Do judge a book by its cocktail.
At least that’s what the New Hampshire Liquor Commission is doing. New Hampshire is an “alcohol beverage control state,” one of 18 in the country, meaning they regulate the sale of alcoholic beverages within the state. They also supply alcohol-related resources to their employees, guides to help a salesman should a customer ask about a certain wine or cocktail recipe. Alas, if that recipe is the “Panty Dropper,” New Hampshire officially has nothing to say about it.
And that’s because after several months of complaints, The Bartender’s Book Tenth Edition — the resource the New Hampshire Liquor Authority distributed to its salesman and employees this year — is being called off the shelves. The cause? Some offensively titled drinks recipes, including the classically creepy “Panty Dropper” as well as a few more overtly depraved options – “Stripper Mom,” “Gang Banger,” and “Busted Rubber.”
As book author Stephen Kittredge Cunningham tells it to the Concord Monitor, the offending drinks “have most likely existed for years and were only included to make a better recipe book.” Fair enough— the Panty Dropper, at least, has a pretty established place in the history of skeevy American drinking — but the fact that just a few drink titles offended so much might indicate the recipes didn’t actually make for a better book, certainly not for its target audience.
Again, as Cunningham told the Concord Monitor, he’s worked with other state-controlled liquor boards to contour the book to each state’s, er, tolerance for creepiness. (The book has sold about 3 million copies.) “If they said get rid of these five drinks, I would have said ‘OK, it’s no big deal.’”
But looks like New Hampshire won this round. Which doesn’t mean Panty Dropper and co. are going away anytime soon. Just check out this YouTube video recipe for The Pink Panty Dropper, “the ultimate frat party favorite that girls just love!” A guy pours lots of vodka, pink lemonade, and cheap beer into a big cup, and hands his pink-clad female co-host a pink straw. Her feedback? “You can’t even taste the alcohol!” Be sure to not miss the last part, where he tops it off with more vodka. (You can’t even taste it.)
