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Drink Decoded | Coffee & Cocktails

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☕🍸 The science & stories behind your drinks
Why coffee, cocktails & spirits taste the way they do.
Learn something worth sharing

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The IPA origin story is mostly a myth. 🍺

You've probably heard that brewers loaded beer with extra hops so it could survive the six-month voyage to India. But porter, a heavy dark beer, was already making that trip and arriving fine.

IPA grew out of a strong, hoppy "October beer" from George Hodgson's brewery in east London, close to the docks the East India Company sailed from. Officers in India wanted something lighter than porter, and Hodgson's pale beer sold. Burton brewers later made it paler and crisper, and the name India Pale Ale stuck.

The hops helped it travel. They didn't invent it.

IPA or porter? Pick a side. 👇
Send this to the friend who explains beer at every party.

Please drink responsibly.

#drinkdecoded #ipa #beerhistory #craftbeer #historyfacts by @drink_decoded

The US government poisoned alcohol during Prohibition. On purpose. ☠️

Alcohol was banned in the 1920s, but factories still used industrial alcohol, so the law required chemicals to be added to make it undrinkable. Bootleggers stole it anyway and paid chemists to clean it up.

The government’s answer was a deadlier formula, with up to 10% methyl alcohol. On Christmas Eve 1926, more than 60 people in New York fell seriously ill and eight died. The city’s medical examiner, Charles Norris, said the government knew it wasn’t stopping anyone from drinking.

Some estimates put the total death toll at 10,000 by the time Prohibition ended in 1933.

Should this be taught in history class? 👇
Send this to the friend who loves a speakeasy night.

#drinkdecoded #prohibition #historyfacts #1920s #cocktailhistory by @drink_decoded

In 1833 a ship carried ice from Boston to Calcutta. Four months at sea, across the equator, and more than half of it arrived. 🧊

The man behind it was Frederic Tudor, a Boston businessman people laughed at for years. He cut ice from frozen New England ponds, packed it in sawdust, and shipped it to hot places that had never had cold drinks. He ended up in debtors' prison before it worked.

By the mid-1800s ice was cheap enough in American cities for bartenders to use every night. That's when crushed-ice drinks like the Mint Julep and the Sherry Cobbler took off.

Make a Mint Julep at home:
60 ml bourbon
10 ml sugar syrup
8 to 10 mint leaves
Press the mint gently with the syrup, add the bourbon, pack the glass with crushed ice, and stir until the glass frosts.

Would you have bet on that ice making it? 👇
Save this for summer, and send it to someone who takes ice for granted.

Please drink responsibly.

#cocktailhistory #mintjulep #bourbon #mixology by @drink_decoded

Churchill's mother didn't invent the Manhattan. She wasn't even in the country. 🥃

The story goes that Jennie Jerome threw a party at New York's Manhattan Club in 1874 and asked the bartender for a new drink. Nice story. The problem is that in late 1874 Jennie was in England, about to give birth to Winston, who was born at Blenheim Palace on 30 November.

Nobody knows exactly who did invent it. Rye, sweet vermouth and bitters were already being mixed together in New York bars around that time, and the name stuck.

Make it at home:
60 ml rye whiskey
30 ml sweet vermouth
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Stir with ice for 30 seconds, strain into a chilled coupe, add a cherry.

Which other drink origin story do you think is fake? Tell me below. 👇
Save this for your next home bar night, and send it to the friend who always tells this story at dinner.

Please drink responsibly.

#manhattancocktail #cocktailhistory #whiskeycocktails #mixology by @drink_decoded

Your favorite drinks started in a pharmacy, not a bar.

Gin, tonic, bitters, Coca-Cola and Chartreuse were all sold as cures before anyone ordered them with ice. Swipe to see what each one was meant to fix.

Save this for your next bar night. Which one surprised you most?

#drinkdecoded #drinkhistory #cocktailfacts #ginandtonic #barscience by @drink_decoded

Your Friday night drink was actually an army malaria cure. 🦟🍸

Back in 1800s British India, soldiers had to take daily doses of quinine to survive malaria. The catch? Quinine was so violently bitter that almost nobody could swallow it.

The officers’ fix was simple:
1. Dissolve quinine in carbonated water + sugar (the first tonic water).
2. Pour in a heavy dose of military-issued dry gin.
3. Squeeze a fresh lime to prevent scurvy.

Medicine swallowed. Fever prevented. And one of the greatest highballs in cocktail history was born.

Question for the comments: is the Gin & Tonic a goat-tier classic, or does it still taste like sweetened medicine to you? 👇

#drinkdecoded #ginandtonic #cocktailhistory #mixology #cocktails101 by @drink_decoded

Ever wonder why a martini glass has a stem, or why a highball is so skinny?

It’s not just bar decor - every glass shape is built around thermal physics and carbonation mechanics.

Here’s what’s actually happening:
• Stemmed coupe/martini: keeps hand warmth away from drinks served “up” (no ice).
• Heavy rocks glass: built for muddling and fits one large, slow-melting ice block to avoid over-dilution.
• Tall highball: shrinks surface area so your bubbles last twice as long.

Glassware isn’t an aesthetic choice - it’s an engineering one.

Which glass do you use most at home?

#DrinkDecoded #cocktailscience #mixology #barlor #craftcocktails by @drink_decoded

who was already pouring it? #history #tea #assam #didyouknow by @drink_decoded

julep = rosewater 🌹 #wordorigins #etymology #funfacts #didyouknow by @drink_decoded

melty coffee dessert thing #affogato #coffee #dessert #foodtok by @drink_decoded

same coffee, different cup #coffee #coffeetok #sciencefacts #barista by @drink_decoded