Today we’re mixing the Space Gin Smash in honor of the premier of the animated sitcom, The Jetsons, that debuted on September 23, 1962. Depicting the life of a family in some future century, it was originally a Sunday evening prime time show. Following this primetime run it moved to Saturday mornings, where it aired for decades before the 1990 film Jetsons: The Movie served as a finale to the TV show.
The show came out in 1962 and envisioned the world in 2062, or 100 years into the future. It was the golden age of Space Age design and American futurism, and people envisioned jetpacks, flying cars, robot maids, moving sidewalks and pushbutton convenience. And the opening theme song is a pretty catchy tune. So in honor of The Jetsons and space age we’ll mix up the Space Gin Smash.
The Jetsons
George Jetson and his wife Jane live in Orbit City with their daughter Judy, son Elroy and dog Astro. Their household Robot, Rosey, often dispenses advice and their dog Astro can mumble and speak words that begin with the letter R. His trademark phrase “ruh-roh” was later purloined by Scooby Doo and entered the current vernacular.
Jane was the stereotyped housewife of the 1960s, the dutiful wife devoted to shopping and family but otherwise incompetent. Judy Jetson is the stereotypical teenage girl attending Orbit High School and is interested in clothes and recording secrets in her digital diary. The youngest, Elroy Jetson, is the brains of the show, attending the Little Dipper School where he studies astrophysics and star geometry.
George commutes to work in a flying car that looks like a flying saucer with a clear bubble top. He works three hours a day, three days a week for the company Spacely Space Sprockets, where where he pushes a single button on occasion. His boss, Cosmo G. Spacely, often fires then rehires or promotes then demotes George.
Daily life for the Jetson’s is leisurely because of technological advances and labor-saving devices. Those, of course, break down to humorous effect. Nonetheless, characters often complained about their brutal workloads.
While we’re not yet amusing ourselves with flying cars or living in floating cities, The Jetsons was remarkably accurate regarding certain future inventions. Some would argue that it’s not because of The Jetsons, but today we have flat screen TVs, tablet computers, smart watches, video calls, robot vacuums, holograms and drones.
Of course, they didn’t get everything right. Things were a bit different in the 1960s. George’s boss, Cosmo G. Spacely, tended to hit on Judy Jetson when visiting the Jetson’s home but George never took this fact to HR.
The Space Gin Smash
It wasn’t easy finding an appropriate cocktail to mix in honor of the Jetsons and we settled on the Space Gin Smash after an exhaustive search. Sure, there’s a Mr. Jetson cocktail, but it contains bar oddities such as Dutch chocolate vodka and we have standards to uphold. Others such as the Jane Jetson cocktail border on being what we refer to as stunt drinks.
So instead we turn to the Space Gin smash, an invention of the highly-regarded British bartender Angus Winchester. Mr. Winchester has worked around the world and is influential on a global basis through his company Alconomics.
Like the Brandy Smash we had for the anniversary of the world’s first drunk driving arrest, the Space Gin Smash utilizes a spirit, sugar, mint and ice. The Space Gin Smash recipe adds lemon, green apple and seedless green grapes to the relatively blank slate of gin.
Space Gin Smash
Equipment
- Muddler
- Double Old Fashioned glass
Ingredients
- 1½ oz Gin
- ½ oz Simple syrup
- 6 Mint leaves
- 2 Green seedless grapes
- 1 Lemon wedge
- 1 Slice of green apple
- Garnish: Mint sprig, green seedless grape and apple slice
Instructions
- Add mint, lemon wedge, 2 grapes and simple syrup to your trusty shaker.
- Muddle together, expressing juice and oils from the ingredients.
- Add gin and ice, shake until frosty cold.
- Strain into a rocks glass over cracked or pebble ice.
- Garnish with mint sprig, one grape and a slice of apple.
- Drink.
- Queue up The Jetsons on your streaming service.
