10 Best Fictional Cocktails In TV & Movies, Ranked

With the summer sun knocking on the door, the official season for rest, relaxation, and refreshing cocktails is nearly here. As such, it’s time to look to film and television for a little intoxicating inspiration. After all, fictional beer and booze brands have been around for nearly a century after The Three Stooges introduced Panther Pilsner to the masses in the 1935 short film Three Little Beers.

Fictional alcoholic brands were created in part to avoid product placement and skirt any legal issues involving real brands. Over the decades, the trend proliferated across some of the most popular movies and TV shows ever produced.

10 Tenafly Viper – Street Trash (1987)

In one of the few examples to highlight the negative effect of alcohol, the 1987 low-budget horror-comedy film Street Trash features a key cocktail called Tenafly Viper, around which the entire plot functions.

The film concerns a liquor store operator who unknowingly sells bottles of the toxic wine Tenafly Viper to the city’s homeless population. Drinking the purple potion immediately turns the consumer into a gooey flesh-melting zombie monster that is reduced to a puddle of gore.

9 Screaming Viking – Cheers (1982-1993)

It makes sense that one of the best fake cocktails comes from one of the most beloved fictional bars in TV history. Indeed, the Screaming Viking cocktail was introduced in the “Home is the Sailor,” the Season 6 premiere of Cheers. The drink is created on the show to get rid of bartender Wayne and retain Woody instead.

Later turned into a real-life drink sold in the Boston area, the Screaming Viking is comprised of amaretto, orange-flavored rum, dark rum, cranberry juice, and pineapple juice. Another variation includes vodka, dry vermouth, lime juice, celery stalk, and a cucumber garnish.

8 Black Pony Scotch – Laura (1944)

In Otto Preminger’s classic film noir Laura, a fictitious brand of Black Pony Scotch plays a crucial role in the plot. Detective Lieutenant Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) is hired to investigate the murder of Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney), with whom he begins to fall in love during the process.

Upon investigating Laura’s apartment, he finds a bottle of Black Pony Scotch (named Four Horses Scotch in the stage play) that betrays the socialite’s hifalutin tastes. Suspecting Laura would never imbibe such a cheap whiskey brand, McPherson goes on to solve the case.

7 Miruvor – Lord Of The Rings (2001-2003)

As a potent Elf liquor, Miruvor is used to grant several characters in the Lord of the Rings trilogy magical healing powers and rapid regeneration properties. Although clear and colorless, the cocktail comes with a refreshing aroma and taste.

In both the book and screen versions, Gandalf is seen imbibing Miruvor to help reenergize himself and his fellowship on Caradhras. While other races such as the Orcs drink similar cocktails, Miruvor is the most potent of all the reviving elixirs.

6 Flaming Moe – The Simpsons (1989-)

When drunken Springfield denizens have had one too many Duff Beers in Moe’s Tavern, they often wash the taste out of their mouth with the Flaming Moe, a highly intoxicating cocktail invented by Homer Simpson himself.

The Flaming Moe cocktail is comprised of several different types of hard liquor mixed with children’s cough syrup, set on fire, and served in a flaming in a tall frosty beer mug. The popular drink has been in the collective consciousness of American pop culture for 30 odd years.

5 Victory Gin – 1984, Terminal (1984, 2018)

Introduced by George Orwell in his landmark novel 1984, Victory Gin has made crossover appearances in other movies as well. While described as a cheap, low-quality product that reeks of nitric acid, it was issued by the totalitarian government to control the masses.

Victory Gin also appeared in Terminal when Annie/Bonnie (Margot Robbie) pours a drink at the bar. In the 1980s, a brand of wine called Victory Gin was modeled after the cocktail brand from the book and movie versions.

4 Vitameatavegamin – I Love Lucy (1951-1957)

As the single greatest American sitcom ever made, Lucy (Lucille Ball) sure got tipsy while filming her wacky Vitameatavegamin ad in the 1952 episode “Lucy Does a TV Commercial.”

Billed as a mixture of vitamins, meat, vegetables, and minerals, it became clear that alcohol was also a major ingredient when Lucy became increasingly inebriated while filming multiple takes of the commercial. While nowhere near as exotic a cocktail as some of the others, the episode was a landmark moment when it aired.

3 Vesper – Casino Royale (2006)

Named after the original Bond character Vesper Lynd (played by Eva Green in the Casino Royale remake), the Vesper is one of 007’s top cocktails of choice. With the iconic character’s 25th film approaching, the Vesper is a top three all-time fictional cocktail.

Comprised of three parts Gordon’s gin, one part vodka, a half-measure of the wine-based aperitif Kina Lillet, shaken (not stirred), garnished with a large lemon wedge, and served ice-cold, the Vesper was first introduced by Ian Fleming in 1953.

2 Milk Of The Poppy – Game Of Thrones (2011-2019)

One of the most addictive pain-killing cocktails in the history of television includes Milk of the Poppy, a sought-after fictional cocktail in Game of Thrones. The opaque white viscid substance is essentially liquid morphine, used as an anesthetic before surgery and a pain killer once it’s completed.

A memorable example of the cocktail on the show includes Lyman Lannister, who became addicted to the substance for years after falling from and sustaining a bad injury. Lyman became so dependent on Milk of the Poppy that he wasted all of his money to procure it and suffered physical withdrawals without it.

1 Moloko Plus – A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Described as milk with knives in it, Stanley Kubrick’s on-screen depiction of the futuristic cocktail Moloko Plus in the opening shot of A Clockwork Orange is as hypnotic as the drink itself.

Moloko Plus is a milky substance that comes laced with three different, highly potent drugs: Vellocet, Synthemesc, and Drencrom. Depending on which variation is chosen, a consumer will either hallucinate, nod off, or in the case of Alex and his droogs, become ultra-violent menaces with no sense of morality.