of Love Martini, which the head bartender at Chasen's restaurant in Beverly Hills created for him after he complained he was getting bored with drinking classic martinis. The Flame of Love adds fino sherry and is finished with fire-kissed orange zest in place of the lemon.

The Internet's martini drinkers offer a wealth of recipes and tips, including members of the Reddit community. When new martini drinker u/Independent_You_3048 began a r/cocktails thread to ask for advice, writing, "I just cannot get down with the classic martini yet." A helpful commenter suggested swapping out dry vermouth for a sweeter vermouth, like Dolin Blanc. "Be sure that you stir the Martini long enough for the ice to begin to melt, as the slight dilution is necessary for a more balanced, less harsh mixture," they added.

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When the Rat Pack members wanted a break from whisky, they turned to tequila and were known to drink margaritas. The staple ingredients for a traditional margarita are tequila, triple sec (most recipes name Cointreau), lime juice, and salt (or sugar) for the rim of the glass. Frank Sinatra, the Rat Pack's resident bartender, experimented with his margarita recipe and was known to be generous with the tequila. During an appearance on "The Graham Norton Show," U2 singer Bono recalled a memory of drinking margaritas with Sinatra in Palm Springs. During their encounter, Bono sang the song "Two Shots of Happy, One Shot of Sad," which he wrote for Sinatra. The song was released after Sinatra's death.

The ingredients used in Sinatra's go-to margarita recipe may not have strayed too far from convention, but these days, there's a style and flavor of margarita to satisfy just about any tequila enthusiast. Incorporating fresh passion fruit or pomegranate brings natural sweetness and another flavor dimension to the cocktail, while the ever-popular spicy margarita imparts a zesty kick that balances so well with tequila's taste.

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The simplest drink the Rat Pack members enjoyed was not a cocktail at all, but rather a single substance: Jack Daniel's on the rocks. Frank Sinatra was one of the most famous admirers of Jack Daniel's whiskey in history. He once stood on stage, raised a glass of Jack Daniel's over ice toward the audience, and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is Jack Daniel's, and it's the nectar of the gods" (via The Bottle Club). Sales for the whiskey brand reportedly doubled the following year. 

Sinatra assembled his Jack Daniel's on the rocks with 90-proof whiskey following the 3:2:1 method. This meant he started with three large ice cubes in a rocks glass, poured two fingers (whiskey two fingers deep) of Jack Daniel's, and finished with one splash of water. His water of choice for the mixture was Poland Spring, according to Gentleman's Almanac. Following Sinatra's death, Jack Daniel's released a special-edition, 90-proof whiskey in his memory, naming it Sinatra Select. In late 2015, to honor what would have been the singer's 100th birthday, Jack Daniel's upped the ante with Sinatra Century, an exclusive 100-proof bottle.